GENERAL DESCRIPTION
One might easily mistake this large-scale painting for a representation of the mythical Greek goddess Diana, accompanied by an attendant and surrounded by her faithful hunting dogs. However, this work is actually a portrait. The allegorical portrait, in which the sitter is depicted in the guise of the gods and goddesses of antiquity, was a particularly popular format in the 17th and early 18th century. Nicholas de Largillière was renowned for his ability to exploit this theatrical device without sacrificing likeness.
As always with Largillière, gesture plays a graceful but deliberately allusive role. The seated countess points with a languid limb behind her at the animal hidden in the shadows, who appears to gaze sadly at the countess's/Diana's luminous form. Meanwhile, the French lion dog in her lap reacts with a violent backward thrust as he recognizes this shadowy beast as the transformed Actaeon. In Ovidian myth, the wrathful Diana turned Actaeon into a stag when she discovered him spying on her as she bathed. Actaeon was then devoured by his own hounds. The countess's sister extends her elegant arms to grasp the bow and arrows that they will use to join in the pursuit.
Excerpt from
Dorothy Kosinski, DMA label copy, 1996.
NOTES
former number according to education doc- T43007.26
AFTER EDITING, SEND TMS INFO TO BMAC FOR ARCHIVING
Checked Piction
Format: Nicolas de Largillière, Portrait of the Comtesse de Monsoreau and Her Sister as Diana and an Attendant, 1714.
Other work after Largilliere in collection- https://www.dma.org/object/artwork/5322964/
While this may at first seem to be the Greek goddess Diana (identified by the crescent moon in her hair) with one of her attendants, it is actually a portrait. Presenting the sitter as a mythological god or goddess was a popular portrait type in early eighteenth-century France. The artist flatters his patron by painting her as Diana, a goddess associated with the virtue of chastity.
From- didactic and label copy in education files, no date or author.
At first, we might mistake this large-scale painting as a representation of the mythical Greek goddess Diana, accompanied by an attendant and surrounded by her faithful hunting dogs. However, this work is actually a portrait. The allegorical portrait, in which the sitter is depicted in the guise of the gods and goddesses of antiquity, was a £articularly pOJ?ular format in the 17 and early 18 century. Largilliere was renowned for his ability to exploit this theatrical device, without sacrificing his task as a portraitist to capture a vivid likeness. Largillierc's talent was not restricted to one type of subject matter. His earliest recorded activity was as a still-life painter in the atelier of the London-based Antonini Goubau (1616-1698).lt should not surprise us, then, that he was an advocate of Jean-Baptiste Oudry, his most famous pupil, as well as the celebrated Jean Simeon Chardin, whose career began when Largilliere was Director of the Academy. Largilliere made an indelible impression on Oudry; evident in the nuanced color harmonies to be found in Oudry's Water Spaniel Confronting a Heron (on view in the next room). The preeminence of Largilliere's distinguished career reflected the acceptance into Academic norms of a new emphasis on naturalism (or the imitation of reality as perceived rather than as invented), a doctrine Largilliere absorbed through his international artistic training, first in Antwerp and then in London. Although accepted, like Hyacinthe Rigaud, the other dominant portraitist of his generation, into the Academy as a history painter, Largilliere'j; fame stemmed from his consummate skill as a portraitist. Unlike Rigaud, the favorite court portraitist of Louis XIV, Largilliere's clientele consisted of the newly ascended Parisian middle class. Although frequently imagined as archrivals, the distinction between the two painters with respect to patronage allowed them to coexist without enmity.
