John Bradley, born in the UK, birth and death dates unknown, was an American artist active in New York in the 1820s and 30s. His specialty was portraiture, often with animals present. For me, the painting of the boy feeding rabbits has the extra element of fairy tale.
Absent Prince Wisps of cloud above an embattled tower; behind the window sits, one could wish, Rapunzel, tresses ready to be unfurled; a golden pathway, sans perspective, rises to a shut gate, while all around firs taper skywards. And the prince stands on the lawn absently feeding rabbits, blank faced, as if the artist’s easel in fact supported a barely nascent, yet-to-be light box, its shutter open too long for revelation. Something about this prince, his back turned, undoes adventure, appetite, appeal—no heed does he give to: the critter at his feet, up on its haunches, striving; what’s there to be grasped— . . . a song floating by . . . 1st published in The Ekphrastic Review, June, 2022
What a strange painting and you did it justice, for it is strangely beautiful as is your poem, with a song floating by……
Fine!