Tag Archives: education

On Artist Sofonisba Anguissola

04 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by in Art, Italy, Renaissance

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Sofonisba Anguissola, self-portrait

Sofonisba Anguissola

Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1532 – 16 November 1625) is the third Renaissance artist we are discussing. She is considered a Mannerist painter.

Sofonisba was the oldest of seven children, six daughters and a son, born to Amilcare Anguissola and Bianca Ponzone. Sofonisba’s father was an aristocrat. Britannica describes him as wealthy and Wikipedia, as impoverished. It is not a contradiction. It simply means that Sofonisba lived comfortably but that her father could not provide six dowries to marry his daughters. He therefore decided that his daughters would be in a position to earn an income and bring some wealth to a potential spouse. Amilcare was centuries ahead of his times and both a realistic and responsible father. The Anguissola sisters therefore received a “well-rounded” education which included the fine arts. Lucia, the most promising of the Anguissola sisters, died at a young age. One sister entered a convent. The others married.

Sofonisba and her sister Elena apprenticed to Bernardino Campi (1522–1591), at his home for three years. She also apprenticed to Bernardino Gatti, il Sojaro (1495-96 – 22 February 1576). This was a precedent. Other families emulated the Anguissola family. Sofonisba’s sisters, Lucia, Minerva, Europa and Anna Maria apprenticed to Sofonisba. Sofonisba then travelled to Rome where she met Michelangelo (March 1475 – 18 February 1564) for whom she executed a drawing he liked. She also travelled to Milan and painted the Duke of Alba.

In short, Sofonisba had a privileged and happy upbringing and the future bode well for her, as her father wished. Moreover, Italy is where the scholars, who fled Byzantium in 1453, had settled. The Renaissance began in Italy. It follows that Italy was the right milieu for artists. As for Sofonisba, she had the privilege of being born to enlightened parents. She therefore spent a lifetime doing what she loved.

Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma, c. 1561 (Pinterest)
Élisabeth de Valois (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Marquess Massimiliano Stampa (courtesy: The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore)
Sofonisba  Anguissola by Anthony Van Dyck (Photo credit: Wikipedia) (7)
The Double Portrait, Bernardino Campi and Sofonisba (Photo credit: Wikipedia) (8)

Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma
Élisabeth de Valois, Queen of Spain
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Marquess Massimiliano Stampa (courtesy: The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore)

Madrid : 1559

The Duke of Alba, whom she painted, recommended her to no less than Spain’s most prominent monarch, King Philip II (Felipe II). Philip II had married French princess Élisabeth de Valois (2 April 1545 – 3 October 1568) whom he was very fond of and who enjoyed painting. Hence his recruiting Sofonisba who earned the rank of lady-in-waiting to the Queen consort. She was also an attendant to the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia. Germaine Greer writes that in Sofonisba’s days, “painting was a craft practiced by menials,”[1] which may explain why Sofonisba was named attendant to the Infanta. However, Sofonisba was employed and young Élisabeth, very pleased with her artist lady-in-waiting, with whom she spent the remainder of her brief life. Moreover, Sofonisba was a court painter.

At the court of Spain, Sofonisba Anguissolla was a portraitist mainly. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, “Anguissola’s paintings of this period are no longer extant, having burned in a fire in the Prado in the 17th century.”[2]

Marriages: the Dowry

Accounts vary as to dates, so I will simplify matters by saying that after the Queen died, at the age of 24 after a miscarriage, Felipe II provided Sofonisba with a dowry and married her to an aristocrat, Sicilian nobleman Fabrizio de Moncadas. After Fabrizio’s death, Sofonisba met Orazio Lomellino, the captain of the ship taking her to Cremona and she married him. Sofonisba and her husband lived in Genoa where Sofonisba continued to work as a portraitist, but also executed religious works. She died in 1625, at the age of ninety-three. Anthony Van Dyck visited her when she was in her 90s. He found her mentally alert and made a portrait of her. By then, Sofonisba, who was wealthy, had become of patron of the arts.