In the Rosenberg Portrait of the Countess of Montsoreau and her sister, Largilliere's characteristic flair and high technical finesse are obvious. The composition, dynamized by diagonal movement throughout, breathes with the pulse ofdirect observation, despite the overtly theatrical artifice ofthe sitters' assumed identities. As always with Largilliere, gesture plays a graceful, but deliberately allusive role. The seated Countess points with a languid limb behind her at the animal hidden in the shadows, who appears to gaze sadly at the Countess'slDiana's luminous form. Meanwhile, the French lion dog in her lap reacts with a violent backward thrust, as he recognizes this shadowy beast as the transformed Actaeon. In Ovidian myth, the wrathful Diana turned Actaeon into a stag when she discovered him spying on her as she bathed. His own hounds then devoured the
unlucky Actaeon. The Countess's sister extends her elegant arms to grasp the bow and arrows that they will use to join in the pursuit. The theme ofDiana and Actaeon was a frequent choice in such double-layered portraits. The allure ofthe beautiful huntress Diana could be flatteringly applied to Largilliere's sitters while at the same time underscoring Diana's, and hence the sitter's virtuous chastity.
Eik Kahng, The Michael L. Rosenberg Collection (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, n.d.), 34-35.
LARGILLIERE:
One of my favorite paintings owned by Mr. Rosenberg is a really wild couple of girls by Nicolas de Largillière, depicting the comtesse de Montsoreau and her sister (see fig. 22, p. 35). It’s an allegorical portrait, a type quite popular in the early eighteenth century, particularly with the aristocracy, in which parallels are being drawn to mythological figures. The countess is acting out the role of Diana. A little crescent moon indicates that she’s Diana. The countess’s sister is reaching up for a quiver of arrows, and there is a bow hanging from the tree. The countess is pointing to the hound in her lap, and in the background there is a deer. [6] It is a rather playful, ironic allusion to the story of Diana and Actaeon, which is a story told in Ovid, and any French spectator of the time would have understood the reference right away.
The story is that Diana and her virgin entourage of nymphs were bathing out in the forest. This young huntsman, Actaeon, moved through the bushes and suddenly came across all these naked girls swimming in a pool. Diana was outraged at being seen in this way and, being a goddess, was able to turn him into a deer and then had him hunted by his own hounds in vengeance. This is the allusion made by Largillière in this very witty portrait done a little bit tongue-in-cheek. The figures are very imaginative with rather wild colors and poses. The work is a reminder that the eighteenth century was not without a great sense of humor. (18)
[6] For an alternate reading, see the essay in this volume by Kathleen Nicholson, p. 35.
Philip Conisbee, "Michael L. Rosenberg's Eighteenth Century," 11-23, in French Art of the Eigteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
By contrast, in the 1714 painting acquired by Michael L. Rosenberg (see fig. 22, p. 35), Diana is conveyed with refreshing informality, warmth, and even playfulness. The comtesse sits comfortably on the ground in casual, contemporary dress. The dogs in each painting are perfect keynotes of the change in mood. In the earlier portrait, Diana’s impressive hunting hound, in the lower left of the painting, looks up at her attentively, ready for action. In the later work, Diana caresses an affectionate lapdog, to which she gestures.
For representing the pantheon of mythological gods and goddesses, artists could turn either to a very long visual tradition in the arts or go to literary sources like Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
While an allegorical portrait of a woman as Diana might allude to the larger narratives of the goddess, it can only just flirt with such themes because its proper task remains that of presenting or preserving the individual’s image for posterity.
They are typically draped with leopard-skin shawls, but other accessories of the hunt, like game, arrows, or quivers, are kept to the lower registers of the compositions so that the focus rests on the charming, usually young-looking, women.19 The Rosenberg painting (fig. 22) contrasts delightfully with that format. “Diana” casually rests on the ground, wearing a loose garment that approximates the category en negligée, a kind of dress only worn indoors, in the intimacy of one’s private space. Her attendant’s clothing is fanciful—and decidedly not classical—in its clingy flow and vibrant reddish color. She is either taking down the prominent bow and quiver, or, more likely, given the comfortable posture of both her sister and the spaniel, hanging them up after a successful foray by a gentler Diana, the huntress of hearts.
