• Aboriginals in North America
  • Beast Literature
  • Canadiana.1
  • Dances & Music
  • Fables and Fairy Tales
  • Fables by Jean de La Fontaine
  • Feasts & Liturgy
  • Great Books Online
  • La Princesse de Clèves
  • Middle East
  • Molière
  • Nominations
  • Posts on Love Celebrated
  • Posts on the United States
  • The French Revolution & Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Voyageurs Posts
  • Canadiana.2

Micheline's Blog

~ Art, music, books, history & current events

Micheline's Blog

Monthly Archives: December 2014

Musings on the Origins of Christmas

22 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by michelinewalker in Angels, Comedy, Feasts

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Eos, Kômos, Mundus Inversus, Origins of Comedy, Roman Saturnalia, The Beatitudes

67504_287398

Donatello, Circle of Italian, 1386/7-1466 The Nativity, c. 1465 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Christmas: the winter solstice

The Roman Saturnalia

As we have seen in earlier posts, Christmas occurs on the day of the longest night or near the day of the longest night, the winter solstice (usually Dec. 21 or 22). This must have seemed unnatural in Greco-Roman antiquity.

In pre-Christian Rome, the longest night was celebrated by a reversal of roles. During the Roman Saturnalia, the slave was the master and the master, the slave. I suspect the ethnicity of slaves was the same as that of the slave owners.

Column krater with a komos and three maenads

Column krater with a komos and three maenads, Walters Museum of Art (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Greek Kōmos

Red figure and black-figure pottery – kylix – amphora – Maenads – Bacchus– phallic symbols

As for the Greeks, their celebration of the longest night was the Kōmos or comus, a drunken and disorderly procession, hence a reversal, order being the norm.[1] The revelers were called komast or kōmastaí. We have inherited magnificent red-figure and black-figure pottery depicting the Kōmos: the krater, the kylix (a rounded drinking bowl), amphoras and other vases or containers. Featured above is a krater, but that particular photograph does not show three Maenads, the wild female followers of Dionysus, or Bacchus, in Roman mythology. However, the image is described as portraying a Kōmos. Below is an amphora clearly depicting a Kōmos.

1280px-Komos_Staatliche_Antikensammlungen_1432

Kōmos scene, Attic black-figure amphora, ca. 560 BCE, Staatliche Antikensammlungen (Inv. 1432) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


The Birth of Comedy

The Kōmos – the agōn– satyrs – Phallic symbols

Interestingly, the Greek Kōmos, the drunken and disorderly procession mentioned above, developed “into Greek Old comedy of the Dionysian festival in the 6th century BCE.” (See Kōmos, Wikipedia.) Satyrs are associated with satires. There exist other theories concerning the origin of comedy, but etymology points to a relationship, not only between Satyrs and satires, but also between the Kōmos and comedy.

Our best examples of Greek Old Comedy are the comedies of Greek playwright Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 BCE)[2]. These feature an agōn,[3] which is, at times, a formal debate, but, at other times, a sham struggle usually opposing a young man and an old man. The old man could regain his youth and win the contest, but the more likely outcome of the agōn was the victory of the young man over the old man. The Kōmos is in fact a fertility ritual demanding a renewal. In the Old comedy of the ancients, even if a woman had not participated in the agōn, she suddenly appeared and a “marriage” was celebrated. Phallic symbols were used (See the image below, red-figure pottery).

 
Satyr, Colmar Painter

Satyr, by Colmar Painter (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Greek Old comedy – Middle Comedy – New Comedy

Ancient Greek comedy is divided into the three above-named periods. The plays of Aristophanes belong to the Old Comedy of ancient Greece. My favourite is Lysistrata (411 BCE), a play in which women deny men sexual privileges until they end the war, the Peloponnesian War (c. 431 BCE – 404 BC). Lysistrata is an ancient expression of our “make love, not war” and the women’s refusal to engage in sexual intercourse is a threat to the outcome of the comedy, comedies being a fertility ritual. Eleven of Aristophanes’ comedies have survived.

untitled

Lysistrata (Photo credit: Google Images)

Old Comedy was followed by Middle Comedy (Antiphanes and Alexis, mainly) and New Comedy, the comedies of Menander (c. 341/ 42 – c. 290 BCE), its most important representative. Menander’s comedies were written shortly before the “Roman” comedies of Plautus (c. 254 – 184 BCE) and Terence (c. 195/185 – c. 159 BCE).  According to Britannica, “[t]he Roman predecessors of Plautus in both tragedy and comedy borrowed most of their plots and all of their dramatic techniques from Greece.”[4] In other words, given that Plautus and Terence used techniques borrowed from Greek New Comedy, they may be ancestors to dramatists Shakespeare and Molière, but Greece is the primary source.

