Looking at the Past Week

It was not an easy week for this author. If there is any way to avoid bunions, use it. The only possible cause I can think of, in my case, is being made to look feminine by wearing shoes that had high heels and a pointed front. However, the cause could be genetic. At any rate, try to avoid the surgery. Your doctor will supply you with morphine and codeine, but if you kill the pain entirely, you may not notice that there is infection.

The week was otherwise rather pleasant and informative.  We saw that:

• Sir Walter Raleigh was instrumental in spreading the love of tobacco in Europe.
• We were introduced to Queen Elizabeth I’s four “sea dogs:” Sir Francis Drake, Sir Martin Frobisher, Sir John Hawkins and Sir Walter Raleigh. All four participated in repelling the Spanish Armada (1588).
• We noted that there was “legitimate” piracy. These legitimate pirates were called privateers and made a fortune on their own, but they were also in the service of the Crown: Elizabeth the first’s England. Although they were privateers in England, they were pirates in the eyes of the enemy du jour, Spain.
• Furthermore, we have associated the rise of capitalism with explorations.  I did not know about the Muscovy Trading Company.  But as a Canadian, I was familiar with the Hudson’s Bay Company.
• We saw that still-life painting in the seventeenth-century Netherlands were Vanitas. They reminded human beings of their mortality.
• We met Balthasar van der Ast, his brother-in-law Ambrosius Bosschaert, his three Bosschaert nephews and Roelandt Savery, an artist but also a scientist.
• I nearly forgot the unfortunate dodo. Savery made paintings of the now extinct dodo.

Hendrick Avercamp: Winter and Playing Golf on Ice

And now that winter is here, we are being introduced to Hendrick Avercamp, a seventeenth-century Dutch artist who painted many lovely winter scenes. Thanks to the internet, we can see that in the Netherlands of the seventeenth century, people played golf on ice wearing skates and looked very much as though they were playing hockey. Moreover, in the Netherlands one could commute quickly by skating down frozen waterways. As well, notice the shape of the roofs.

(click on picture to enlarge) 

 

composer: Antonio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741),

piece:  The Seasons, Winter, 2nd movement, piano arrangement

performers: Apollo Chamber Ensemble 

 

 

 

Related articles

• Sir Martin Frobisher as Privateer and Hero to his Queen (michelinewalker.com)
• Comments on Simon Frobisher as Privateer (michelinewalker.com)
• Still-life Paintings: Vanitas Vanitatum (michelinewalker.com)
• Roelandt Savery: from Flowers to the Dodo (michelinewalker.com)
• The Bosschaert “Dynasty,” Jan Davidsz de Heem & Bartholomeus Assteyn (michelinewalker.com)