Jean Valjean

While watching our Les Mis 20th Anniversary concert dvd my wife was struck by Alfie Boe's eyes and asked me how best to describe them. The words "soulful" and "haunted" came to mind.

More than any other feature, Valjean's personality is shown in his eyes. His defining trait, compassion, needs to be reflected there. He might be described as a tragic figure using the classical definition of tragedy: "the suffering of a soul that can suffer greatly".

That is certainly part but not all of it. I believe Valjean's compassion stems in part from the same source as Rainer Maria Rilke's: a differentiating membrane between self and The Other that is so thin and permeable that one takes on the suffering of others.

Because shapes and skins tend to be that of young people, I was elated when I saw Phoenix1966's [link] shop on Daz and even more so when it was part of the big November Sale. I had actually seen "Thomas" earlier and cast him as Valjean, the way I cast "Locke" as Javert.

Modeled in Daz Studio 4.5, rendered in Reality 2.5 and LuxRender 1.0.

Jean Valjean and Les Miserables are property of their respective owners. This art is mine.