RELATED ARTICLES

 

With kind regards to everyone. ♥

The_Chess_Game_-_Sofonisba_Anguissola

The Chess Game (Portrait of the artist’s sisters playing chess), 1555 (Commons Wikimedia)

 

The Artist’s Mother, 1557 (Wikipedia)
Minerva, Amilcare and Asdrubale, 1557 (Wikipedia)

 

Sofonisba-Anguissola-by-Van-Dyck

Portrait of Sofonisba by Anthony Van Dyck (Photo credit: Wikipedia) (7)

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[1] Germaine Greer, The Obstacle Race, (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1979), p. 180.

[2] “Sofonisba Anguissola”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 04 mars. 2016
<http://www.britannica.com/biography/Sofonisba-Anguissola>.

800px-Self-portrait_with_Bernardino_Campi_by_Sofonisba_Anguissola

© Micheline Walker
4 March 2016
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Bernardino Campi painting himself and Sofonisba
(Photo credit: Wikipedia) (8)

Beyond Bilingualism and Biculturalism

02 Saturday May 2015

Posted by in Quebec, Quebec history

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Statue_outside_Union_Station

Monument to Multiculturalism by Francesco Pirelli in Toronto; four identical sculptures are located in Buffalo City, Changchun, Sarajevo, and Sydney (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Bilingualism 

Investigating Canada’s status as a bilingual and bicultural nation was a difficult endeavour. It may have caused the death of André Laurendeau who served as co-chair of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism with Davidson Dunton. Davidson Dunton was not the problem. Laurendeau and Dunton were a compatible team.

Laurendeau died in 1968, at the age of 56, before the Official Languages Act of 1969  was passed. From 1963 until his death, his role “brought him considerable criticism from his nationalist colleagues. The stress caused by this criticism was blamed for Laurendeau’s relatively early death by historian Charles Godin.” (See André Laurendeau, Wikipedia.)

These years were very stressful for certain French-speaking Canadians. At the time, my father was the leader of British Columbia’s French-speaking community. He fell ill.

1. On the one hand, he had to deal with individuals who could not understand why their language was not an official language. They lived in communities where the population consisted of immigrants or the children of immigrants who were more numerous than the French-speaking community, if a French-speaking community there was. Britain yes, “they won the battle.” This could explain why Pierre Trudeau was motivated to pass a Multiculturalism Act.

2. On the other hand, my father had to face members of a French-speaking community many of whom wanted their French-language schools to be Catholic schools. For them, language and faith could not be dissociated. This question is central to the history of bilingualism in Canada, i.e. bilingualism outside Quebec. In Quebec, French schools were Catholic schools until the Quiet Revolution.

Yet, had the French language schools or Catholicism been threatened, it is unlikely that the Province of Quebec, led by Sir George-Étienne Cartier, PC, would have entered Confederation. The other three provinces that entered confederation in 1867 did not oppose Sir George-Étienne Cartier, nor did London, the senior authority in the matter. It is as though the Quebec Act of 1774 had left a permanent imprint. However, when I was a student, Catholic schools outside Quebec were private schools. I am a proud graduate of St. Ann’s Academy, in Victoria, BC. I am told changes have occurred and must investigate.

When it entered Confederation Quebec also kept its Code civil. In fact, if approved, Confederation would be an advantage for Quebec because it would rescind the Act of Union of 1841 that united Upper Canada (up the Saint-Lawrence River) and Lower Canada (down the Saint-Lawrence River).

“Maîtres chez nous”

“Maîtres chez nous” (masters in our own home)
the Language Laws
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day riot (1968)
the Parent Commission (education in Quebec)

During the not-so-quiet Quiet Revolution in Quebec, Quebecers were rebuilding their society and reorganizing their education system. The Parent Commission, named after its Président, Mgr Alphonse-Marie Parent, was established on 21 April 1961. Its mission, restructuring the education system in Quebec, and the passage of language laws in the 1970s, Quebec, are separate issues. If you know French, the video clips shown below are very revealing. It is stated quite clearly that education would be free. If students now go on strike, encourage civil disobedience, intimidate classmates and want to unionize, we can trace that behaviour back to earlier events.

