"one day, quite some time ago, i happened on a photograph of napoleon's youngest brother, jerome, taken in 1852. and i realized then, with an amazement i have not been able to lessen since: 'i am looking at eyes that looked at the emperor.' sometimes i would mention this amazement, but since no one seemed to share it, nor even to understand it (life consists of these little touches of solitude), i forgot about it."-roland barthes.
excerpted from "the specialty of photography" the first essay in Camera Lucida
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i have always found inspiration in this simple passage. i wrote an essay on it in college because it just amazed me that much. and were roland barthes not dead, and i able to speak more than just a few snippets of french, i would tell him i understand his amazment. and that i most certainly share it, because indeed i do.
(the irony of this post is that i was unable to find a photograph of jerome bonaparte, only this drawing of him and his wife. i thought it looked realistic enough to illustrate the point here)
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