THE THEORY THAT SMILES WERE DIFFICULT FOR THE ARTIST.

THE THEORY THAT SMILES WERE DIFFICULT FOR THE ARTIST. Another theory, which I have always subscribed to, is simply that a smile is difficult to maintain for more than a few moments, a problem for posing for early photographs and also for modeling for a portrait. People in group photographs are still asked to hold their expressions,even though saying “cheese” is a poor way to hold a smile—at least for me. Painting a mouth that doesn’t hold still is a similar challenge. Jeeves presents a study for a portrait by John Singer Sargent beside the finished portrait. The lady in the study is smiling; in the portrait she isn’t. Sargent—famed for his skill—had not been not satisfied. Jeeves quotes Sargent: “A portrait is a picture of a person with something wrong with the mouth.”