Parent Commission:
http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/explore.php?
http://archives.radio-canada.ca/sports/education/clips/1137/
http://archives.radio-canada.ca/societe/education/clips/1152/

But the “maîtres chez nous” ideology was soon expressed by the Front de libération du Québec. We have already discussed the October Crisis of 1970 and the bombs. It was quite ugly. I have a good friend who saw separatist leader Pierre Bourgault direct thugs to start or join a riot during the 1968 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day parade in Montreal. My friend was standing a few feet away. Pierre Trudeau, the main guest, was sitting on a platform of honour but he refused to be led away by his bodyguard. Ironically, Pierre Bourgault is credited for creating Quebec’s National Day.

24 June 1968 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Riot

Multiculturalism: a “descriptive ” term

Yet official multiculturalism did happen. As we will see, it was enacted by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1988. However, Canada’s two official languages are English and French. No other language is an official language. In fact, official multiculturalism has been viewed as formal recognition on the part of Canada’s Federal Government that the people of Canada originate from approximately 200 countries (See Multiculturalism in Canada, Wikipedia). As such, it is mostly “descriptive.”

At this point in history, the majority of Canadians are no longer of French and British origin. Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau announced in the early 1970s that Canada would adopt a multicultural policy. Multiculturalism was recognized in Section 27 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982). But, interestingly, New Zealand born and educated Peter Hogg, CC QC FRSC, Canada’s foremost authority on Canadian constitutional law,

“observed that this section did not actually contain a right; namely, it did not say that Canadians have a right to multiculturalism. The section was instead meant to guide the interpretation of the Charter to respect Canada’s multiculturalism. Hogg also remarked that it was difficult to see how this could have a large impact on the reading of the Charter, and thus section 27 could be more of a rhetorical flourish than an operative provision.’” (section 27 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Wikipedia.)

Section 27 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is administered by the Department of Canadian Heritage. Multiculturalism was enacted by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and received royal assent on 21 July 1988. (See Multiculturalism, Wikipedia.) Quebec has not adopted multiculturalism. Its policy is interculturalism and it is an “operative provision.”

A Clarification of Terms: Canadian Multiculturalism and Quebec Interculturalism
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/quebec-group-pushes-interculturalism-in-place-of-multiculturalism/article569581/

I rather like Martha Nussbaum definition of interculturalism. She states that it involves “the recognition of common human needs across cultures and of dissonance and critical dialogue within cultures,” (Cultivating Humanity). We may differ in certain ways, but we are nevertheless all the same. Common affinities link humans to other humans. It is also very difficult not to rush to help another human being in distress. The manner in which we all became Charlie is an expression of commonality among human beings. Look at the Nepal tragedy. Kind souls have travelled long distances to help victims.

It would be my opinion that multiculturalism is a very short distance away from interculturalism. One cannot simply stand next to another human being. Canadian multiculturalism has been compared to a mosaic. At first sight, it may be. But Quebec does not want a mosaic. It wants an intercultural French-speaking society.

Conclusion

In short, I doubt very much that bilingualism and biculturalism were the goals pursued by Quebec’s Révolution tranquille “nationalists.” That was happening mostly outside Quebec and may not have been perceived as protection of the French language by Quebecers whose objective it was to protect their own language, an objective akin to the goals of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism.

Consequently, in the 1960s and 1970s, Québécois were not good candidates for biculturalism or multiculturalism, a federal project. They wanted to be “maîtres chez eux,” masters in their own home. But the declining birthrate that began in the 1960s motivated Québécois to integrate immigrants, who had to learn Quebec’s official language, French, which was interculturalism.

However, failure to learn English is not an option, not in this world. It could be that Québécois are too afraid of losing their language. Yet knowing English and other languages can improve one’s self-image and definitely benefits the human mind, not to mention, ironically, knowledge of one’s mother tongue.

Besides, in 1969, while Québécois were restructuring their education system, Canada did pass its Official Languages Act, reaffirmed by the 1988 Official Languages Act, which protects the French language and cannot possibly harm Quebec.

