jmd
For those who occasionally glance at small developments on my own website, I have included a few small 'studies' (or rather personal reflections) on very few cards. This one, however, being one of them. What strikes me is that the common title ('L'Amoureux') seems to be taking some liberties with the depicted imagery: an image, I would suggest, that is principally of a wedding.
Admittedly, this is neither evident, nor likely, on either the two cards used for our contrast studies... so let's first have a look at them:
Some differences are clear, especially with regards to the 'cherub' at the top of the card: in the Dodal, his body faces downwards towards the left of the card, whereas in the Conver, upwards towards the right of the card; On the Dodal, he appears to be wearing a band over his eyes obstructing his sight (and hence whence his arrow will hit), whereas on the Conver, he seems to see precisely the heart his arrow will pierce.
Both cards have what appears to be an older crowned woman standing on the left, and a younger 'crowned with flowers' woman on the right of the card, between them the young man whose eyes head in the direction of the older woman, but whose arms and hands point towards the younger one.
The Dodal seems to take its imagery from a model that was perhaps longer, with the bottom panel cutting across his legs (even without the panel, one would expect, it seems to me, to see his feet lower than the bottom of the card indicates). The Conver has re-adjusted the trio to be placed higher up in the card, showing that the carver had, very likely, the frame intended as part of the overall depiction.
Of titling note is that the Conver spells the card as 'LAMOVREVX', whereas the Dodal not only has the final 'X' omitted, but 'strangely' separates out the word as 'LA - MOVREV' (note here that the 'V' and 'U' are equivalent).
Admittedly, this is neither evident, nor likely, on either the two cards used for our contrast studies... so let's first have a look at them:
Dodal ->
Conver ->
Some differences are clear, especially with regards to the 'cherub' at the top of the card: in the Dodal, his body faces downwards towards the left of the card, whereas in the Conver, upwards towards the right of the card; On the Dodal, he appears to be wearing a band over his eyes obstructing his sight (and hence whence his arrow will hit), whereas on the Conver, he seems to see precisely the heart his arrow will pierce.
Both cards have what appears to be an older crowned woman standing on the left, and a younger 'crowned with flowers' woman on the right of the card, between them the young man whose eyes head in the direction of the older woman, but whose arms and hands point towards the younger one.
The Dodal seems to take its imagery from a model that was perhaps longer, with the bottom panel cutting across his legs (even without the panel, one would expect, it seems to me, to see his feet lower than the bottom of the card indicates). The Conver has re-adjusted the trio to be placed higher up in the card, showing that the carver had, very likely, the frame intended as part of the overall depiction.
Of titling note is that the Conver spells the card as 'LAMOVREVX', whereas the Dodal not only has the final 'X' omitted, but 'strangely' separates out the word as 'LA - MOVREV' (note here that the 'V' and 'U' are equivalent).
?? (2006)