4 July
ARCHIVE
Hamo Thornycroft
archive
Envelope
containing lock of hair and small picture of the Venus of Milo,
n.d.
h 9.8, w 7.6; h
6.7, w 4.6 cm Bequeathed by Mrs Elfrida Manning, 1987
A relative's lock
of hair sent in the post keeps the person's image
clearer in the mind. It is something tangible and in this case a
kind of token of kinship. But what is the picture of the Venus of
Milo doing in the same envelope, is it not a family affair but a
love affair? Many people now find a lock of hair in an old letter
rather scary and yet how many parents do not keep their
children's
milk teeth or a lock of hair? The receivers of this letter will
very
likely have seen the person who sent the lock again. It is not
(yet)
a way of holding on to someone who is no longer in his world.
