20
SepAlberto Montaner and the Girl with a Pearl Earring ~ letter
Dear Alberto,
Back in the year XXXX, when I was alone and living in an empty house, I suddenly phoned you. The books that remained with me were all out of their shelves. Or, to be more exact, there were no bookcases any more. The walls, then completely naked had fallen to the floor becoming bound sheets in autumn. There they were, forming low columns of Latin historiographers, French anonymous writers, Provençal poets.
It was night. I set up a couple of lights, I undressed myself, and I took some pictures in the company of those disordered army wings (disordinatæ acies). Later on, several days after having called you suddenly, I sent them over to you. I also mailed them to my mother. She answered in an almost telegraphic form: "I like the pictures, but I hate what they mean."
The reason I called you then was not to tell you about those pictures I had just taken. While I was taking them, I had the Portrait of Jovellanos idea, and I wanted to know if you would be willing to participate. You like photographers and illusionists, and therefore you said yes. We never took those pictures.
Things have changed now. It's been almost who knows how many years. The primitive idea has been altered as well, and you are not going to be Jovellanos any more. Tomorrow, September 21st, you will be The Girl with the Pearl Earring. This is the portrait you chose to become. And this is what we are going to do.
In a more technical sense, this is not a portrait. This is, rather, what specialist would call a tronie, a study on expression and fashion: the movement of the head, eyes and mouth, the turban's folds and color -an ultramarine blue made out of lapis lazuli. But you will also make a portrait out of it. You will personalize it, the tronie will become your portrait.
I have been thinking about the techinicalities. They remain technicalities, no more than that. I'll use a 50mm f/1.8, which, in my camera, will become a 75, more or less. I'll need a very open diaphragm. We'll set, for sure, a black background, and we will play with the pearls. I haven't thought about the lighting, but we will find out the best combinations.
Thank you. See you tomorrow.
Un abrazo,
Jesús.
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