It remains, moreover, that the contest between the alazṓn and an eirôn, who are stock characters, took place in Old Comedy. It resembles the agōn. We know the alazṓn e marriage of a young couple. The young lovers, often helped by a supporter or supporters, the eirôn, are able to overcome obstacles to their marriage. The blocking-character, or alazṓn, is defeated. So, if all is well that ends well, Greece seems the fountainhead.

Comedy has not changed significantly over the centuries, not to say millennia.

Eos

Eos from a vase painting

“Eos is the iconic original from which Christian angels were imagined, for no images were available from the Hebrew tradition, and the Persian angels were unknown in the West.” The image featured above is therefore precious. Eos, a Titaness, is the Greek Goddess of dawn, a counterpart to Rome’s Aurora. Eos’ brother is Helios, god of the sun, and her sister is Selene, goddess of the moon. (See Eos, Wikipedia.)

(See: http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Eos.html.)

Conclusion

The Beatitudes – the Sermon on the Mount – the New Testament

Christmas is therefore rooted in the Roman Saturnalia and the Kōmos. Seasons and human nature dictated festivities on the day of the longest day, Midsummer Day (June 20-21) and on days when night and day were of equal duration, the equinoctial points. Hence a degree of commonality between the raucous Kōmos and Christmas. For Christians, Midnight Mass and the réveillon, a copious and festive meal served, in Quebec, after, not before, Midnight Mass are a reversal. (See Réveillon, Wikipedia.)

Given that Jesus spoke in parables, the “kingdom of heaven” may be metaphorical. Yet, the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes in particular, teach a new order. It promotes compassion and honours the humble, the meek, the just, the merciful, the pure, and the peace makers. (See Matthew 5 – 7.) The New Testament is therefore a reversal, but on many occasions Christians have not or would not listen. Judas betrayed Jesus of Nazareth.

Let us end this post, by noting that the longest night heralds the gradual return of light. Light is the norm. But were it not for darkness, light would have no meaning.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Angels & Archangels: Michael, Lucifer… (30 Nov 2014)
  • Twelfth Night & Carnival Season (8 Jan 2014)
  • The Four Seasons: from Darkness into Light.2 (6 Dec 2012)
  • The Four Seasons: from Darkness into Light.1 (5 Nov 2011)

Sources and Resources

  • Francis Macdonald Cornford’s The Origin of Attic Comedy is an online Archive.org.
  • Sir James Gordon Frazer’s The Golden Bough A study of magic and religion [EBook #3623]
  • The Golden Bough PDF
  • https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205-7
  • http://www.theoi.com/Titan/Titanes.html
  • http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Eos.html
  • Lysistrata is the Project Gutenberg publication [EBook #7700] 
  • Britannica: Old Comedy, Middle Comedy and New Comedy

My kindest regards to all of you and very best wishes for the New Year. I have been too unwell to write, but I hope it will simply pass. I wish you a very happy New Year. 

_________________________

[1] See Theodore H. Gaster (ed) Francis Macdonald Cornford, The Origin of Attic Comedy (New York: Doubleday & Company, 1961 [1914]).

[2] “Aristophanes”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 28 déc.. 2014
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/34467/Aristophanes>.

[3] As in protagonist, antagonist, agony and in other words.

[4] “Plautus”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 27 déc.. 2014
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/464334/Plautus/5775/Approach-to-drama>.

Eos, by Evelyn De Morgan, the Pre-Raphaelite

Eos, by Evelyn De Morgan, the Pre-Raphaelites

© Micheline Walker
22 December 2014
WordPress

 

michelinewalker.com

  • Share on Tumblr
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Telegram

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

20 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by michelinewalker in Awards

≈ 44 Comments

Tags

Fra Angelico, Nominees, The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

The Annunciation, Fra Angelico, 1437-46 (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

The Annunciation, Fra Angelico, 1437-46 (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

very-inspiring-blogger-award

Thank you Petrel14

First, allow me to thank Petrel14 for nominating me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. I am truly touched. My WordPress family is very dear to me. The internet is at times inaccessible: it slows down, but it allows communication with people all over the world.

If you haven’t the time to follow the rules, please accept this nomination as an expression of appreciation and love.

My kindest regards to all of you.

The link back to my weblog is: https://michelinewalker.com/

https://michelinewalker.com/2014/12/20/the-very-inspiring-blogger-award/?preview=true&preview_id=46546&preview_nonce=3fcd99d1b7

The rules of this award are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and add a link to their blog.

