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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Annette Witherby on Sunday 25 August 19 06:36 BST (UK)
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Hi, could someone please identify the subject of this photo - the family think he was an opera singer. He was painted by my husband's aunt when she was 15 years old in 1929.
Thank you.
Annette.
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How about Enrico Caruso
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It is strange but I had not considered anyone so famous.
I will go looking at pictures now - thankyou for your suggestion to compare.
Many thanks, Annette
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I was thinking it was like when I was a teenager and girls drew pictures of the Beatles. Copied from album covers or posters.
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Certainly this could have been the case. Gee I wish I was one of those teenagers again!
I will definitely explore the possibility of Caruso sitting in my dining room with me. Yes sounds good to me.
Thankyou, Annette
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Not sure about that, looks like an Indian person to me. The headwear seems quite distinctive.
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Not sure about that, looks like an Indian person to me. The headwear seems quite distinctive.
Or in costume? If an opera singer, this could be a representation of a character in an opera. Aida?
added: no, sorry, more likely Mozart's Il Seraglio which has Turkish characters
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See here, the pointy part of the top of the turban is a khulla, worn by some regiments of the Indian Army
http://www.militarysunhelmets.com/2013/turbans-of-the-indian-army
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Not sure about that, looks like an Indian person to me. The headwear seems quite distinctive.
Or in costume? If an opera singer, this could be a representation of a character in an opera. Aida?
Not sure why someone would be depicted in Indian dress for an opera set in ancient Egypt ;D. I think the person looks more genuinely Indian than a performer made up.
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There's the Pearl Fishers as a possible, Mozart and Rossini wrote operas with Turkish settings and Lakmé is set in India.
Look at the chin and Caruso's a possible. ;D
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Not sure about that, looks like an Indian person to me. The headwear seems quite distinctive.
Or in costume? If an opera singer, this could be a representation of a character in an opera. Aida?
Not sure why someone would be depicted in Indian dress for an opera set in ancient Egypt ;D. I think the person looks more genuinely Indian than a performer made up.
You're quite right Melba - I added a Turkish character (Mozart Il Seraglio) to the options, but that was before I saw your post re the Indian Turban design.
I was just going by the Opera Singer description and trying to think of appropriate scenarios. Forgive me for the Aida ref which is of course Egyptian. Can't think of any Indian characters in operas at present, so perhaps the chap is Indian himself. Very exotic moustache ;) :D
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But Caruso died in 1921, aged 48 and wasn't quite so slender as this image.....
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Not sure about that, looks like an Indian person to me. The headwear seems quite distinctive.
Or in costume? If an opera singer, this could be a representation of a character in an opera. Aida?
Not sure why someone would be depicted in Indian dress for an opera set in ancient Egypt ;D. I think the person looks more genuinely Indian than a performer made up.
You're quite right Melba - I added a Turkish character (Mozart Il Seraglio) to the options, but that was before I saw your post re the Indian Turban design.
I was just going by the Opera Singer description and trying to think of appropriate scenarios. Forgive me for the Aida ref which is of course Egyptian. Can't think of any Indian characters in operas at present, so perhaps the chap is Indian himself. Very exotic moustache ;) :D
It appears it may have been more common in the areas of British India that are now in Pakistan -
https://www.encyclopedia.com/sports-and-everyday-life/fashion-and-clothing/clothing-jewelry-and-personal-adornment/turbans
"In most parts of India turbans are worn wrapped directly around the bare head of the wearer. However, in modern-day Pakistan and especially the areas near Iran, Afghanistan, and central Asia, turbans are wrapped over the top of a soft cap called a topi or a rigid cap covered with embroidery called a kulah…"
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I tried a reverse image search, but nothing came up
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Btw, it's a drawing not a photo, isn't it?
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Btw, it's a drawing not a photo, isn't it?
The OP says it was a painting, but started out by saying photo :), watercolours I think. It appears the khulla or kulah may simply be a Muslim thing, as various Ottoman Sultans seems to be wearing something resembling it. So perhaps it could be from Il Seraglio, or Rossini's Il Turco in Italia. I can't find any mention of Caruso performing in those operas however.
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And Caruso died aged 48 in 1921, about 8 years before OP believes this image was created.
And at 48 he didn’t look like this handsome youth.
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Opera singer could also refer to someone who sang in one of the many operettas that were popular in the 1920s, possibly more likely to appeal to a teenager than formal opera.
Mike
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And Caruso died aged 48 in 1921, about 8 years before OP believes this image was created.
And at 48 he didn’t look like this handsome youth.
I am thinking it may have just been an image that captured her imagination, that appeared in a magazine or journal, something like National Geographic perhaps.
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This is the most flattering one I can find of a (youthful) Caruso.
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It simply looks like a romantic fantasy picture to me. Not very distinctive except for the costume.
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Thankyou all, I think I far prefer my fellow sitting on the wall - in fact I have gone right off Caruso.
Maybe I was never meant to give him a name!
Best wishes all, Annette
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Attila the Hun??
Just throwing something into the ring for consideration. He does at least have a beard ad moustache in pictures of him - hot quite as extreme as those in your painting, but . . . . . ;D ;D
Wiggy ;)