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Seven Crystal Balls: The sons of de Hadoque pictured?

Mikael Uhlin
Member
#1 · Posted: 6 Jul 2005 20:58
We all know that Francois de Hadoque had three sons and that he gave them a model each of his ship The Unicorn. I wonder if we're actually able to see the portraits of these sons in Seven Crystal Balls, appropriately the first story in which Captain Haddock has retaken his family castle.

Go and get your copies of Crystal Balls, and look at the portrait in the background at page 51. This man certainly looks like a Hadoque/Haddock and could be one of the sons. On page 53, there's a portrait of a man with no beard but a large wig. The eyes and the nose look Haddock-ish (and may also give a good view of how "our" captain may look like without a beard). This presumed second son of de Hadoque is holding a book. If it's a Bible, this may explain the chapel in the basement of Marlinspike.

If the guys at page 51 and 53 are two of the brothers, the third one must be the one on the portrait at page 6. True, he doesn't look like a Hadoque/Haddock but that's maybe just because he resembles his mother. The portrait of this third possible brother also appears in another book - Red Sea Sharks, I think - so he definitely should be part of the family.

Visually there may be a connection to the one of the Legrands, i.e. the parents of Jo and Zette, and a relationship between the Hadoques and the Legrands would also explain why a portrait of Captain Haddock hangs on the wall in the Legrand home (Mr. Pump's Legacy).
What do you think?
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#2 · Posted: 8 Jul 2005 18:44
Interesting theory Mikael! I had a look at the paintings you refer to and I must agree that the character in the background picture on page 53 (frame C1) of Crystal Balls has the unmistakable Haddock features. (It’s more apparent if you cover the bottom half of his face with your finger!)

I’d like to believe your theory but I don’t see any evidence that he, or the others, are Sir Francis’ sons - they could just as easily be any descendants of Haddock (or de Hadoque) from the 17th or 18th century.

Mikael Uhlin:
The portrait of this third possible brother also appears in another book - Red Sea Sharks, I think - so he definitely should be part of the family.

I couldn’t find the picture you mean so perhaps it’s in another book? However - slightly off-topic - I remembered whilst looking that The Red Sea Sharks contains a few frames showing Alfred Sisley’s Le Canal du Loing as part of the Marlinspike Hall collection (pages 10 and 62).
Mikael Uhlin
Member
#3 · Posted: 8 Jul 2005 21:30
Harrock n Roll:
I'd like to believe your theory but I don't see any evidence that he, or the others, are Sir Francis' sons - they could just as easily be any descendants of Haddock (or de Hadoque) from the 17th or 18th century.)

Yeah, that's true. My theory of these being the three sons of Sir Francis is based only on the fact that these were the three visible portraits in the first adventure after Haddock acquired Marlinspike. However, I think they're definitely members of the family.

Harrock n Roll:
I couldn't find the picture you mean so perhaps it's in another book?

That's right. The portrait of third possible Hadoque-brother from page 6 in The Seven Crystal BAlls is also visible in The Calculus Affair.
mct16
Member
#4 · Posted: 5 Jan 2020 19:59
To return to this debate fifteen years later... :)

The portrait on page 6, panel 3, of "Crystal Balls" (page 3, panel 10 of "Calculus Affair") is of a man in a short wig, the sort usually associated with the late-18th century. Such wigs were worn by men like George Washington or James Cook who were born in the 1720s or 30s. If he is a son of Sir Francis then he was born rather late in life - I imagine Francis being in his thirties at the time of his adventure with the pirates (1698 in the original French).

The one on page 51, panel 8, of "Crystal Balls" is dressed in the manner of an well-to-do man of the mid-17th century with the sort of wide-brimmed hat that was common at the time. He looks like a cavalier, a period more associated with Charles I of England or Louis XIII of France. Feels more like before the period of Haddock's ancestor.

The one on page 53, panel 10, of "Crystal Balls" is wearing a large wig and fashionable clothes of the sort that many upper-class people would have worn in the early 18th century. He could be a Hadoque of the generation after Sir Francis, dressed in the way he would go to a court like Versailles. He, at least, could be one of the sons.

Mikael Uhlin:
This presumed second son of de Hadoque (page 53 of "Crystal Balls") is holding a book. If it's a Bible, this may explain the chapel in the basement of Marlinspike.

Not necessarily. Some people would include books in their portraits in order to show that they were well-educated and well-read.

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