https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.371
This masterpiece of the Roman silversmith’s art is exquisitely worked in relief.
The multifigure scene centers on a rustic shrine of the ithyphallic fertility god Priapus, son of Dionysos.
He takes the form of a stylized boundary marker atop a column, where a woman seems to have brought him to life by touching him.
To the left sits a table with votive offerings to the god.
Flanking the shrine are a satyr and maenad, dancing ecstatically.
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https://www.davidrumsey.com/blog/2023/9/21/john-hessler-in-conversation-with-david-rumsey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rumsey
if your graphics card can handle it, interact with a coronelli globe from the 1690s ...
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https://www.davidrumsey.com/globes/coronelli-celestial-globe-1693
or, maybe ... navigate your way from guernsey to poole harbour using a chart printed in revolutionary france on 1799
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they have recently developed an app that will find you a village on an old map
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i hadn't realised that tutankhamun was only 19 years-old when he died ...
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DRACO CAMBRENSIS
A LIVING EXAMPLE OF HOW
EVOLUTION AND MYTH ARE NATURALLY WOVEN INTO THE FABRIC OF ALL CULTURES,
and
HOW AN IMPORTANT
ASPECT OF THIS DISCUSSION MIGHT BE THE HEALING ROLE OF FORGETFULNESS.
First, let us
remember that Charles Darwin argued less for THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, and
more for THE SURVIVAL OF THOSE SPECIES WHICH CAN BEST ADAPT TO CHANGE.
Nowadays, there are MEN & WOMEN OF SCIENCE who believe the various triceratopses became extinct in the great cataclysm 66 million years ago.
THE WELSH KNOW BETTER.
Long before that terrible
EXTINGUISHING METEOR STRIKE, long before the drifting continents had clashed but
then separated, a whole sub-species of triceratops had been drawn to Wales by
the INTOXICATING SCENT of the GIGANTIC LEEKS that carpeted the mountain sides and
the SHOULDER-HIGH WILD GARLIC that had flourished in the woods and valleys
during that halcyon period when the climate was so much kinder.
This offshoot species,
DRACO CAMBRENSIS, lived in peace, their vigour and virility undiminished, EVEN refined
as a matter of fact, grazing happily and paying attention to their personal
hygiene by regular interludes of SEASONAL BATHING in the trout pools, and so at
first they multiplied exponentially until the arrival of the first IBERIAN
DRUIDS in about ONE MILLION BC.
Of course, even as
the species multiplied, so their food sources had diminished, and THE
CONSEQUENT DIMINUTION IN THEIR NATURAL STATURE was inevitable in the face of
mass starvation. Their only consolation
during these years of hardship lay in communal song and so the hills echoed to
their RESONANT HARMONIES, especially up in Cwm Rhondda.
Alas, ALL TOO SOON, the Druids were feasting on LEEK AND DINOSAUR PIE and so the supply of dinosaur fodder diminished even further and their opportunities for maintaining personal hygiene standards became intermittent as the hunters and trappers vied for fishing rights beside every pool. This accelerated the species’ diminution.
Only
the smaller triceratopses were able to hide amongst the heather and bracken,
and only the fattest of these could store enough energy to hibernate throughout
the GREAT and LITTLE ICE AGES when the last and hardiest of their species were
driven south into the few coastal margins and estuaries unscathed by the
advancing glaciers.
Nowadays they still roam
in packs through the undergrowth and have become increasingly elusive. Only pure-blooded Welsh children with the brightest eyes and the most turned-up noses ever glimpse them, and in their
innocence and naivety, have long believed them to be BABY DRAGONS NOURISHED
WITH MAGIC MUSHROOMS … not Tudor Dragons nourished on the blood of Norman
Invaders.
Don’t you think it is the right time to re-design the sad travesty of medieval heraldic pomposity that festoons every Welsh flagpole ?
Isn’t it time that DRACO CAMBRENSIS assumed his / her rightful hereditary
status IN OUR GREAT NATION ? Every true patriot surely agrees !
... and we shouldn't forget there is a Welsh Dragon among the stars, somewhere above Tenby ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala
a lot of the basic characteristics of your personality are mediated here ...
Leonardo’s so-called cartoon … why did he keep it beside him ? Why was it unfinished ?
These questions continue to annoy me.
First guess … he might have abandoned it to finish other paintings.
Second guess … he wasn’t sure HOW to finish it … he
might have been undecided about the background … he was certainly undecided
about the foreground. He might have been
“paralyzed” by a difficult choice.
