Word Smith: Veristic
An April, 2024 Wall Street Journal article by Mary Tompkins Lewis describes a famous Jan Van Eyck masterpiece, named “Madonna of Chancellor Rolin” (c. 1435), as uncompromisingly veristic.[1] Not sure what that expression meant exactly, it was time to head to the Oxford-English dictionary:
Veristic … adjective
- (of art or literature) extremely or strictly naturalistic. As in, it was a “veristic cast-wax or terracotta portrait masks.”
Digging deeper still, the word Verism was at the root of the expression. Verism was the name of a realistic style used in Roman art in general and sculpture specifically. The concept of verism principally occurred in portraits of politicians, whose facial imperfections were exaggerated in order to highlight their old age and social gravitas. The word Verism comes from the Latin word Verus, meaning TRUTH. The deep creases in the faces of these politicians certainly reveal truths that plain faces cannot.
Who would you trust?
Henry E. Hooper 