2. Display the award on your post.

3. List the award rules so your nominees will know what to do.

4. State 7 things about yourself.

5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award.

6. Contact your nominees to let them know you have nominated them. Provide a link to your post.

7. Proudly display the award logo (or buttons) on your blog, whether on your side bar, ABOUT page, or a special page for awards.

Seven things about myself in question form

1. Who is your favourite public figure?

United States President Barack Obama.

2. What do you like most?

Music and the fine arts.

3. Do you follow trends?

Never. I avoid trends.

4. What do you do when someone gets angry?

I leave the room.

5. What have you loved most?

My profession and my Nova Scotia home.

6. Do you have causes?

Yes, peace on earth and the end of poverty.

7. What quality do you admire most?

Humility.

sistine_madonna_putti

My nominees

AB: https://abozdar.wordpress.com

Antonio de Simone: https://antodesimone.wordpress.com/

Aquileana: https://aquileana.wordpress.com/

Ashi Akira: https://ashiakira.wordpress.com/

Barbara Monier: https://barbaramonier.wordpress.com/

Bite Size Canada: http://tkmorin.wordpress.com/

Dom di Francesco: http://blackandwrite.net/

Hands on Bowie: https://hopedog.wordpress.com/

Ina Vukic: http://inavukic.com/

JustJan: http://staycationatl.com/

Mélanie Toulouse: http://myvirtualplayground.wordpress.com/

Paul Militaru: http://photopaulm.com/

Ricercare: https://clodoweg.wordpress.com/

Unclerave: http://unclerave.wordpress.com/

Yvon Préfontaine: http://ivonprefontaine.com/

michelinewalker.com

  • Share on Tumblr
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Telegram

Like this:

Like Loading...

A Very Short Note

19 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by michelinewalker in Sharing

≈ 29 Comments

Tags

Christmas, illuminations, Peshawar, Very Inspiring Blogger

m_03

Livre d’images de madame Marie Hainaut, vers 1285-1290 Paris, BnF, Naf 16251, fol. 22v. La naissance du Christ est annoncée aux bergers, aux humbles. “Et voici qu’un ange du seigneur leur apparut [.]. Ils furent saisis d’une grande frayeur. Mais l’ange leur dit : “Ne craignez point, car je vous annonce une bonne nouvelle [.]” The Birth of Christ announced to the Shepherds. (Photo credit: the National Library of France, [BnF])

Peshawar

I had planned to write a long an informative post today, but something is wrong with my computer. It is extremely slow. Moreover, I am feeling unwell.

However, I wish to say that I grieve for the families who lost a child to Taliban terrorists. It appears these terrorists were “retaliating.” The teachings of Jesus of Nazareth therefore make more and more sense. “Turn the other cheek,” or the violence will never end.

The Taliban took one hundred and forty-one lives: children and adolescents mainly: “our children.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/taliban-attack-on-pakistan-school-leaves-141-dead-1.2874449

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

I wish to thank our colleague Petrel41 (http://dearkitty1.wordpress.com/) for nominating my blog for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. That is a very kind gesture and I will follow all the rules as soon as my computer gains a little speed.

eda8975682d6d1f11b74766ef96bb6d0

very-inspiring-blogger-award

L’Annonce aux bergers

I used the image featured above in October, in a different context: Natural Histories. Its new context is Christmas and angels. An angel announces the birth of Christ. Marie Hainaut had a book of images. They were enluminures, illuminations. To view more images, click on Livre d’images de madame Marie Hainaut (Flickr).

My kindest regards to all of you.

Veni, Veni Emmanuel, Zoltán Kodály

michelinewalker.com

  • Share on Tumblr
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Telegram

Like this:

Like Loading...

Canada’s “Van Doos:” Résistance

14 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, The Human Condition, War

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

Arthur Mignault, Battle of Courcelette, le Royal 22e Régiment, resistance, the Battle of the Somme, the Van Doos

1024px-1628_Claesz_Vanitas-Stillleben_mit_Selbstbildnis_anagoria

Vanitas Still Life with Self-Portrait, Pieter Claesz, 1628. Note the mise en abyme of the artist’s portrait in the glass ball. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) 

Coincidences

I have tried to leave behind me the casualties of the Battle of the Somme, which is difficult: more than 1,000,000 casualties! Lest we forget.

However, while writing the Weeping Angel of Amiens, I discovered the above painting featuring a delightful mise en abyme. The glass ball creates a mirror effect, which is an example of the illusionism of the Golden Age of Dutch painting, the 17th century. Moreover, the violin depicted by Pieter Claesz, was placed between a clock, a substitute for an hourglass, and a skull. The painting is a vanitas as is the painting of our chubby Weeping Angel of Amiens. 

