# The Painter of the Heroic explained — Lavengro

> Chapter companion for Lavengro by George Borrow.

## What happens

The narrator and his brother visit a heroic painter in London to commission a portrait of the mayor of their old town. The painter, struggling financially and scorned by his peers, agrees to the commission for a hundred pounds. He discusses his heroic art and his current work, 'Pharaoh dismissing Moses from Egypt,' and later expresses interest in painting the narrator as Pharaoh. The narrator declines, suggesting Jasper Petulengro instead. The painter eventually paints the mayor but substitutes his own short legs for the mayor's, resulting in a failed heroic portrait. The narrator reflects on the painter's wasted comic talent and the unsuitability of English subjects for heroic art.

## Themes in this chapter

### Freedom vs. Convention

The painter's struggle between his heroic ambitions and the practical demands of portrait painting highlights the tension between artistic freedom and commercial convention.

### Social Class and Gentility

The depiction of the mayor and the painter's disdain for 'low' comic art reflect class distinctions and the pursuit of gentility in art.

## Character check-ins

### Lavengro

Accompanies his brother to the painter's studio, observes the painter's work, and later declines to sit as Pharaoh, suggesting Jasper Petulengro instead.

### George Borrow

The narrator's brother, who commissions the painter to paint the mayor and discusses art with him.

### Jasper Petulengro

Mentioned as a possible model for Pharaoh, but deemed too short by the narrator's brother.

## Key lines

> The painter of the heroic resided a great way off, at the western end of the town.

The heroic painter lived far away, in the western part of the city.

_Establishes the painter's remote location in London._

> I intend this to be my best picture

I plan for this to be my finest work.

_The painter's aspiration for his current heroic painting._

> I have no wish to appear on canvas

I do not want to be painted.

_The narrator's refusal to model as Pharaoh._

> I have no idea of making heroic pictures out of English mayors, even with the assistance of Norman arches

I do not believe heroic paintings can be made from English mayors, even with symbolic elements like Norman arches.

_The narrator's critique of the painter's approach and the unsuitability of English subjects for heroic art._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/xxxviii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lavengro_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lavengro_se/chapters