Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 July 29

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July 29

Who is "Lady Gort"?

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Lord Gort (commanding the British Expeditionary Force) and Lady Gort, with General Staff officers at the Staff College in Camberley, prior to the departure of Lord Gort and his staff to France, November 1939

According to the file description, which I have copied as the caption, this 1939 picture includes Lord & Lady Gort. The source also says Lady Gort Now Gort was divorced in 1925. So who is the woman in the lighter-coloured outfit? Bonus points for any of the other people portrayed (the Gloucesters are second and third from the left in the front row, Gort is fifth). Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 00:19, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

Good question. FWIW, I have been unable to find any mention of a second marriage by Vereker Lord Gort, or any image of Lady Gort (née Corinna Katherine Blatt Vereker). [Edited to correct my error – they were second cousins, and had the same surname: Blatt was the name of her second husband, per Alansplodge below.]

Our article Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom mentions that "Any woman who marries a peer uses the feminine version of his peerage title . . . In case of a divorce, she may keep the same style as during marriage." So it's not unlikely that she continued to be known as Lady Gort.

In the absence of any information about the divorce and subsequent circumstances, it's possible that the two remained on, or returned to, good terms, and that she accompanied him on certain occasions. I note in passing that she died in October 1940, only 11 months after this photograph was taken. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.57.208 (talk) 08:08, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

As regards the name, does it have any connection to Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still)? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 09:30, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

Probably not, but would still have been a well-known name in the early 1950s (in the UK at least). Alansplodge (talk) 11:54, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

The Viscouncy of Gort, originally in the Irish peerage, is named for the town of Gort in County Galway, Ireland. In the 1940 short story by Harry Bates on which the film was based, the robot was named Gnut, so the name Gort was presumably conferred by American Edmund H. North's 1951 screenplay. North does not appear to have had any Irish connections, so perhaps he invented the name spontaneously without influence by the town or title. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.57.208 (talk) 21:28, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

Perhaps. Audio recordings are central to the novel on which the movie is based, and the movie title is enough in accordance with the impression the world broadcasts were under the sudden results of the mechanical advance of the Wehrmacht, in May 1940. Our image of robots has become associated with cybernetic instead. But North wouldn't even have needed to come to the idea himself. --Askedonty (talk) 14:31, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

In November 1939, command of the college passed from Bernard Paget to Robert Collins, who I was unable to find a picture of. The tall officer at the back bears some resemblance to Paget, assuming that he ever had a moustache. The chap next to Gort might be Henry Pownall who was Gort's Chief of General Staff in the BEF. Alansplodge (talk) 11:52, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

Someone who ought to be there is Philip de Fonblanque - picture here - but I can't pick him out. Alansplodge (talk) 12:27, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

Another candidate is Douglas Brownrigg, the Adjudent-General to the BEF. The real-life Colonel Blimp, our article politely doesn't describe the mess he made of the defence of the Channel Ports, after which he was rapidly retired to the Home Guard. His picture is here. Alansplodge (talk)

Other staff members were Wilfrid Gordon Lindsell, Philip Neame {picture here), Sydney Rigby Wason (no article but a picture here) and Ridley Pakenham-Walsh. Alansplodge (talk) 17:51, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

The Scotsman hiding behind the Duke of Gloucester might be Captain Howard Kerr, the duke's long-term equerry. Alansplodge (talk) 18:05, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

• Have you considered the possibility that the caption is correct, and the woman pictured is his former wife (ie… Lady Gort)? Blueboar (talk) 12:17, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

I think "The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195" mentions it above. Alansplodge (talk) 16:45, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

This painting may be the same Lady Gort: [1]. --Amble (talk) 23:45, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

Corinna Katherine Vereker "...married, secondly, Edgar Charles Blatt, son of Edgar Blatt, on 26 April 1930. She died on 5 October 1940 at age 49. After her marriage, Corinna Katherine Vereker was styled as Viscountess Gort on 23 February 1911. From 26 April 1930, her married name became Blatt". I'm beginning to suspect an error in captioning. Alansplodge (talk) 11:09, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

Panel painting in late Byzantine art

I realized that I haven't seen a single late Byzantine panel painting (between 13th and 15th century), including the portraits of emperors by native artists. While by 15th century there were lots of European panel portraits with oil, tempera, etc of nobles, monarchs and lay people, it seems that in late Byzantine art there weren't as popular compared to mosaics and illuminated manuscripts. Why? 212.180.235.46 (talk) 11:13, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

The article Oil Painting implies that the technique simply was not available / widely used in these times. As to the rest: Tempera mutantur, as one may mumble, tongue in cheek. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 14:36, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

There is a small amount of information on the time period's art at Byzantine art#Palaeologan age. According to that, the primary medium at the time was fresco. --Jayron32 14:39, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

"Painted panels assumed a new importance in the last phase of Byzantine art. The most sophisticated work was done at Constantinople, some of it for patrons from elsewhere (notably Russia), and a number of icons survive that can be associated with Constantinople on the basis of literary evidence or inscriptions" Alansplodge (talk) 17:25, 29 July 2021 (UTC)