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Frodo, in Ford Madox Brown's 'The Hayfield' (reduced approximately fifty per cent):
Detail of Frodo's side of the painting, slightly reduced:
Frodo's face, detail, from full-size image:
Tables of Links:
~ Mechtild
This manip was created to complement jan-u-wine's new poem, A Fairer Than Most Birth-day. She wrote it as this year's birthday mathom, but, since I already had prepared a Baggins Birthday post, showcasing a poem written several years ago from Bilbo's point of view--with a Frodo Art Travesty to go with it--I didn't post it. I promised myself, however, that I'd make a post for the new poem, complete with its own illustration.
The featured poem, which celebrates the renewed post-war Shire as seen through Frodo's eyes, cried out for Shire imagery. Since I'd already screencapped every trilogy scene set in the Shire, I decided a new Frodo Art Travesty was called for. The resulting image, Frodo in Ford Madox Brown's "The Hayfield", captures well for me the mood of subdued but intense reverie in Jan's poem, especially at the poem's end, when the time has become dusk and the moon has risen.
Source for Frodo figure:
The source for Frodo's image is a well-known publicity shot for FotR. I believe it was taken by Pierre Vinet, the photographer who did most of the gorgeous production stills for the trilogy. I love this image. Frodo looks young, yet wise, fresh-faced and bonny-cheeked, yet worn and grubby, warm, yet reserved, keenly observing, yet reflective.
Here is a reduced version of the shot:
Source for background:
Ford Madox Brown was a Victorian-era painter often associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. Although never a formal member, Brown was from the Brotherhood's beginnings an important associate and acted as a mentor to its members. He gave lessons in oil painting to Dante Gabriel Rossetti, at the younger artist's request (who soon quit, a lax student), and produced an essay on historical painting for the group's magazine The Germ (1850). He kept an unvarnished and detailed diary which offers many insights into the life and work of the Pre-Raphaelite circle. Nevertheless, Brown had his own style and approach to art, although he used the detail and rich colours admired by the Pre-Raphaelites, as well as being drawn to dramatic and illustrative subject matter.
Born in Calais of British parents in 1821, he was shifted about between England and France as a child. A talent for drawing was noted and he began studying painting and drawing seriously from an early age. Although he was a proficient artist, his work much appreciated after his death, he was mostly ignored by the art establishment of his day, who saw him as an outsider, unwilling to compromise. He never made much money from his work. As principled and passionate in life as in art, he could be perceived as prickly in temperament, although he was considered a self-sacrificing and loyalfriend. He died in 1890. To see more of his work, browse ArtMagick's online collection here.
The painting was acquired by the Tate Gallery in 1974. A writer for their online site says of it,
Brown painted "The Hayfield" (oil on mahogany) directly from nature. The setting is the Tenterden estate at Hendon, in north London, looking east at twilight. He worked on the picture regularly from July until October 1855, finishing the details of the foreground in his studio, including the self-portrait of an artist relaxing in the lower left corner. The effect he particularly sought to capture was the way in which the brown hay was made to appear almost pink by contrast with the dense green grass. After it was finished his dealer rejected it on the grounds that he had never seen hay of this colour. Brown later retouched the painting before selling it to his friend and fellow artist William Morris.Brown, like a certain manip-maker and LJ user, was apparently a noted maniac for continually tweaking his work, fiddling and re-touching paintings even after they had been sold. To see the Tate's online image of the painting, which although small and indistinct gives a hint of the "pink hay", click here.
Ford Madox Brown's The Hayfield, 1855:
The Final Manip (skip this if how-to's bore you):
Starting out, I thought it would be a lot easier to import an entire figure into a painting than just a face or head. As it turned out, trying to nuance Frodo's head into a painting is a lot easier than insinuate an entire figure of Frodo. The main problem is matching textures. "The Hayfield", which is not in good condition, presented a challenge. The large scan I worked from was much better than the tiny files I found on the internet, but it showed clearly the network of small to large surface cracks that covered the painting's surface, especially noticeable in its lower left hand corner. How could I make the perfect Pierre Vinet photograph look more a part of the original painting?
