George Caleb Bingham

I was interested to read about an artist of this name in a recent number of the NYRB, an artist of whom I had not previously heard. An article prompted by an exhibition presently at the Metropolitan Museum at New York.

As I am unlikely to make it there in time, it is just as well that google seem to be able to offer high quality images for free, of which this is one example.

It is claimed that the pose of the left hand man is taken from a once popular print of Raphael's 'Judgement of Paris'. Also that the same pose was recycled again in Manet's rather later 'Le déjeuner sur l’herbe'. Not presently clear to me how one can be sure about such things - given that I would have thought the pose was common enough in real life, without needing to go poking about in the arty archives for inspiration.