(Metroplitan Museum, Gallery 810: Manet & Impressionism. Fri., 01.18.2013. 5 PM.) Re. Soap Bubbles by Thomas Couture --- contemplative atmosphere of muted tones and values; simple domestic objects (books, a drinking glass, etc.) united by soft, diffused light; a pervading quietness. The wistful, pre-Raphaelite youth seems lost in his own thoughts. Couture allows the brush to trail off and get lost from the viewer's gaze where it needs to --- the shirt cuffs are crisp and sharp at the highlights, soft and a bit muted where they turn down and away from the light. Edges do so much to tell us about what we see, they transmit so much information. With the feel of distemper in some areas, rather than oil paint, and with a sombre tonality, the few bright colors that Couture does make use of almost seem to twinkle --- the red in the chair's upholstery, and the filmy, iridescent blues and pinks of the soap bubbles themselves. Bubbles were a symbol of mortality, and used in vanitas, of which this painting is an example, reminding us that man's existence is transient and only of a moment --- "For He remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again." (Psalm 78, King James translation).

^ Soap Bubbles. oil on canvas, ca. 1859. Thomas Couture (1815-1879). Metroplitan Museum of Art, Gallery 810: Manet & Impressionism.