Largillière, perhaps with input from his patron, embellished or adjusted the traditional imagery in this canvas to better personalize the theme for her. An eighteenth-century or twenty-first- century viewer who “loves ingenuity” in allegorical reference can discover details that beg to be puzzled over. They are difficult if not impossible to see in an illustration, but apparent when one takes the time while in front of the painting itself. There are, in fact, a trio of dogs in the painting. Furthest back, on the left, in the area behind the comtesse’s head and almost obscured by the dark colors, is a sleek greyhound-like hunting dog with short ears and a long snout. It seems like a souvenir from Largillière’s circa 1685 allegorical portrait of a woman as Diana, or a nod to the long tradition of images of Diana as a fearsome huntress.
In the middle ground, on the left, at the level of the comtesse’s shoulder, is the head of the second dog, facing forward. It appears to be a type of Brittany spaniel or pointer used in hunting in the early eighteenth century. It introduces into the fictive scene a note of present-day
reality and perhaps also masculinity (though women of the era hunted too), in contrast to the King Charles–like spaniel in the immediate foreground, who clearly belongs to the woman. Since attention is called to the dog through the pointing gesture, it would suggest special significance. In caressing her pet as she does, the comtesse reveals its belly and the fact that it is a female, perhaps even a nursing female.
The larger setting also spurs one’s curiosity. While the sea can be glimpsed in the far distance on the right, the immediate scene suggests a woodland glade appropriate to the goddess. Largillière took the time to detail oak leaves, both above the two women and between them, the latter group in lovely autumnal colors. Oaks symbolize a wide range of things, like strength and resilience and lasting friendship. Just how we should read these embellishments remains open. My own interpretation, and it is only an interpretation offered to provoke others from the reader, would have the comtesse a charming bride, no longer needing to hunt for hearts, happy in her new domesticity because—and this is admittedly a stretch—a first child is on the way. Her seemingly younger sister (or friend) looks on with wistful admiration, the younger woman’s flat stomach marked by the shadow of her navel, a remarkable bit of observation on Largillière’s part. In any case the women’s poses, gestures, and slight smiles breathe new life into an allegorical tradition and bring the scene very much to life.
From the evidence of his creative touches and the sheer delightfulness of the works themselves, Largillière clearly enjoyed painting allegorical portraits of women. It seems equally likely that the women who chose to be portrayed allegorically took pleasure in leaving everyday reality behind and assuming the more beguiling characters of goddesses. In so doing, they demonstrated another way that the presumed immutability of identity—and traditional gender roles—might be challenged, suspended, or at least put into question. The Rosenberg portrait offers us an exceptional opportunity to enjoy the ingenuity of both artist and sitter in making such claims through the visual imagery of allegorical portraiture.
UNKNOWN SITTERS-
It is a regrettable fact of art historical research on portraiture in France from the seventeenth through most of the eighteenth centuries that male subjects have recoverable biographical trails, often in detail, while women appear simply as names or, worse, fall into anonymity: Portrait of a Woman is an all too common title, even in Largillière’s oeuvre. Sadly, the identification of the subject is often lost or changed when the work leaves the family and enters the art market. Such a fate makes the problem of matching a woman’s biography to nuances of a particular allegory very tricky indeed.
FASHION PLATES - LOUIS XIV
Such graphic works were a brilliant offshoot of the development of fashion plates that had begun in France in the 1670s. Fashion per se, as well as the fine silks used in the trade, were France’s most important exports, and a source of national pride fostered by Louis XIV himself. The fashion plate producers quickly expanded their repertoires to include scenes illustrating contemporary mores and current trends like the introduction of tobacco. Essentially, these fashion plates informed the general public about modern life, and how to fashion oneself as it progressed. They were inexpensive enough for purchase by a maid or lackey wishing to educate herself or himself.9
Excerpt from
Kathleen Nicholson, "Beguiling Deception: Allegorical Portraiture in Eighteenth-century France," 25-38, in French Art of the Eigteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
Catalogue essays
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Place of origin: France (nation): TGN: 1000070
Process/materials
Historical periods
1714
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
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VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Luminarium.org~Read the story of Diana and Actaeon from Bulfinch's Mythology.
- Harvard Art Museums~View other works by and in the style of Nicholas de Largillière.
