Miniatures help put spirit into art.

There are two words that make me love Painting Breathes Life into Sculpture by Jean-Léon Gérôme apart from its academic meanings:  miniature and personification.

Those two words remind me of all the fun time I spent as a little girl playing with my Glamour Gals (basically miniature Barbie dolls) on their cruise ship called The Ocean Queen.


The Glamour Gals, just like all the statues being painted in Gerome's painting, had personalities.  They each had a spirit; or so I believed!  The smallness of the toys made playing with them so interesting because they could fit or "exist" in a super-small world that, to me, was a sort of sub-reality.  I guess that's why Jean-Leon Gerome's painting calls to me because he was able to capture the spirit of play in much the same way a child can create a land of make-believe.

Which leads me to make a note about the dollhouse that's currently on display in the American History Museum in Washington D.C.

I just want to get in there!  I wish Faith Bradford had been my friend growing up so I could join in her land of make-believe with her amazing dollhouse.