This Is Kirk! wrote: ↑Tue Apr 03, 2018 2:31 am
I'll wager that many of us recognized it as RFK in a matter of milliseconds. I know I did.
Yeah, I knew who it was supposed to be within the second it took to discard JFK. Also had to run the math on Teddy to know he only was involved with the liquor Cabinet.
But I thought it was an unrealistic and overly flattering portrayal because Robert never came across as that handsome to me. Looking up images, I think it was his widow's peaks that made him the ugly brother to my adolescent and unrefined masculinometer. History is kind to him, and the portrait should be as well, deservedly so.
I read up on the artist yesterday out of curiosity, especially after I saw the distinct similarity between this RFK portrait and JFK's official presidential portrait. Aaron Shikler was apparently the Kennedys' favourite portrait painter, and Jackie Kennedy commissioned him to paint JFK's official portrait, giving him the instruction that ‘I don’t want him to look the way everybody else makes him look, with the bags under his eyes and that penetrating gaze. I’m tired of that image.’ Shikler's work attracted some critical commentary:
Not unexpectedly, both Kennedy portraits provoked controversy when they were unveiled at the White House in 1971. And when Shikler was later commissioned to do the posthumous painting of Robert Kennedy that now hangs in the Justice Department, Washington Post columnist Maxine Cheshire cattily suggested it was because “[he] is the only artist to paint the Kennedys as they see themselves.” Some critics accused him of romanticizing Jackie and making her somewhat stubby hands long and slender.
There's more here (and in other online sources), but what I've quoted so far certainly backs up the 'flattering' observation.
Bob78164 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 02, 2018 4:35 pm
I'll be curious to find out. Did the players who failed to correctly respond to Final not recognize the person depicted in the portrait or did they not know which Cabinet department he once ran? --Bob
On Reddit, Emily commented that she recognized RFK, just couldn't come up with what cabinet role he held...
Damn you, reddit...
CailinGaoilge wrote: ↑Tue Apr 03, 2018 10:32 pm
I read up on the artist yesterday out of curiosity, especially after I saw the distinct similarity between this RFK portrait and JFK's official presidential portrait.
Definitely the first thing I noticed, though it was more a curio than any help with the clue.