Portrait of the Princes Camillo and Francesco Borghese 1778

Editor: Here we have Giuseppe Cades’ “Portrait of the Princes Camillo and Francesco Borghese” from 1778. It's a drawing, a print – a swirl of line and wash really – depicting two little boys. The whole thing has this incredibly delicate, almost dreamlike quality. What do you make of it? Curator: Delicate is a wonderful way to describe it. I see Cades as being delightfully impish here, catching those fleeting expressions of childhood, a skill, of course, found in many other contemporary masters, like Fragonard, yet…different here. Cades’ work has always seemed a bit like a half-remembered dream, hasn't it? Or perhaps a playful theatrical sketch, given those poses! Doesn’t it remind you of the stage? Editor: Yes, there is something theatrical about it. Is that statue behind them, of a pope? It seems rather severe, and contrasts heavily with the boys. Curator: Indeed. An ancestor, no doubt – Pope Paul V. It anchors the composition with a firm statement about lineage and power, doesn’t it? This adds an undercurrent of inherited responsibility. A family blessing if you will. Can you imagine the pressure that entails, and what it will become? Editor: Definitely. That reading, combined with that very imposing figure overlooking the children…that seems key to unlocking it, doesn’t it? The dreamlike element suddenly feels much heavier. Curator: Precisely. It’s about heritage, power, and duty…as much as it is about those cherubic little faces. So beautiful, those princes of destiny. A reflection on a destiny predetermined for those tiny shoulders! What do you make of that reflection? Editor: Ha, indeed – “a dream within a dream!” Thanks so much. I'll look at portraits in a completely different way now.