At the foot of this post, I have inserted a video featuring the works of Heda Willem Claesz. He and Pieter were not relatives, but Pieter very much admired Willem Claesz and both painted vanitas, a subject matter of still lifes.

The “Van Doos,” or Royal 22nd Regiment

Writing the Weeping Angel of Amiens, I discovered when and how the Royal 22nd Regiment, or le Royal 22e Régiment, a French-Canadian regiment called the “Van Doos” by Anglophones and aficionados. No, it is not a Dutch name. It’s “vingt-deux” (22).

Members of the regiment called themselves “Canadiens,” as in the Montreal hockey team. The Canadiens hockey team was named after the singing and very strong “voyageurs” who faced death every day, but sang in unison as they paddled their way to beaver felts and accompanied explorers all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Their success is due to a dare-devil mentality, their ability to work as a team, their basic joie de vivre and their close relationship with Amerindians. Amerindians were the voyageurs‘ guides and voyageurs spoke Amerindian languages. Well, the “Van Doos” also sang in the middle of the Battle of the Somme (1st July 1916 – 18th November 1916) and called themselves Canadiens.

Please click on the image to enlarge it.

Mignault-Borden_22e_Regiment_Letter

Mignault communicated with Prime Minister Robert Borden, leading to the creation of the Royal 22nd Regiment

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The “Van Doos”

Traditionally, French-Canadians have refused to go to war. They opposed conscription during both World War I (see War Museum) and World War II (see War Museum) and oppose, but not altogether, Canada’s military engagement in the struggle against Isis, not Islam. However, despite their wish not to join the military, they have on occasion volunteered to do so.

Such is the case with the future Royal 22nd Regiment, which was formed in 1914. In fact, before the “Van Doos” regiment was created, 1,000 French-Canadian soldiers had been recruited and scattered here and there in the Canadian Expeditionary Force  (CEF), in not too honourable a fashion.

“This was not an oversight. Ontario (Hughes’s[1] political base) was in the process of forbidding teaching in French, or of French, in the school system (Regulation 17), causing outrage in French Canada and a lack of support for the war of the ‘King and country’ that was perceived as seeking to destroy the Francophone community in Canada.” (See Royal 22nd Regiment, Wikipedia.)

Matters changed when Arthur Mignault, a medical doctor and a wealthy French-Canadian pharmaceutical entrepreneur, offered to form a French-Canadian regiment which he would fund.

“In 1914, Mignault communicated with Prime Minister Robert Borden[2] to propose the establishment of a solely French Canadian battalion within the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). According to Mignault, this would allow Canadians of French extraction to circumvent the language barrier of the English-speaking battalions.” (See Arthur Mignault, Wikipedia.)

Dr Mignault’s offer was a godsend, so the creation of the unit was authorized on 14 October 1914 and members of the battalion trained at Valcartier. In September 1915, the division went overseas not as the Royal 22nd Regiment, but as the 22nd Canadian Division.

“The 22nd went to France as part of the 5th Canadian Brigade and the 2nd Canadian Division in September 1915, and fought with distinction in every major Canadian engagement until the end of the war.” (See Royal 22nd Regiment, Wikipedia.)

Many French-Canadians scattered in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) joined the “Van Doos” after the Battle of Courcelette (15 September 1916 – 22 September 1916).

pa22

The Battle of Courcelette (Photo credit Canadian War Museum)

The Battle of Courcelette

“The Canadian soldiers managed to capture Courcelette. The success earned the Quebec 22nd Regiment a reputation as a stellar fighting force and several officers and soldiers were decorated for their courage. But it was at a bloody cost.” (The Bloodiest Battle, [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBC/Radio-Canada])

On 15 September 1916, two Canadian regiments, the 25th Battalion, the Nova Scotia Rifles, and the 22nd Battalion, the future Royal 22nd Regiment, were ordered to capture Courcelette, “a village in the Somme Valley occupied by Germans.” The objective of the Anglo-French forces was not achieved. In other words, no “hole was cut in the German line” that would allow moving men and equipment. (See Courcelette, Wikipedia.) However “[d]espite thousands of casualties, it was a victory, one of the few for Allied forces on the Somme.” (See Battle of Courcelette, Canadian War Museum.)