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General Description
One might easily mistake this large-scale painting for a representation of the mythical Greek goddess Diana, accompanied by an attendant and surrounded by her faithful hunting dogs. However, this work is actually a portrait. The allegorical portrait, in which the sitter is depicted in the guise of the gods and goddesses of antiquity, was a particularly popular format in the 17th and early 18th century. Nicholas de Largillière was renowned for his ability to exploit this theatrical device without sacrificing likeness.
As always with Largillière, gesture plays a graceful but deliberately allusive role. The seated countess points with a languid limb behind her at the animal hidden in the shadows, who appears to gaze sadly at the countess's/Diana's luminous form. Meanwhile, the French lion dog in her lap reacts with a violent backward thrust as he recognizes this shadowy beast as the transformed Actaeon. In Ovidian myth, the wrathful Diana turned Actaeon into a stag when she discovered him spying on her as she bathed. Actaeon was then devoured by his own hounds. The countess's sister extends her elegant arms to grasp the bow and arrows that they will use to join in the pursuit.
Excerpt from
Dorothy Kosinski, DMA label copy, 1996.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Luminarium.org~Read the story of Diana and Actaeon from Bulfinch's Mythology.
- Harvard Art Museums~View other works by and in the style of Nicholas de Largillière.
Notes
former number according to education doc- T43007.26
AFTER EDITING, SEND TMS INFO TO BMAC FOR ARCHIVING
Checked Piction
Format: Nicolas de Largillière, Portrait of the Comtesse de Monsoreau and Her Sister as Diana and an Attendant, 1714.
Other work after Largilliere in collection- https://www.dma.org/object/artwork/5322964/
While this may at first seem to be the Greek goddess Diana (identified by the crescent moon in her hair) with one of her attendants, it is actually a portrait. Presenting the sitter as a mythological god or goddess was a popular portrait type in early eighteenth-century France. The artist flatters his patron by painting her as Diana, a goddess associated with the virtue of chastity.
From- didactic and label copy in education files, no date or author.
At first, we might mistake this large-scale painting as a representation of the mythical Greek goddess Diana, accompanied by an attendant and surrounded by her faithful hunting dogs. However, this work is actually a portrait. The allegorical portrait, in which the sitter is depicted in the guise of the gods and goddesses of antiquity, was a £articularly pOJ?ular format in the 17 and early 18 century. Largilliere was renowned for his ability to exploit this theatrical device, without sacrificing his task as a portraitist to capture a vivid likeness. Largillierc's talent was not restricted to one type of subject matter. His earliest recorded activity was as a still-life painter in the atelier of the London-based Antonini Goubau (1616-1698).lt should not surprise us, then, that he was an advocate of Jean-Baptiste Oudry, his most famous pupil, as well as the celebrated Jean Simeon Chardin, whose career began when Largilliere was Director of the Academy. Largilliere made an indelible impression on Oudry; evident in the nuanced color harmonies to be found in Oudry's Water Spaniel Confronting a Heron (on view in the next room). The preeminence of Largilliere's distinguished career reflected the acceptance into Academic norms of a new emphasis on naturalism (or the imitation of reality as perceived rather than as invented), a doctrine Largilliere absorbed through his international artistic training, first in Antwerp and then in London. Although accepted, like Hyacinthe Rigaud, the other dominant portraitist of his generation, into the Academy as a history painter, Largilliere'j; fame stemmed from his consummate skill as a portraitist. Unlike Rigaud, the favorite court portraitist of Louis XIV, Largilliere's clientele consisted of the newly ascended Parisian middle class. Although frequently imagined as archrivals, the distinction between the two painters with respect to patronage allowed them to coexist without enmity.