I did a lot of experimenting, but ended up first smoothing the painting. After I had diminished the obviousness of the surface cracking, I carefully cut Frodo out of the publicity still (I worked from a high-resolution file), slapped him provisionally onto the painting, and fiddled until I got the size and position I thought looked best. Then I darkened and tinted the source scene (increasing the blue), to bring out the soft glow of the moon and deepen the dusk, adjusting the figure of Frodo to match. Then I worked a bit at trying to texture the Frodo image. I added filters in fairly translucent layers: "eggshell crackle", "film grain-rough", and "crayon-faded rub". These added character and broke up the photographic surface a bit, but did not add the crackled surface that matched the painting, a crackle pattern that nothing in my standard tools could produce. Discouraged, I decided what I had would have to do.
I saved the image as a jpg file (in which the layers can no longer be worked with separately) and, with the clone tool set at various transparencies, worked at nuancing the edges of the imported image, bringing background colour in and Frodo's colours out, painting in strands of hair, bringing strands out. Once he was well-integrated into the background, I could see that he still stood out from the painting, his texture too photographic. With a selection tool, I isolated his image and played around some more, further adjusting the colour and lighting, trying different filters to see if another combination would work, but the improvement was minor. Then it occurred to me to take a peek into the effects/filters available in Paint Shop Pro, a program I've only started to work with. Happily, after a lot of trial and error, I tried a texturing effect called "tinfoil". Adjusted, it produced the best semblance of the painting's crackle by far. I applied it, deemed the crackle it produced good, but too harsh. Thin layers of "watercolur-rain" and " watercolur-traditional" blended everything better. With a last, very light layer of "eggshell crackle" over the whole thing, I felt satisfied. Yet, like Brown himself, I still itch to tweak it. Every time I look at it I see room for improvement. With effort, I am forcing myself to let the "final draft" be final.
Frodo, in Ford Madox Brown's 'The Hayfield' (reduced approximately fifty per cent):
A Fairer Than Most Birth-day
It is my
birth-day.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
True-silver,
the dawn,
light-leaf
shimmering
in the grey,
sky-lake
clouds,
tattered pink
drifting
and giving way
to a brass'd
and
fleeted summer
Sun.
Later,
fog-wisps
yet lying
chill
in dips and
hollows,
my feet find
the narrow
curve
of the road,
its face dark with
the wet cling
of frost,
crystal dew-gems,
(like a drift of autumn snow-arrows)
lying upon lace-puzzle spider webs.
I shall walk
very far
this day;
so far, I imagine,
that the stars
shall rise
and sing
within the velvet catch-bowl
of the sky
before ever
I turn towards
Home.
The night air
will be sweet and heavy
with Harvest,
the wind warm
with the slightest
salt of the Sea,
the sharpness of it
like a secret
unfolding in
the midnight
strike of a clock.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
At the last, I stand
upon the crown of
the Hill,
the jewel'd finery of night
winking and
captured above me,
the soft amber-gold
of tallow-fat candles
beckoning below....
Like a friendly hand upon
a wanderer's strayed arm,
these kindly lights,
like Spring days and Summer nights,
like safe-within-Winter.
And I turn to Home,
my feet finding the familiar way,
road-dust rising fine
and autumn-leaf scented
about me,
smooth-limbed trees
unmoving
beneath my touch,
.
yellow-yolked Moon
pulling
sleep-cloaked song
from hidden thistle-birds.
The round door closes behind me,
hinges
lightly heralding the season's change.
I smile and touch it,
as if it were a beloved face
I should not like to forget.
So many things to touch,
to love,
to remember,
on this,
my birth-day.
September 22, 1420, S.R.**
____________________________
**this extraordinary year, in which the devastated Shire was renewed, was called "The Great Year of Plenty". It was also the last year Frodo celebrated his birthday at Bag End.
Detail of Frodo's side of the painting, slightly reduced:
Frodo's face, detail, from full-size image:
Tables of Links:
~ Frodo Art Travesty LJ entries (entries that present selected manips, which may feature notes on the paintings and manip techniques, as well as essays or poems).
~ Album of all Frodo Art Travesties (a gallery of images only—be sure to enlarge images after opening).
~ All entries featuring jan-u-wine's poems.