Third guess … he hesitated to include imagery that
might have been unacceptable to the church if it conflicted with their dogmatic
adherence to the standard biblical narrative.
He might have wanted to depart from the Church’s conventional
iconography in some small way. In those
days patrons and purchasers were inclined to specify and even dictate the
details to be shown by the artist. Strict contracts were often agreed by artist and patron.
The notes in Wikipedia are very helpful, but not
fruitfully speculative.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virgin_and_Child_with_Saint_Anne_and_Saint_John_the_Baptist
The Cartoon’s vaguely sketched foreground intrigues
me. At first I never noticed it. I think Leonardo hesitated because he had two
or three choices.
First Choice … It is possible a client wanted the
Queen of Heaven to be royally shod as befitting her status. In both versions of THE VIRGIN OF THE
ROCKS Leonardo didn’t show her feet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_of_the_Rocks
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Second Choice … if her feet were to rest on solid
ground, then there would be the question of appropriate flowers and plants, or
floor boards or flagstones, etc.
Third Choice … I like to think that the unshod foot and the vaguely drawn stones or pebbles in the foreground of The Cartoon were intended to be partly submerged in a crystal-clear stream … some kind of metaphor for the “River of Life”.
For instance, water might offer a hint that one must dip
one’s toe in the stream of life in order to reach one’s supposed destiny. It might be that a stream would represent a
moment of choice when one must either cross or turn aside. Or ... it might only be that the Lady was just enjoying
the sensual coolness of the water after a long walk. I’m not sure such a simple human pleasure would
have been on any client’s agenda back in those difficult times.
There is no reasonably strong justification for my
suggestion, but this is the helpful advice I would have given Leonardo if he was
well-and-truly, nail-bitingly stuck ... and if he’d asked me nicely, man-to-man.
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allegory is a noun
al·le·go·ry
plural: allegories
1
: the
expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of
truths or generalizations about human existence
a writer known for his use of allegory
also : an instance (as in a story or
painting) of such expression
The poem is an allegory of love and jealousy.
2
: a
symbolic representation
What is the
difference between an allegory and
a metaphor?
Allegory is
the expression of truths or generalizations about human existence by means
of symbolic fictional figures and their actions. It encompasses such
forms as fable and parable. A metaphor,
broadly, is figurative language; specifically, it is a figure of speech in
which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in
place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them. Aesop’s Fables are an example of allegory; "the ship plows the seas" is an
example of metaphor.
What are
different types of allegory?
Personification allegory is a type of allegory in
which a fictional character represents a concept or a type. The character
Everyman in the medieval play of that name and the Lover in The Romance of the
Rose are figures of personification allegory. Symbolic allegory is one in which
a character or material thing is not merely a transparent vehicle for an idea,
but also has a recognizable identity or a narrative autonomy apart from the
message it conveys. The poet Virgil in Dante's Inferno, a historical figure
representing human reason within the poem, is an example of a symbolic
allegorical figure.
What is the
difference between allegory and simile?
A simile is
a figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared, often introduced
by like or as ("he
had eyes like agates"). Allegory is a
more or less symbolic fictional narrative that conveys a secondary meaning (or
meanings) not explicitly set forth in the literal narrative. Parables, myths,
and fables are all considered types of allegories.
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start here ... with an excellent clarification of what goes on in one of Courbet's most intriguing works ... clicketty-click !
https://smarthistory.org/courbet-the-artists-studio/
Project for a Cartouche: An Allegory of Minerva, Fame, History, and Faith Overcoming Ignorance and Time ... painted by Francois Boucher.
Allegories often involve the PERSONIFICATION of abstract or intangible concepts.
Castiglione's Allegory of Transience ...
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https://www.rct.uk/collection/405551/self-portrait-as-the-allegory-of-painting-la-pittura
I wondered if the pendant in Artemisia Gentileschi's self-portrait is an important feature ? It isn't a crucifix. It looks like a mask ... but is it COMEDY ? or is it TRAGEDY ? Is this an understated painting that represents some of her own very human passions and is it a sign of a HUMANISTIC outlook ?
Simon Vouet and Artemisia Gentileschi were great friends. This is his TIME DEFEATED BY HOPE AND BEAUTY from 1627. I have a feeling the models for Hope and Beauty may have been Simon Vouet's lovely new wife and her sister.
