The straitjacket of Johannes C. Verspronck - The fashion collection, No.6 by MadameRuiz

About "The straitjacket of Johannes C. Verspronck - The fashion collection, No.6"

by MadameRuiz

About the artwork

A bold portrait with a twist after Johannes Cornelisz. Verspronck's "Portrait of a Girl in Blue" from the Rijksmuseum collection.

Verspronck's original painting is so lovely and tender and exudes childlike innocence. But the child in times of the Golden Age in Holland is not at all as childlike as we would hope. The girl from a wealthy middle-class family is forced into the straitjacket of her prosperous parents. All for the sake of appearances. For Verspronck's portrait she poses in the most expensive clothing and is adorned with expensive jewelry. Not clothing in which you can romp around and be a child.

This painting is a translation of how I imagine her adolescence to be in a modern contemporary outfit, with a touch of punk. I can only imagine that the straitjacket of perfection and outward appearance, which we also encounter nowadays through the social media, will lead to rebellion.

A tough, rebellious and abstract painting, developed in an abstract expressionist style through photo collage and painting techniques via digital image editing.

The rebellion can be seen in the clothing, the pose and the composition, which by means of a diagonal line leads to imbalance and dynamics in the straitjacket of the frame.

On the dividing line between modern and old-fashioned, lovely and tough, contemporary and seventeenth century, here is a wonderfully playful, dynamic and colorful painting.