The_farewell_(HS85-10-30885)

A photograph of the Royal 22nd Regiment leaving Quebec in 1915. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1280px-Royal_22e_régiment,_défilant_devant_le_Parlement_d'Ottawa

The Royal 22nd Regiment parading on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in 1927 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Testimonials

The testimonials tell a horror story:

“We were walking on dead soldiers… I saw poor fellows trying to bandage their wounds… bombs, heavy shells were falling all over them. Poor Angéline, it is the worst sight that a man ever wants to see… All my friends have been either killed or wounded….

My dear wife, it is worse than hell here. For miles around, corpses completely cover up the ground. But your Frank didn’t get so much as a scratch. I went to battle as if I had to cut wood with my bayonet. When one of my friends was killed at my side, I saw red: some Germans raised their arms in surrender, but it was too late for them. I will remember that all my life.” (See The Bloodiest Battle, Frank Maheux, lumberjack, to his wife.)

It was a “nearly suicidal” attack. “We know very well… that we are heading to the slaughterhouse[,]” wrote Lieutenant-Colonel Louis-Thomas Tremblay in his diary. (See The Bloodiest Battle.)

Conclusion

On 20 May 1919, all battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) were disbanded, including the 22nd Battalion. However, following World War I, Canada reorganized its military forces. As you know, many Québécois are separatists, but they will have their place in Ottawa, especially in the Canadian Military Forces.

There was public pressure and the Legislative Assembly of Quebec as well as the City Council of Quebec City “demanded that a permanent French-language unit be created in the peace-time Regular Force, and accordingly a new regiment was created, made up of veterans of the 22nd Battalion, on 1 April 1920.” In June 1921 King George V approved “the renaming of [the 22nd Battalion] as The Royal 22nd Regiment.” In 1928, the Regiment was given its French name: le Royal 22e Régiment. (See Royal 22nd Regiment, Wikipedia.)

The Royal 22nd Regiment remains to this day. It served in World War II, and a large number of French-Canadians soldiers have died in Europe. Their participation in both wars is understandable. During WW I and WW II, many were fighting for France. On D-Day, French-Canadian soldiers could communicate easily with the citizens of Normandy. Naziism was an evil. Moreover, survival means doing one’s best. It is “résistance.”[3]

“We know very well,” [Louis-Thomas Tremblay] wrote in his diary, “that we are heading to the slaughterhouse. The task seems nearly impossible, considering how ill prepared we are, and how little we know the layout of the front. Even so, morale is wonderfully high and we are determined to show that we Canadians are not quitters.”

(Lieutenant-Colonel Louis-Thomas Tremblay, The Bloodiest Battle)

Baptiste, the Goat (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Baptiste, the Goat: the mascot of the Royal 22nd Regiment  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

RELATED ARTICLE

  • The Weeping Angel of Amiens (11 December 2014)
  • The Arnolfini Portrait: mise en abyme (3 December 2014)

Sources and Resources

  • The Bloodiest Battle (CBC [EN])
  • The Great War (CBC [EN])
  • The Battle of the Somme (CBC [EN])
  • The Canadian War Museum (EN)

____________________

[1] See Sir Sam Hughes (Canadian War Museum)

[2] See Sir Robert Borden (Canadian War Museum)

[3] Micheline Bourbeau-Walker, “La Patrie littéraire: errance et résistance,” Francophonies d’Amérique (Nº 13, 2002, pp. 47-65). http://www.erudit.org/revue/fa/2002/v/n13/1005247ar.html?vue=resume

Antoine Forqueray – La Buisson – Heda Willem Claesz

Leroyal22regiment

© Micheline Walker

michelinewalker.com

  • Share on Tumblr
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Telegram

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Weeping Angel of Amiens

11 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by michelinewalker in Angels, Art, War

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

Angels, Battle of the Somme, Dutch Vanitas, L'Ange pleureur, Memento Mori, Nicolas Blasset, Notre-Dame d'Amiens, The Weeping Angel

Tombeau du chanoince Luc Gillain, cathédrale d'Amiens

Tombeau du chanoine Guilain Lucas, cathédrale d’Amiens (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Little Angel, the Hourglass and the Skull

L’Ange pleureur, Notre-Dame d’Amiens

Amiens_monument_de_Gédéon_de_Forceville_(place_Joffre)_2e

Nicolas Blasset, monument de Gédéon de Forceville datant de 1874 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Weeping Angel of the Amiens Cathedral is described as a cherub, but were it not for his tears, we would mistake him for a putto (plural putti), a plump little angel hovering above in a Nativity scene, in Christian iconography, or above lovers, in secular iconography. In the Tale of Cupid and Psyche, Cupid is an oversized putto who does not belong to religious angelology.