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Almost everything that Poussin painted in later life was allegorical, perhaps to suit his clients' needs for a little dignity. Many of his clients were popes and bishops who had their own private passions. Look closely. This painting shows a mythical landscape through which the blinded hunter Orion is guided towards the rising sun ... it is a complicated story in which every figure represents a human or divine trait of some kind ... clicketty click for a possible explanation ...
https://potbanks.wordpress.com/2018/02/01/blind-orion-searching-for-the-rising-sun/
... and some ...
https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/videos/2020/5/insider-insights-poussin-orion
... and some more ...
https://fullreads.com/essay/on-a-landscape-of-nicolas-poussin/
Alex Gray was a keen student of anatomy and worked in a morgue before becoming a professional painter. His view of human existence seems to be that we need to seek harmony with the entire cosmos if we are to find joy in this lifetime.
Karel Dujardin's allegory of a boy blowing bubbles is a meditation on the brevity of life that delightedly rejects morbidity in favour of wonder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_Dujardin
Angelo Bronzino, VENUS, CUPID, FOLLY & TIME, c1545
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus,_Cupid,_Folly_and_Time
Despite this painting's spectacular sensuous vivacity and the claustrophobic construction of so many complex human interactions, the underlying morality demanded by Bronzino's clients for this allegory have probably stifled the kind of expression he might have depicted. But it is PRETTY DAMNED AMAZING and so we mustn't grumble !
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G B Tiepolo, ALLEGORY WITH VENUS AND TIME
A GALLERY NOTE FROM LONDON'S NATIONAL GALLERY
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it is tempting to juxtapose magritte's LA CORDE SENSIBLE, 1960 ...
and either ... this ...
an atomic explosion ... or ... thomas cole's the titan's goblet ...
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10499
... or both ! why not ?
magritte scorned those who looked for such links but he painted LA CORDE SENSIBLE during the years when the nuclear arms race was at its most dangerous
... and he was far too acute to be insensible to such connections
https://www.atomicarchive.com/science/effects/energy.html
Simon Fokke, An Allegory of the Art of Writing
Version One about 1745, and Version Two a year or so later.
Why did he re-purpose and drastically alter this design ?
The first print seems to have been a cover or a frontispiece for a weekly magazine called THE SNAPPER.
I'm guessing he realized it was a very nice bit of work and that it was detachable from its original purpose.
Maybe there were political shifts that made his first design redundant.
... the linked article gives us the "flavour" and political inclination of THE SNAPPER
Contents
The journalist, historian and political activist Rousset de Missy was outspokenly pro-prince and expressed sharp criticism in his writings of the regent oligarchy and of public enemy number 1: his native France.
This radical political preference is clearly reflected in the Amsterdam Snapper . This frequently reports on acts of war in which the Republic was directly or indirectly involved. It was therefore intended, according to the advertisement in the Leydse Courant of November 2, 1744,
to give the Readers a fair idea of the present affairs of State and War, and a knowledge without prejudice of the daily cases and changing Circumstances of the Interests of the Courts and Princes, through political and subsidiary observations.
The texts show that the writer was well versed in the relevant ordinances, treatises and legal theoretical doctrines (Grotius, Puffendorf). They are presented in detail in the analyzes of the international political situation. Due to the extensive explanations of the political course that Orange wished to take, the magazine appears to be a mouthpiece for the stadtholder and his advisors. It is not clear to what extent someone like Willem Bentinck, who knew Rousset well, was indeed involved in the latter's journalistic work.
The episodes are often concluded with some appropriate lines of poetry.
A proper student of Dutch history would probably be able to identify political and historical features in the content, such as the coats-of-arms.
We can assume that the naked lady being unveiled by Father Time most probably represents that most fugitive of ideals, THE NAKED TRUTH.
Maybe the winged lady represents the MUSE OF HISTORY, who knows ?
Some painters' allegories are more like directly or literally and explanatorily simple illustrations. Most of the allegories of the five senses, for instance. Take Philip Mercier's paintings, perhaps ...
here's an earnest allegory on the perplexities of peaceful governance ..
Allegory on the Difficulty of Governing, 1578, Pieter van der Borcht
and then ...
succesful allegorical devices may become recurring or persistent memes ...
8th November 2023 ... noting my belated realization that the category of allegories in painting is vast ... it looks as if WIKIPEDIA has already done a lot of work on this topic ...
for instance ...
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:15th-century_allegorical_paintings
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:16th-century_allegorical_paintings
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:17th-century_allegorical_paintings
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:18th-century_allegorical_paintings
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:19th-century_allegorical_paintings
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:20th-century_allegorical_paintings
... and it would be profitable for me to list all of their links on this subject, despite so may images being of very poor quality, or interest ... and one or two being more enigmatic than allegorical
... to be continued ...
RECOMMENDED READING ...
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