The Serious and the Smirk

Caravaggio’s Amor Vincit Omnia (Triumphant Eros), 1602 — Caravaggio’s *Amor Vincit Omnia* (“Triumphant Eros”), 1602

The other day I decided to look up Nicholas Jeeves, who taught me when I attended an exchange program at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge (UK), over a decade ago.

A lot of his work was new to me, as was this essay, first published in The Public Domain Review. It's an essay that explores the history of the smile through the ages of portraiture, and an especially nice read as I make my way through The Story of Art. His mention of Gerrit van Honthorst's The Laughing Violinist (1624) put a great big smile on my face.