L’Ange pleureur is the work of French sculptor and architect Nicolas Blasset (1600 – 1659). According to Oxford’s Grove Dictionary of Art:

“[Nicolas Blasset] became famous when, as a result of losing a lawsuit, he was obliged to execute a statue of a Weeping Angel (marble, 1636; Amiens, Cathedral) for the funerary monument of Canon Lucas.”

The angel’s right hand is set on an hourglass symbolizing the brevity of life. As for his left elbow, it rests on the skull of a skeleton, a symbol of death. The statue of the weeping angel adorns the funerary monument of canon Guilain Lucas who died in 1628.

The Death of Children

In the 17th century, before advances in medicine and hygiene, children often died at an early age. Youth and death were therefore closely linked, the two being at all times the opposite sides of the same coin. Dead children are still called “little angels.” Blasset himself executed the funerary monument of his eight-year-old son.

“His favourite theme, childhood, is treated with astonishing mastery and unusual sensitivity, as in the funerary monument of his eight-year-old son Jean-Baptiste Blasset (polychromed stone, c. 1647-8; Amiens, Mus. Picardie).”

The Battle of the Somme

Amiens is the capital of the French Department of Somme, in Northern France, where one of the bloodiest battles in history was fought. It opposed Anglo-French forces and German forces and took place between 1st July and 18th November 1916, wounding or taking the life of more than 1,000,000 soldiers.

On 1st July alone, British forces sustained 60,000 casualties. Field Marshal Douglas Haig and General Henry Seymour Rawlinson took much of the blame for the loss of so many lives, but war is war. The Battle was meant to be an Anglo-French offensive. The Battle of the Somme — the Somme is a river, is considered the beginning of modern all-arms warfare. (See Battle of the Somme, Wikipedia.) For the first time, a tank, un char d’assaut, was used. The French account of the Battle of the Somme has yet to be translated  into English.

A Tank
A Tank
Battle of the Somme
Battle of the Somme

The Weeping Angel: W. W. I Memorabilia

Beginning with the Battle of the Somme and throughout the remainder of World War I, soldiers who survived death started buying memorabilia featuring the Weeping Angel: various items, but post cards in particular. These they sent to family, fiancé(e)s, and friends throughout the Commonwealth, including Canada.

Until recently, young men who had survived childhood often died on battle fields in the prime of life. This would explain, I am told, the low birth rate in France following the Napoleonic Wars. War followed war, so why have children who could be cannon fodder. Napoleon’s grande armée (FR) was decimated. In fact, several soldiers who had survived the journey to Russia did not return to France, fearing for their lives. They did not have winter garments and therefore settled in Russia.

César Cui (18 January 1835 – 13 March 1918), one of “The Five” Russian composers, was a descendant of a soldier who would not undertake the march back to France. “The Five” aimed at creating a special idiom for Russian music. Tchaikovsky (7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893), however, composed European music.

Conclusion

Although L’Ange pleureur became very popular during World War I, it is a sculpture dating back to 17th-century France. The grande armée and the vanitas constitute central themes in the age of the divine rights of kings. No one but God stood above Louis XIV, the Sun King. Therefore, only the sermons of eloquent preacher Bossuet, could instil fear of God—not reverence—in his king. Louis would have to answer to a superior power: God.

We have seen in earlier posts that the still-lifes of 17th-century Dutch artists were also vanitas. The props were skulls (crânes) and hourglasses (sabliers).

Also associated with these themes is the carpe diem: Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. The carpe diem enjoins humans to enjoy life to the full as they will grow old and die. The carpe diem (seize the day) is the reverse side of a memento mori (remember death).

Mortality is the human condition and, in particular, the condition of soldiers we send into battle. Angels weep…

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Angels and Archangels: Michael, Lucifer… (30 November 2014)
  • Still-life Paintings: Vanitas Vanitatum (29 November 2012)
  • Pierre de Ronsard & the Carpe diem (2 January 2012)

Sources and Resources 

  • Weeping Angel of Amiens, Professor Moriarty
  • http://www.answers.com/topic/nicolas-blasset-1#ixzz3LXtAGTal (Grove)
  • Description de l’Église Cathédrale d’Amiens (FR)
  • Les Secrets et chapelles de la cathédrale (FR)
  • The Bloodiest Battle (CBC [EN])

Gregorian chant by the Chant Group Psallentes, directed by Hendrik Vanden Abeele

amiens_weeping_angel_z© Micheline Walker
11 December 2014
WordPress

 

michelinewalker.com

  • Share on Tumblr
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Telegram

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Arnolfini Portrait: mise en abyme

