Art & Emma Hamilton
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Emma Hamilton was not herself an artist. She was instead an actress by profession, but she would become the model of choice for a number of important artists of her time. Her career as a model actually began long before when the was still a child, and it was her beauty throughout her life that was the prime lure for various artists who wished to capture her on canvas. She would also be known for her part in a romantic scandal involving Lord Nelson, though her amoral exploits were also well-known long before that particularly celebrated instance came into being. She was also a close friend to the Queen of Naples, Marie Caroline, the sister of Marie Antoinette. The affair and other matters pertaining to Emma Hamilton would become matter for a number of books, novels, and films, some accurate and some highly inaccurate. A recent example is The Volcano Lover by Susan Sontag, which drew on the story of Emma and William Hamilton for inspiration without trying to be a simple novelization of their lives. The novel offers an interesting portrait of the woman and her time and relates her to the art world of her time. It also serves as an interesting document in itself given that it was written by Susan Sontag, herself a noted critic of aesthetics. The story of Emma Hamilton appears to serve largely as a rationale for Sontag to reassess certain of her own ideas concerning aesthetics, the role of intellectuals in society, and the role of art in history.
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d write a description and would praise the 20-year-old girl with a beautiful face and a perfect figure. Emma's Attitudes would become famous in Naples and would become a subject for various artists attracted by Emma's beauty and by the vivacity of her performance. The sense of a performance being conducted at all times is maintained by the way each arrival is given a descriptive name in the novel. Hamilton, of course, is the Cavaliere, while William Beckford is called the Knave of Cups. There is a bond between Hamilton and his younger relative:
The Cavaliere recognized in his young relation someone like himself, that rare species who would never, not for one moment in the course of a long life, be bored. He showed him his collections, his booty, his self-bestowed inheritance (Sontag 87).
Hamilton clearly thrived on the collection he amassed, and this fact had much to do as well with the way Emma's life would develop in his company. Aside from her beauty, one of the primary reasons why Emma was the model of choice for so many artists was simply that she was in their company. Her meeting with Romney was fortuitous and would set the tone for subsequent relationships with artists who admired her beauty. Her husband was a
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Emma Hamilton, Knave Cups, Sontag Vesuvius, Lord Nelson, William Hamilton, Indeed Emma, Vienna Madrid, Emma's Attitudes, Court Naples, Lord Middleton's, emma hamilton, lord nelson, story emma, william hamilton, volcano lover, model choice, various artists, choice artists, model choice artists, susan sontag,
Approximate Word count = 1212
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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