Actually I think what Chris means is that the figure wasn't intended to represent an angel, but rather a random kid from the family that commissioned the painting. I wouldn't want to make a judgment on that without seeing the painting in color and at a better resolution. I'm assuming that the people who studied the painting had a better perspective than we do with the small B&W reproduction.

I don't think the Holy Family was available for portrait sittings in sixteenth-century Flanders either.

Thanks Groucho. I certainly didn't mean to imply that this was evidence of what angels REALLY LOOK LIKE.

As to pronunciation, people on my blog have suggested "gooey duck" and "Bob."

That's what I thought, Mr Pudifoot. Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon.

Yes, it's the Family Guy town. Named after some relative of Ming the Clam, no doubt.

The courgette is the vegetable of shame.

It's a very sensitive portait too. You can tell that the artist was looking at him as an individual rather than just a specimen.

The thing I like about this article is how the child was billed as "beautiful" and an example of "nature's whimsy," etc, rather than as a person with a skin disorder. The people back then didn't know this wasn't a "normal" variation, and they liked it. They thought it was pretty. Of course the child was exploited, but he was also loved and admired. A very interesting peek into a different social milieu

JT, I was just adding my two cents too. Nicholas, that sort of thing drives me crazy. I'm a teacher at a university and every semester I have to fill out a form saying how many of each "race or ethnicity" are in my classes. I just guess based on names and tans, but I've strongly objected to the whole procedure -- like you're never going to run into a blond "hispanic" for instance...And why is it anybody's business but their own what ethnicity people identify with?

The exhibition also includes Marie-Sabina, etc., but I was mainly interested in George Alexander because of the stunning portrait and the strange relationship between him and his manager/guardian. Vitiligo is particularly interesting for the racial ambiguities and questions it raised at the time. Now it's a fairly well known and not very dramatic skin disorder, but then it had powerful philosophical and social implications.

The Royal College of Surgeons uses the terms piebaldism on this site, which deals with historical cases, and vitiligo on another site referring to more modern cases.

Nice one!

I especially liked the liturgical dance...

Same here Sid.