~ Mechtild
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From:
no subject
The round door closes behind me,
hinges
lightly heralding the season's change.
I smile and touch it,
as if it were a beloved face
I should not like to forget.
*sigh*
From:
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Jan's poem is lovely, with all the love and sorrow of that last autumn woven through the verses.
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That's one of my favorite pics of Frolijah. There he looks like book Frodo to me. Intellectually discerning and cahllenging--try to pull one over on him at your own risk of being subtly lambasted, such that you won't know how badly you were insulted until later that evening, or perhaps not until the next morning. Bingo's key words with his icon of it are, "homeowner bingo, polite, try me, bingo hobbit of leisure, dry, gentlehobbit."
This poem is so beautifully bittersweet, which is where Frodo is all that year. Dawn, day passed in a phrase, then dusk.
the velvet catch-bowl
of the sky
I love that phrase.
Like a friendly hand upon
a wanderer's strayed arm,
these kindly lights,
like Spring days and Summer nights,
like safe-within-Winter.
The place he stood before he left on the quest. And what he fought for--all the beauty and warmth there is, only to be observed by standing beyond it--so sad. Jan's caught it all there.
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I also love what you said about the poem. It's so full of appreciation for the Shire, so full of finely observed moments - but observed as if for the last time. Yes, it's all there.
From:
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That description is absolutely spot-on, Mechtild!! And he really looks as if he's always been in that painting! Reading the details of how you achieved this effect leaves me in complete awe!!
Jan-u-wine's verse is so beautiful - and heart-wrenching, knowing Frodo will never celebrate his birthday in the Shire again:)
From:
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So many things to touch,
to love,
to remember,
on this,
my birth-day.
broke my heart when I realized which birthday it was.
From:
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The poem is lovely and so wistful. Since we know it's Frodo's last birthday in his beloved Shire, that makes it quite poignant.
From:
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From:
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Had to say this before I get into the read. hugs you xooxox v
From:
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The words were amazing. "sing within the velvet catch-bowl of the sky" I read over and over and rolled these words in my mind.
"Like a friendly hand upon
a wanderer's strayed arm" Oh...me in NYC!
"The round door closes behind me,
hinges
lightly heralding the season's change.
I smile and touch it,
as if it were a beloved face
I should not like to forget.
So many things to touch,
to love,
to remember,"
Senses are so hightened in the words written here. I felt this day, even today as it was a warm day, lots of wind, golden leaves flying (much to my neighbors and husbands chagrin). It was 75 degrees and signaled the end of a gorgeous fall as tomorrow the cold of a border winter enters with rain.
I love this and am amazed at how you can do the magic you do in this picture, and met with the words are magestic.
hugs you both close. xooxoxox v
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You mention a "border winter". Near which border do you live? It sounds as though you have been having a warm, golden autumn.
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If you live near Cincinatti, Verangel, did you by chance go to the LOTR Museum Exhibit when it was in Indianapolis? Cincinatti's not that far from there (well, it's waaay closer than here). I ask because I drove down for it and loved it. I'd like to think of you having seen it while it was there, even if not in the same week or month.
From:
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hugs xoxooxxoo v
From:
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Nope, it was even longer ago than that ("how time flies!"). I looked on the calendar and I drove there Oct. 20, 2005. I saw FOTR that night at the museum's IMAX (I was almost too exhausted by the 10+ hour drive to stay awake, unfortunately), TTT the next night, went to the exhibit on Sat. the 22nd, and saw ROTK that night. It was so terrific. I agree about Boromir in the boat. He looked so REAL! It sounds funny even to me, but seeing the effigy they made of him, because it looked so like him, but also was third-dimensional, existing in my own space, so that if permitted I could have reached out and touched him, made the character and death of Boromir that much more real (and touching) for me. The other highlight for me, maybe the greatest thing, was seeing the costumes and props in person, and so closely, with no digital grading to obscure the details.