In the Rosenberg Portrait of the Countess of Montsoreau and her sister, Largilliere's characteristic flair and high technical finesse are obvious. The composition, dynamized by diagonal movement throughout, breathes with the pulse ofdirect observation, despite the overtly theatrical artifice ofthe sitters' assumed identities. As always with Largilliere, gesture plays a graceful, but deliberately allusive role. The seated Countess points with a languid limb behind her at the animal hidden in the shadows, who appears to gaze sadly at the Countess'slDiana's luminous form. Meanwhile, the French lion dog in her lap reacts with a violent backward thrust, as he recognizes this shadowy beast as the transformed Actaeon. In Ovidian myth, the wrathful Diana turned Actaeon into a stag when she discovered him spying on her as she bathed. His own hounds then devoured the
unlucky Actaeon. The Countess's sister extends her elegant arms to grasp the bow and arrows that they will use to join in the pursuit. The theme ofDiana and Actaeon was a frequent choice in such double-layered portraits. The allure ofthe beautiful huntress Diana could be flatteringly applied to Largilliere's sitters while at the same time underscoring Diana's, and hence the sitter's virtuous chastity.
Eik Kahng, The Michael L. Rosenberg Collection (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, n.d.), 34-35.
LARGILLIERE:
One of my favorite paintings owned by Mr. Rosenberg is a really wild couple of girls by Nicolas de Largillière, depicting the comtesse de Montsoreau and her sister (see fig. 22, p. 35). It’s an allegorical portrait, a type quite popular in the early eighteenth century, particularly with the aristocracy, in which parallels are being drawn to mythological figures. The countess is acting out the role of Diana. A little crescent moon indicates that she’s Diana. The countess’s sister is reaching up for a quiver of arrows, and there is a bow hanging from the tree. The countess is pointing to the hound in her lap, and in the background there is a deer. [6] It is a rather playful, ironic allusion to the story of Diana and Actaeon, which is a story told in Ovid, and any French spectator of the time would have understood the reference right away.
The story is that Diana and her virgin entourage of nymphs were bathing out in the forest. This young huntsman, Actaeon, moved through the bushes and suddenly came across all these naked girls swimming in a pool. Diana was outraged at being seen in this way and, being a goddess, was able to turn him into a deer and then had him hunted by his own hounds in vengeance. This is the allusion made by Largillière in this very witty portrait done a little bit tongue-in-cheek. The figures are very imaginative with rather wild colors and poses. The work is a reminder that the eighteenth century was not without a great sense of humor. (18)
[6] For an alternate reading, see the essay in this volume by Kathleen Nicholson, p. 35.
Philip Conisbee, "Michael L. Rosenberg's Eighteenth Century," 11-23, in French Art of the Eigteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
By contrast, in the 1714 painting acquired by Michael L. Rosenberg (see fig. 22, p. 35), Diana is conveyed with refreshing informality, warmth, and even playfulness. The comtesse sits comfortably on the ground in casual, contemporary dress. The dogs in each painting are perfect keynotes of the change in mood. In the earlier portrait, Diana’s impressive hunting hound, in the lower left of the painting, looks up at her attentively, ready for action. In the later work, Diana caresses an affectionate lapdog, to which she gestures.
For representing the pantheon of mythological gods and goddesses, artists could turn either to a very long visual tradition in the arts or go to literary sources like Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
While an allegorical portrait of a woman as Diana might allude to the larger narratives of the goddess, it can only just flirt with such themes because its proper task remains that of presenting or preserving the individual’s image for posterity.
They are typically draped with leopard-skin shawls, but other accessories of the hunt, like game, arrows, or quivers, are kept to the lower registers of the compositions so that the focus rests on the charming, usually young-looking, women.19 The Rosenberg painting (fig. 22) contrasts delightfully with that format. “Diana” casually rests on the ground, wearing a loose garment that approximates the category en negligée, a kind of dress only worn indoors, in the intimacy of one’s private space. Her attendant’s clothing is fanciful—and decidedly not classical—in its clingy flow and vibrant reddish color. She is either taking down the prominent bow and quiver, or, more likely, given the comfortable posture of both her sister and the spaniel, hanging them up after a successful foray by a gentler Diana, the huntress of hearts.
