The Solace Project
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Dear Friends,<br/><br/>And now, about that squirrel…. <br/><br/>Over the course of the past three weeks in residence in <a href="https://crystalbridges.org/">Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art</a> in Bentonville, Arkansas, where I held the space for scholars in the <a href="https://crystalbridges.org/reports-and-research/tyson-scholars/tyson-think-tank/">Tyson Think Tank</a>, my focus on the squirrel in Copley’s portrait of Frances Deering Atkinson of 1765 (you can catch up on the back story for this adventure) became a little obsessive.  In my own defense, I would say that that little rodent on the chain attracted more interest than any other part of the painting, and I mean by far.  <br/><br/>Last week I mentioned spending 6 hours over a weekend, perched on a camp stool listening to visitors, talking to them, curious about what they felt, liked, what caught their attention in the picture. I spent more time every day, a grand total of about 26 hours with Frances and her prospective viewers. I say prospective, as if they were suitors coming to meet her, and by and large, they decided to spend their time with the squirrel. In today’s terms, easily 85% of Frances’ viewers swept left and then shifted their gaze to the squirrel.<br/><br/>The squirrel is awfully cute and not at all dangerous in its leashed position on her mahogany table.  A boy in the gallery asked his father, “why is the squirrel awake during the day?”  Smart kid knows that the <a href="https://www.nwf.org/educational-resources/wildlife-guide/mammals/flying-squirrels">northern flying squirrel, Glaucomys sabrinus,</a> is strictly nocturnal. <br/><br/>They live in coniferous forests across the northern states of our country, were quite plentiful in Copley’s day, it’s entirely possible that Frances actually had one as a pet. Most dogs and birds and, in Copley’s case a total of three squirrels, show up in portraits as symbols of discipline. In the iconographic languag
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serenaM
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