03 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Literature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bruges, Cupid and Psyche, Illusionism, Jan van Eyck, metamorphoses, Mise en Abyme, Netherlandish Renaissance, The Arnolfini Portrait

Van_Eyck_-_Arnolfini_Portrait

The Arnolfini Portrait, Jan van Eyck, 1434 (National Gallery, London, UK) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A year ago, I wrote a post on Magical Realism and used Marc Chagall as an example of a strange blend of the real and the unreal and, the “unreal.” I then quoted Professor Matthew Strecher. Magical or magic realism is “what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe.”[1]

Apuleius‘ (c. 125 – c. 180 CE) Golden Ass features magic realism. The Golden Ass is a short novel and the only novel to have come down to us from Greco-Roman antiquity. It has an ‘outer tale’ within which are inserted several ‘inner tales,’ called “digressions,” most of which reflect the ‘outer tale,’ with the possible exception of Cupid and Psyche.

The story of Cupid and Psyche is a subject-matter borrowed from Greco-Roman mythology (See RELATED ARTICLES, below) Cupid (in Latin, ‘desire’) makes himself invisible, an underlying wish in most human beings, and flies to Milet with strict instructions from his mother Venus, the goddess of love and the Roman counterpart to Greek mythology’s Aphrodite, to kill Psyche, called Psyches in Apuleius’ novel. The story resembles a fairy tale. Instead of killing Psyche, Cupid takes her to a castle, they make love, and she eventually becomes an immortal.

Cupidon, William Bougereau

Cupidon, William-Adolphe Bouguereau (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cupid and Eros

Although Cupid is a winged creature as is Eros, one of the Greek primordial gods and the god of love, Cupid, Cupidon in French, never quite rises to the stature of Eros and is not a god in Roman mythology. In Greek mythology, Eros’ name is associated with eroticism (sensuality and sexuality). However, Cupid belongs to Jean-Antoine Watteau(10 October 1684 – 18 July 1721) ethereal Pilgrimage to Cythera, a painting in which Watteau all but created the fête galante or fête champêtre.

Eroticism (adj. erotic) is a word associated with Greek mythology’s Eros. As for Cupid, he hovers above as lovers exchange vows waiting for the ship that will take them to Cythera, the birthplace of Venus, a locus amœnus. He is the little “angel” whose arrows make people ‘fall in love.’ There is very little room for Cupid in angelology, the study of angels, but Cupid has wings, as does Pegasus, and he is a rather lovely departure from the realm of angels. Falling in love, in amorous literature, is like falling ill. Once stricken by one of Cupidon‘s (FR) arrows, one cannot recover.

Mise en Abyme or the Droste Phenomenon

In literature, in-set tales are usually linked to the outer tale. Sometimes, a teller makes a story-teller tell the tale. This technique is sometimes called a “mise en abyme,”[2] but in the visual arts, such an effect is the image within the image, repeated ad infinitum. It is the box within the box, within the box. There is no end to that picture. It is a vanishing point: a point de fuite. (See Cupid and Psyche, Wikipedia.)

Droste

The woman holds an object bearing a smaller image of her holding the same object, which in turn bears a smaller image of her holding the same object, and so on. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mise en abyme: the Mirror Effect

Mise en abyme is perhaps better called the picture within the picture or the mirror effect. The concept was presented to me when I studied the fine arts. We were discussing the Arnolfini Portrait. In Jan van Eyck‘s (before c. 1390 – before c. 9 July 1441) painting, a small round mirror reflects the larger picture and gives it dimensionality. We see the people the Arnolfini couple are looking at, one of whom may be the artist. We also see the objects that are behind the Arnolfini couple, not all of which belong together.

For instance, the frame of the mirror has images showing the passion of Christ. Moreover, the head of the bed features a carving reminiscent of a misericord  showing two elements, one of which is a winged animal (zoomorphism) There is a tassel and a set of beads. I think these objects are symbols. Jan van Eyck‘s rather large signature is on the wall: writing on the wall!

Genre Painting and Illusionism

The Arnolfini Portrait is one of the visual arts’ most intriguing and complex images. It includes oranges, a little dog, slippers, a window, an oriental rug, a chandelier, a bed… These are the mostly ordinary elements of genre painting[4]. The Arnolfini Portrait may in fact be the first example of “genre” painting. However, the convex mirror creates a mise en abyme, which may serve illusionism or mimesis.[5] According to Wikipedia, it is a painting that gives the impression that the artist “shares the physical space with the viewer.” (See Illusionism, Wikipedia.)

