If you ever thought art curators should get
out a bit more here’s something to nail that prejudice home. Tate curator Carol
Jacobi has discovered a phallic symbol in John Everett Millais’s painting
Isabella. So far so good. It’s the shadow cast on the table by the guy
extending his leg. Jacobi goes on to say that the shadow-shaft “dramatically
changes the way we see the work.” Um… ok. Then, starting to drift a bit, she goes on “It
gives us a different view of the Victorians”. Maybe. Unfortunately things go all to hell as
she winds up, “We can assume it’s deliberate, so then that raises the question:
what’s it there for?”
Image: Isabella by John Everett Millais
