# Poll - What emotion do you see on this face? (detail from famous painting) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** arts-crafts\ **Created:** [September 7, 2023, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748 "2023-09-07T20:19:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/61 "2023-09-08T19:45:36Z")
I voted amusement, but I’ll admit I recognized which painting it came from, and knew the subject matter. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/62 "2023-09-08T19:55:06Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I just showed the picture to my kid, who said, _“Mischievous. Conniving. Like he’s about to rub his hands together and say ‘You Fell Into My Trap’.”_ > [@DSeid](#): > > I had clicked amusement and anger but the full sense is amusement at someone who is arrogantly thinking they have bested him and the thought of “oh your poor schmuck, you have no idea the lesson you are about to learn” and relishing the teaching of it. These two most closely match my reaction. I see him saying “oh, it is fucking ON!” He’s mad and is about to start some shit, but is enjoying the thought of it. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/63 "2023-09-08T20:08:15Z")
From those choices, I guess Anger? but my first thought was “Excitement/Glee” ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/64 "2023-09-08T20:29:15Z")
He looks like he’s scheming or lustful. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/65 "2023-09-08T21:22:36Z")
> [@bump](#): > > That’s really it, I think. If he was involved in wording the Reply, then he’s more than likely imagining just how much those words will piss off the Sultan with a sort of amusement That’s about how I imagined it when I first saw the painting. It was like he had just heard a really great suggestion and the painting caught him in the middle of being like “oh, that’s a good one! I can just imagine the sultan reading that!” and was amused even though it doesn’t look like he is smiling per se. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/66 "2023-09-08T21:37:57Z")
I found it interesting to cover certain parts of his face and see what the individual parts reflected. His eyes alone to me suggest malice, and his cheeks show mirth. His mouth just looks indifferent, but I think that’s because the corners are hidden. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/67 "2023-09-08T21:46:00Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I found it interesting to cover certain parts of his face and see what the individual parts reflected. His eyes alone to me suggest malice, and his cheeks show mirth. His mouth just looks indifferent, but I think that’s because the corners are hidden My thoughts exactly. The big mustache makes it harder to interpret his emotion. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/68 "2023-09-09T03:55:07Z")
What I see is slyness. That jibes with what a lot of other people are saying. Interestingly, he looks less smiling in the full picture, even though I know the picture in this thread is identical to that part of the whole. Possibly because of the contrast with the other characters ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/69 "2023-09-09T05:14:51Z")
“Greedy” is the closest to what I have always seen, and I’m familiar with the painting. I actually saw it in Leningrad (which it was called at the time) when I was 10, and mostly just thought “cool,” but since then, I’ve seen reproductions, mainly in an Art History class I had in college. I don’t remember what the prof had to say about the painting, but ever since then, I’ve wondered, and unsuccessfully tried to figure out what exactly he’s looking at. I can’t figure out if it’s a faraway expression, either contemplating the reception of the letter, or striving to come up with the next insult; or he’s looking at something on the guy across from him. A faraway look makes more sense, so I’m thinking he’s working on coming up with the ultimate zinger. Everyone else has gotten a laugh, but he wants to have them rolling on the ground. So far, the great joke is just out of his reach, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/70 "2023-09-09T13:49:37Z")
I’m not sure if I can pin it down to the choices in the poll, but it looks to me like the fellow is enjoying something he’s seeing, but that he has such a strong RBF that his enjoyment could easily be mistaken for anger. I can’t pin down just how he’s enjoying it, though: It could be lust, or amusement, or pride, or whatever. Now to read the rest of the responses. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/71 "2023-09-09T14:01:06Z")
I went with amusement and suspicion, but I should have added happiness. Whatever’s going on, he doesn’t look disappointed, but I’m not convinced it’s triumph either. I think he’s waiting to see what another person does, possibly to a third party. ETA: I thought this was from a painting I’d seen before of some historical Ukrainian figures. Looking at the source, I’m not sure it’s the one I’d seen before or not. I didn’t remember a table and a letter. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/72 "2023-09-09T21:07:32Z")
I think another way to put it, and this more informed by context of the painting: it’s a game face. Concentrating (biting down on his pipe, others will often bite a lip) formulating exactly how he is going to slap the other side down … because the other side really deserves the beating he is giving. My completion of the scene is that he is the sole person dictating the letter. Everyone else is laughing at his last line, and he is already formulating the next. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/73 "2023-09-11T22:40:12Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Anticipation. He seems to look like someone who just put someone in checkmate, and is waiting for his opponent to realize it. Yeah, anticipation of someone finding out there’s kind of a nasty surprise awaiting them. Now, am I the only one who first looked at the OP’s avatar, and tried to ascribe emotions to the rather famous “face” on Mars? Looks like it’s blowing a raspberry. ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/74 "2023-09-11T23:36:04Z")
I got lust, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748.md?page=3)