There can be no doubt that the artist strives to create as representative an image as possible. However, techniques are required to guide the eye, such as “trompe-l’oeil,” literally “to fool the eye,” or foreshortening which “is basically concerned with the persuasive projection of a form in an illusionistic way, it is a type of perspective.”[6] There had been little depth or dimensionality to previous paintings and these had not featured mise en abyme: one little convex mirror that does “shar[e] the physical space with the viewer.”

The Arnolfini Portrait, Jan van Eyck

The Arnolfini Portrait (detail), Jan van Eyck (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Conclusion

The Arnolfini Portrait dates back to 1434, an early date, but a time when Flanders was part of the Duchy of Burgundy and the cultural hub of Europe. There was a Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini (c. 1400 – after 1452). He was an Italian merchant from Lucca, Tuscany, who lived in Bruges with other members of his family. He traded in fabrics and the manner in which he and his wife are dressed demonstrates wealth. Both are wearing fur-lined garments. Arnolfini’s wife is not pregnant, but is holding her “full-skirted dress.” (See Jan van Eyck, The National Gallery, UK). It was customary at that time in history to receive guests in a bedroom.

The Golden Ass is an outer story with inner stories called “digressions,” but these stories within the story, may be mises en abyme. The Golden Ass was first entitled Metamorphoses, but Augustine of Hippo gave it its current title. Ovid‘s (20 March 43 BCE –  17/18 CE) Metamorphoses is the better-known Metamorphoses and one of world literature’s most influential texts. However, The Golden Ass is an ancestor to such authors as Chaucer (see Apuleius’ Cupid and Psyche, RELATED ARTICLES below) and its tales within tales may also make it an ancestor to mise en abyme.

If a text is penned by one author, the same author, can there be such a thing as a true digression? It could be a subtle reflection of the text, a mise en abyme. It is all so mysterious.

As for the Arnolfini Portrait, its mirror is the instrument of a mise en abyme and a possible key to its meaning.

My kindest regards to all of you.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Angels and Archangels: Michael, Lucifer… (30 November 2014)
  • Winged Creatures: Pegasus and Icarus (20 November 2014)
  • Cupid and Psyche, or Magical Realism (7 August 2013)
  • Apuleius’ Cupid and Psyche (4 August 2013)
  • Metamorphism: Apuleius’s Cupid and Psyche (3 November 2011)

Sources and Resources

  • Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, The National Gallery, UK
  • Erich Auerbach (see works listed below)
  • Lucien Dällenbach (see works listed below)
  • Wikipedia (various entries)
  • Cupid and Psyche is an online publication
  • The Golden Ass is a project Gutenberg publication [EBook #1666]
  • The term “mise en abyme” originates in heraldry. André Gide is credited for its first use in literature.

____________________

[1] Matthew C. Strecher, “Magical Realism and the Search for Identity in the Fiction of Murakami Haruki,” Journal of Japanese Studies (Volume 25, Number 2 [Summer 1999], pp. 263-298) p. 267.

[2] Lucien Dällenbach, Le Récit spéculaire. Essai sur la mise en abyme (Paris, Seuil, 1977).

[3] “fête champêtre”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 03 dec.. 2014
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/205482/fete-champetre>.

[4] “genre painting”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 03 dec.. 2014
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/229297/genre-painting>.

[5] Erich Auerbach, Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013 [1946]).

[6] “foreshortening”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 03 dec.. 2014
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/213452/foreshortening>.

Arcangelo Corelli – Concerto Grosso in D Major – Mov. 3-5/5
Arnolfini_Portrait_1

The Arnolfini Portrait (detail) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
3 December 2014
(Revised: 4 December 2014)
WordPress

michelinewalker.com

  • Share on Tumblr
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Telegram

Like this:

Like Loading...

Europa

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,546 other followers

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Recent Posts

  • A Forthcoming Post
  • A Strange Experience …
  • The Bible of Saint Louis, Toledo
  • God the Architect
  • October 1837
  • Le Vent du Nord: Celtic Roots
  • C’est dans Paris …
  • The Ishtar Gate in Babylon
  • From Candlemas to Valentine’s Day
  • Posts on Love Celebrated

Archives

Categories

Calendar

December 2014
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Nov   Jan »

Social

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • WordPress.org

micheline.walker@videotron.ca

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker

Social

Social

  • View belaud44’s profile on Facebook
  • View Follow @mouchette_02’s profile on Twitter
  • View Micheline Walker’s profile on LinkedIn
  • View belaud44’s profile on YouTube
  • View Miicheline Walker’s profile on Google+
  • View michelinewalker’s profile on WordPress.org

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker
Follow Micheline's Blog on WordPress.com

A WordPress.com Website.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    %d bloggers like this: