“Museum Critic”

IN THIS PAINTING FOR A 1955 Post COVER Rockwell plays a variation on the time-honored theme of paintings coming to life. An earnest young artist (Norman Rockwell's oldest son, Jerry, is the model) uses a magnifying glass to study the brushwork used for the locket on the bosom of a buxom young woman (posed by Mary, Rockwell's second wife) who appears to belong to the school of Rubens.

Lost in this detail, he does not notice the coquettish smile and wide-eyed amusement that his act has provoked. Nor does he see the perturbed expressions on the faces of three bearded observers who reside on an adjacent canvas of the school of Frans Hals.

This painting begs the question: Was Rockwell making a wry point in this work? Was he warning young artists against the danger of paying too much attention to detail at the expense of the whole work?

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