Please accept my best regards. ♥

  1. Front de Libération du Québec (“Separatism”)
  2. October Crisis of 1970
  3. Official Language Act of 1974 (Bill 22) 
  4. Charter of the French Language of 1977 (Bill 101)
  5. Canada Act of 1982 (the current Constitution)
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Queen Elizabeth signing the Canada Act, Ottawa 1982 (Photo credit: Google Images)

Sources and Resources 

Royal Proclamation of 1763 (Aboriginal Rights, Article 35 of the Canada Act, 1982)
Official Languages Act (Canada; 1969, Canadian Encyclopedia)
Official Languages Act (Canada; 1988, Canadian Encyclopedia)
Official Languages Act, Government of Canada
Multiculturalism (Canadian Encyclopedia)
Interculturalism (The Globe and Mail)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/quebec-group-pushes-interculturalism-in-place-of-multiculturalism/article569581/
A Clarification of Terms: Canadian Multiculturalism and Quebec Interculturalism
The Constitution Act (Canada; 1982, Canadian Encyclopedia)
The Constitution Acts, Government of Canada
The Canada Act PDF, Canada; 1982:
http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/CH37-4-3-2002E.pdf

—ooo—

Pierre Trudeau on Quebec

c140544
Pierre Trudeau sketch

© Micheline Walker
1 May 2015
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Comenius: Orbis Sensualium Pictus

13 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by in Art, Education

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Johann Amos Comenius

Johann Amos Comenius (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Johann Amos Comenius

One of the key moments in the history of education is the publication, in 1658, of Johann Comenius’s (28 March 1592 – 4 November 1670) Orbis Sensualium Pictus. 

Johann Amos Comenius (Latin for John Ámos Komenský) was born in what is now the Czech Republic.  He is often referred to as the “father” of education.  It could also be argued that he “discovered” the child.  However, his fames rests mainly in the publication of the first illustrated textbook, the above-mentioned Orbis Pictus. Comenius knew that  

[a] picture is worth a thousand words.

There is so much truth to this old adage that, since the publication of the Orbis Sensualium Pictus, writers and publishers of textbooks, fables, fairy tales, and various other books have made a point of inserting pictures.

Touching the senses: music and pictures

The concept underlying the importance of illustrations resembles the notion of   Affektenlehre (doctrine of the affections) in music, a doctrine of which Johann Mattheson was the chief proponent.  In compliance with this doctrine, composers attempted to touch the Affeckte or senses, claiming that music would thereby be morally uplifting.  For instance, Haydn used contrast to touch the Affeckte.

Here, the operative word is senses.  Note that the very title of Comenius’s epochal book, Orbis Sensualium Pictus, indicates that the senses play a role in teaching and learning.  However, unlike Johann Mattheson, Comenius’s advocacy of the use of illustrations was not an explicit attempt to make the subject matter morally uplifting.  Comenius’s goal was simply to make the subject matter more accessible and the subject matter was mainly Latin.  As the title indicates, his Janua Linguarum Reserata (The Gate of Tongues Unlocked, 1632) was a textbook used to teach Latin in a simplified and more effective manner.  Comenius wanted to teach “about things and not about grammar.”  He described “useful facts” in both Latin and Czech, side by side.[i]

The Great Didactic

Comenius’s Janua Linguarum Reserata was an extremely popular textbook.  However, Comenius’s first concern was the reform of the educational system, which he described in his Didactica Magna (The Great Didactic).  He also advocated universal education.

By and large, the reforms he introduced have endured.  The path is mostly unchanged. Children still begin their schooling by attending a kindergarten.  Pupils then attend elementary and secondary school and, upon successful completion of secondary school, young adults may enter college or a university.  Moreover, the path starts with the education of infants.  Comenius wrote a book for mothers entitled The School of Infancy.  It is because of his books that I have stated that Comenius discovered children or childhood.

Illustrations

However, what I want to praise above all is his introduction of illustrations in textbooks and other books.  Comenius realized that explaining a subject using words only was ineffective.  He therefore stressed the importance of illustrations, or pictures.  For instance, in the case of an illustrated fable, it is easier to remember the morality because it is exemplified in two ways:  by a text, called exemplum, and by a picture.

Simplicity and the picture “worth a thousand words”

Other than his Great Didactic, i.e. the system, Comenius’s contribution to education is therefore twofold.

