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When one thinks and speaks of art, various masterpieces and artists from both the past and recent times come to mind, but rarely would we ever think of a meme — a picture with added text expressing a thought.

However, it’s precisely a recent meme that we want to delve into this time because it’s not just any meme. It features a young bride present in a painting created 157 years ago in France.

Auguste Toulmouche was a 19th-century French painter renowned for his depictions of everyday life scenes and portraits of elegant women. Born in Nantes in 1829, Toulmouche studied at the School of Fine Arts in Paris under the guidance of famous artists of the time.

One of Toulmouche’s recently famous works is “The Reluctant Bride,” a painting that embodies his distinctive style and skill in capturing delicate details. Toulmouche’s career was highly successful, with his works exhibited in numerous shows, earning critical acclaim and public favor. Additionally, he was a member of the prestigious National Society of Fine Arts, showcasing the recognition of his influence in the French artistic landscape of that era.

Auguste Toulmouche can be considered an artist who left an indelible mark on the history of 19th-century French art. Through works like “The Reluctant Bride,” he not only captured the external beauty of his figures but also the emotional and psychological nuances that make them vivid and captivating.

Created in 1866, the artwork depicts a young woman dressed in a sumptuous wedding gown. However, her gaze expresses hesitation and anxiety, capturing an intimate moment that evokes a range of complex emotions.

The choice of the title, “The Reluctant Bride,” suggests that the protagonist is not entirely sure or enthusiastic about her impending marriage. Toulmouche successfully communicates this hesitation through the woman’s facial expression and body posture. The soft light falling on her face and dress creates a sense of intimacy, emphasizing the internal conflict of the protagonist.

A distinctive element of Toulmouche’s work is his meticulous attention to detail, reflected in the luxurious fabrics of the clothing, finely painted jewelry, and details of the surrounding furnishings. This precision contributes to creating an atmosphere of refinement and elegance, recurring characteristics in the artist’s works.

The painting is part of the genre painting tradition, a popular artistic genre in the 19th century that focused on representing everyday and familial scenes. However, Toulmouche adds a psychological depth to his works, going beyond simple descriptions of daily activities to explore the emotions and thoughts of his subjects.

In a short period, this relatively unknown painting became viral on social media, particularly on TikTok, where it was transformed into a meme with the simple but effective addition of text identifying the bride’s animus. Paired with this painting and text, the other recurring element is the background music of this meme, taken from a segment of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem, adding an even more emotional touch to the entire experience.

With a simple video and meme, attention has been brought to both a piece of French art history and a song from a bygone era, rediscovered by the younger generation through memes.

Both this painting and Maestro Verdi’s music have reached us, and we can still appreciate the colors and notes of these fantastic works. However, there’s no guarantee that these works will still be with us in another 100, 500, or 1000 years.

Let’s not forget that time is not forgiving to these delicate works, especially artworks. If we add potential issues caused by humans, such as wars and thefts, and environmental factors like earthquakes, floods, and fires, we face the fragility of these works.

Thanks to the digitization and tokenization of artworks of all kinds, including paintings, music, sheet music, videos, books, and documents, turning them into NFTs, we can overcome the barriers of time and preservation. With this technology, we can preserve important and precious information, accessible to everyone everywhere, and available to future generations.

At Hoken Tech, we understand this problem well, and we’ve built our startup to provide assistance to artists, cultural institutions, and anyone safeguarding valuable works. Our goal is not only to make them immutable over time but also to make them accessible worldwide, sharing these fantastic works that would otherwise be relegated to archives, waiting for cataloging and exhibition.