Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010667, Mon, 29 Nov 2004 16:20:41 -0800

Subject
Fwd: Re: ADA portraits. Mary O'Reilly = Mary Louise O'Murphy
Date
Body
John, I fear I´m lost. Wasn´t Mary Reilly a governess at the Jekyll and Hyde
establishment? At least, I remember Julia Roberts in that role - and I
haven´t yet checked my RLS nor VN´s lecture.
The Irish ´O... well, there is Pauline (!!!) Reage (a pseudonym for
Dominique Aury ) who published "Histoire d ´O", a novel that shared the same
editor and underwent the same difficulties as VN´s Lolita ...

----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 3:15 PM
Subject: ADA portraits. Mary O'Reilly = Mary Louise O'Murphy


>
>
> ----- Forwarded message from j.rea2@insightbb.com -----
> Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 20:27:20 -0500
> From: John A Rea <j.rea2@insightbb.com>
>
>
> On page 41.3-5 of Ada is mentioned, "Prince Vyeslav
> Zemski...portrayed in rich oil holding his barely [nice
> ambiguity?] pubescent bride...." In the family tree the
> dates show that that bride was fiftee years of age. The
> prince's son Peter married one Mary O Reilly, and fathered
> in turn a Peter [honestly!] who also wedded a fifteen
> year old Dolly [anticipated by the doll in her grandmother's
> portrait?].
>
> My nominations for either of the fifteen year old
> brides would actually be the Irish girl in a Boucher portrait
>
> "of a fifteen-year-old
> Irish girl, Mary Louise O'Murphy, with her beautiful red
> hair. She was Casanova's mistress at the time. The
> painting is thought to have been a job application to
> become the King's mistress. It must have worked since
> she subsequently was mistress to the King of France and
> bore him two children. The painting is in the Alte
> Pinkothek in Munich, in other words, Art with a
> capital A, and spoken in reverent tones so no one
> seems to care. Or the famous American statue of
> Justice, nude from the waist up, was modeled on a
> lovely fifteen-year-old woman, also thought to be the
> artist's lover."
>
> All this quoted from somewhere on the net. I'm going to
> try attaching a jpeg of that protrait, and if I'm
> successful, you will be also pleased by the view of
> this young lady the artist has chosen. Let me know
> of this attachment comes through (or not)
>
> Cheers
>
> John
>
> ----- End forwarded message ---
>
> EDNOTE. Hmmm...Many thanks to John Rea for this item. I know the Boucher
> painting but had not seen the possible link to ADA.
>


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