Largillière, perhaps with input from his patron, embellished or adjusted the traditional imagery in this canvas to better personalize the theme for her. An eighteenth-century or twenty-first- century viewer who “loves ingenuity” in allegorical reference can discover details that beg to be puzzled over. They are difficult if not impossible to see in an illustration, but apparent when one takes the time while in front of the painting itself. There are, in fact, a trio of dogs in the painting. Furthest back, on the left, in the area behind the comtesse’s head and almost obscured by the dark colors, is a sleek greyhound-like hunting dog with short ears and a long snout. It seems like a souvenir from Largillière’s circa 1685 allegorical portrait of a woman as Diana, or a nod to the long tradition of images of Diana as a fearsome huntress.
In the middle ground, on the left, at the level of the comtesse’s shoulder, is the head of the second dog, facing forward. It appears to be a type of Brittany spaniel or pointer used in hunting in the early eighteenth century. It introduces into the fictive scene a note of present-day
reality and perhaps also masculinity (though women of the era hunted too), in contrast to the King Charles–like spaniel in the immediate foreground, who clearly belongs to the woman. Since attention is called to the dog through the pointing gesture, it would suggest special significance. In caressing her pet as she does, the comtesse reveals its belly and the fact that it is a female, perhaps even a nursing female.
The larger setting also spurs one’s curiosity. While the sea can be glimpsed in the far distance on the right, the immediate scene suggests a woodland glade appropriate to the goddess. Largillière took the time to detail oak leaves, both above the two women and between them, the latter group in lovely autumnal colors. Oaks symbolize a wide range of things, like strength and resilience and lasting friendship. Just how we should read these embellishments remains open. My own interpretation, and it is only an interpretation offered to provoke others from the reader, would have the comtesse a charming bride, no longer needing to hunt for hearts, happy in her new domesticity because—and this is admittedly a stretch—a first child is on the way. Her seemingly younger sister (or friend) looks on with wistful admiration, the younger woman’s flat stomach marked by the shadow of her navel, a remarkable bit of observation on Largillière’s part. In any case the women’s poses, gestures, and slight smiles breathe new life into an allegorical tradition and bring the scene very much to life.
From the evidence of his creative touches and the sheer delightfulness of the works themselves, Largillière clearly enjoyed painting allegorical portraits of women. It seems equally likely that the women who chose to be portrayed allegorically took pleasure in leaving everyday reality behind and assuming the more beguiling characters of goddesses. In so doing, they demonstrated another way that the presumed immutability of identity—and traditional gender roles—might be challenged, suspended, or at least put into question. The Rosenberg portrait offers us an exceptional opportunity to enjoy the ingenuity of both artist and sitter in making such claims through the visual imagery of allegorical portraiture.
UNKNOWN SITTERS-
It is a regrettable fact of art historical research on portraiture in France from the seventeenth through most of the eighteenth centuries that male subjects have recoverable biographical trails, often in detail, while women appear simply as names or, worse, fall into anonymity: Portrait of a Woman is an all too common title, even in Largillière’s oeuvre. Sadly, the identification of the subject is often lost or changed when the work leaves the family and enters the art market. Such a fate makes the problem of matching a woman’s biography to nuances of a particular allegory very tricky indeed.
FASHION PLATES - LOUIS XIV
Such graphic works were a brilliant offshoot of the development of fashion plates that had begun in France in the 1670s. Fashion per se, as well as the fine silks used in the trade, were France’s most important exports, and a source of national pride fostered by Louis XIV himself. The fashion plate producers quickly expanded their repertoires to include scenes illustrating contemporary mores and current trends like the introduction of tobacco. Essentially, these fashion plates informed the general public about modern life, and how to fashion oneself as it progressed. They were inexpensive enough for purchase by a maid or lackey wishing to educate herself or himself.9
Excerpt from
Kathleen Nicholson, "Beguiling Deception: Allegorical Portraiture in Eighteenth-century France," 25-38, in French Art of the Eigteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: France (nation): TGN: 1000070
Process/materials
Historical periods
1714
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
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VIDEO ASSETS
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