Vrouwen en engelen kronen een borstbeeld van Gioachino Rossini Possibly 1903 - 1923

Henri Fantin-Latour made this lithograph of women and angels crowning a bust of Gioachino Rossini, we don’t know exactly when, but it's now at the Rijksmuseum. The lithographic crayon makes soft marks, like a hazy dream. I imagine Fantin-Latour trying to capture a fleeting vision. The kind of image that appears in your mind's eye and then vanishes. He’s evoking music, but also memory, and femininity. The winged figure is great—she’s a kind of floating muse, about to conduct an orchestra of ghosts. It makes me think about creativity and inspiration. I wonder if it was difficult to make, or perhaps it emerged effortlessly. The way forms are emerging from the shadows, reminds me of Odilon Redon. But I’m also put in mind of contemporary art, as well as historical art. Artists are always in conversation with each other, across time, responding to what came before, and imagining what might come next.