I was in awe of the work the artists did: the detail, the quality, the way the designs suited each characters, the aging done on everything. How dedicated, on fire for the project, and invested in doing their best work all those artists had to be. I felt as though I were looking at actual antique clothing and objects, the sort that would be kept under glass in museums, in fair to middling to excellent condition, a lot of it as exquisite as the most beautifully made religious vestments or robes meant for coronation wear in some earlier era. Seeing these things in the films, even on a huge screen, did not prepare me for how excellently everything was made. How I'd love to be able to see all the major pieces for the films displayed one day: Frodo's and Bilbo's costumes, for instance, Faramir's coronation costume, all of Eowyn's things (were ANY costumes for Eowyn shown?), and everything Elrond wore (he had stunning clothes), plus more of the books. The book that Saruman browsed, talking about the Balrog the Fellowship would soon run into, was just to die for. To think there were pages and pages like the ones we could see in the display! And all of the books and papers just lying around for visual interest were just as good!
Well, as you can see, I can go on and on. I'll stop now. But how cool that you got to go. I think seeing that exhibit was one of the highpoints of my museum-going (and loving) life.
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Thank you for sharing.
-- Estë
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From: (Anonymous)
no subject
This picture must be one of the most favoured images for Frodo fans, myself included. I wonder if it was EW's intention to be in character here? For me he is Frodo through and through. Who knows what he might be thinking behind that enigmatic expression?
Jan's poem is so beautifully descriptive, it's difficult to lift out a specific quote, but I love this:
Later,
fog-wisps
yet lying
chill
in dips and
hollows,
my feet find
the narrow
curve
of the road,
its face dark with
the wet cling
of frost,
crystal dew-gems,
(like a drift of autumn snow-arrows)
lying upon lace-puzzle spider webs.
Thank you both.
~ Blossom.
From:
no subject
I love the word you used for Frodo's expression in that publicity still: "enigmatic". I said he seems this but that, that but this, but "enigmatic" would have said it all. :) It's a fabulous shot. "For me he is Frodo through and through", you wrote. That is probably the quintessential Frodo portrait from the films for me, too.
Thanks for stopping in, Blossom, and I'm so happy you enjoyed the manip. And I can't agree you more about jan-u-wine's poem. She has just a gift for painting in words, and especially through the eyes of her characters.
P.S. If you want the full-sized file of the whole manip, let me know. I think it would fit in an email. It was too large for either my free Photobucket or Scrapbook accounts to host without automatically shrinking it. It's 20.7 MB, 3178 x 2273 pixels.
From: (Anonymous)
no subject
Thank you so much for the offer of a larger version of the whole manip. Oh, yes please! That is, if it wouldn't be too much trouble for you ~ though I'm not sure if an e-mail attachment will take the 20.7 MB file size. Mine is supposed to transfer files of up to 20 MB, but I've never
tried sending anything as large as that myself. If it won't send, don't worry. I've already set the version used here as my desktop background, and it looks great!
Many thanks again.
~ Blossom.
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Of course a beautiful heart tugging poem by jan-u-wine!
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[oops: editing blooper]
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The manip "speaks" to me. It made me lean back, look at it for a very long time and it made me think and dream. So very soft and peaceful.
"Like a friendly hand upon
a wanderer's strayed arm,
these kindly lights,
like Spring days and Summer nights,
like safe-within-Winter."
It goes perfect with Jan's amazing poem.
She's always so in the character she's writing about -she's simply amazing.
"The round door closes behind me,
hinges
lightly heralding the season's change.
I smile and touch it,
as if it were a beloved face
I should not like to forget.
So many things to touch,
to love,
to remember ..."
*sighs*
Thanks to both of you.
Love and big tight hugs,
Julchen
From:
no subject
From:
fairer than most....
*I* loved Mech's vision so much that it has been commissioned as a *real* painting. I hope that I'll be able to share it with everyone soon!
I do hope that you are doing well, dear. It's been a difficult year, a very difficult year.
take care, dear heart.
jan
From: (Anonymous)
Thank you
not to give up is beyond my ken)--
J's words match it perfectly -- my favorite line
is "safe-within-Winter"...
There is do much joy and heartache in the art
and in the poem.
Thank you both!
Mart
From:
Re: Thank you
From: (Anonymous)
Typo--previous entry was Mary, not Mart!
the original painting and artist. Very enjoyable!
Mary
From:
Re: Typo--previous entry was Mary, not Mart!