  • With respect to the teaching of a second language, he advocated simplicity and usefulness.  He realized that one taught a language by teaching the language and not about the language.
  • As for teaching in general, he advocated the support of illustrations.

Drawings, paintings, prints and photographs can be an end in themselves.  But illustrations are both an end in themselves and a means to an end.  Most of us will gladly accept an unwrapped present, but there is so much pleasure in the traditional unwrapping of a gift.

The same is true of illustrations.  Just imagine learning about Cupid and Psyche without seeing at least one of the beautiful illustrations inspired by that lovely story.

800px-Comenius-Schule

Latin class from Orbis Pictus

Illustrations existed long before the publication of Orbis Pictus.  In fact, they existed long before the invention of the printing-press (c. 1440).  They were the illuminations of illuminated manuscripts and very expensive.  However, even after the invention of the printing-press, publishing an illustrated book was a long and costly process.  Distribution was limited.  Only the few had access to books.

Before the invention of printing, books were copied by hand and then decorated with illuminations. Illuminations were just what the word says:  illuminations.  They enlightened the text.

Comenius’s books could not possibly be as beautiful as an illustrated Bestiary or Book of Hours, but many copies could be made and they could be made quickly, which means that universal education was a realistic goal.

So let us praise Comenius, the senses, and our illustrators.

Sources and Resources

[i] “John Amos Comenius.”  Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2011.             <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/127493/John-Amos-Comenius>

Music: Carmina Burana by Carl Orff

Johann Comenius

Johann Comenius

© Micheline Walker
12 November 2011
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Respect for life: on anti-abortion extremism

28 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by in Sharing

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The Lady and an Ermine Leonardo da Vinci (Google Art Project)

It is rather perturbing to think that, in Mississippi, all abortions might be considered illegal on the grounds that a child is a human being from, just about, the very second an egg is fertilized. It is also perturbing to think that, on the same basis, the law would make certain forms of birth-control illegal. It seems that our anti-tax extremists are also anti-abortion extremists, people who oppose “big government” while playing “big government.”

A Case Story

Let me create a case story. A fourteen-year old girl, born to an impoverished family, is raped and gets pregnant. Because life begins the moment an egg is fertilized, under this new legislation, she would have to carry and to give birth to the child of her rapist.

As I like to say on such thorny issues,

… morality ends where inhumanity begins.

I can appreciate that taking a firm stand against abortion might get politicians a few more votes, but if that poor girl cannot obtain an abortion and, subsequently, when she is older, cannot use the form of birth control she, her husband, and her doctor think is best for her to use, we are facing callousness. Who would want to be elected into office using so narrow a view of abortion and birth control? And who would vote for such a person?

Gun control

American medical doctors who perform abortions may be killed by a deranged anti-abortion extremist. Is the life of a medical doctor so unimportant that he or she should be killed?

Let us also look at the right to bear arms. Guns kill. If you fear an enemy is lurking, phone 9-1-1. Besides, there’s self-defense and self-defense. Don’t shoot the person who is at your door because you do not know that person. Again, life is sacred.

The Death-penalty 

What baffles me is that anti-abortion extremists are frequently the persons who support the death-penalty and oppose social programs as well as any legislation that would curb pollution. If such people allow the execution of individuals who may be innocent, can they speak of respect for life. And if such people cut down entire forests and also let the planet melt, can they speak of respect for life. How can they be anti-abortion extremists?

Killing animals

I have also noticed that anti-abortion-extremists tend to trivialize the life of animals and cause the extinction of species: vegetation, fish, etc. For them, all is fair in the pursuit of money. That is Machiavellian.

Conclusion

In short, it would be my opinion that instead of contemplating passing tyrannical laws, we should provide young adults with an education that will allow them to act responsibly. There is more to an education than job-training. Make it possible for the young simply to think out everything. Chances are they will adopt values that will translate into a better world, a world where abortions are performed on the basis of medical issues, and where mothers and fathers spend more time looking after their little ones. There are several medical requirements that fully legitimize an abortion.

© Micheline Walker
28 October 2011
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