Portraits

I spent yesterday studying faces.That is a gnomic statement so I will elaborate.

I visited my brother in law and was introduced to his new born son. It is a terrifying sensation to hold a week old baby. They are so fragile and vulnerable . It was also a gratifying one - at the risk of the new age you sense the whole of life. I read that a new father was shown the placenta by a nurse. The nurse held the placenta to the light showing the network of veins. She called the network of veins the tree of life.

I have had difficulty in the past determining who babies look like. Others (usually womanfolk) are able to identify family features. I found this skill beyond me. On this occasion when I looked I was able to identify characteristics and likeness in the new born. I paid attention and did not fall back on the lazy response adopted in the past.

When I left the proud parents I went to the National Portrait gallery. I spent an hour looking at bewigged Tudors and Hanoverians. Some of the portraits were wonderful. There was a picture of the playwright Ben Jonsen that was photo realistic and brilliant.

There was an exhibit of portraits from the First World War. The pictures of various generals and politicians were of individuals . They were identified and posed with medals and the regalia of their status. The pictures of the soldiers from the trenches were different. The men were not identified and were treated less as individuals and more as archetypes .They were either emblems of adversity or used as propaganda.

My grandfather served in the First World War. For his troubles he received medals, a perforated ear drum and shell shock. The latter is another description of post traumatic stress disorder. He never spoke about his experience and it had a marked impact on his life back in N Ireland .

The current revision of history portrays the Great War as an heroic enterprise and not blimpish generals using men as cannon fodder . I studied the period at school and I have no idea why my grandfather, a farmer from County Tyrone , was fighting in a field in France. I am not sure the generals portrayed in the National gallery knew either.