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Die fantastiese ware geskiedenis van eenhoorns
Eenhoorns is magiese wesens wat in omtrent elke fantasieroman verskyn, en verskeie sprokies in die opgetekende geskiedenis. Hierdie verhale het selfs oor die hele wêreld verskyn. Volgens die legende kon eenhoorns slegs deur 'n meisie met 'n suiwer hart getem word. Hulle horings het die vermoë om vloeistof te suiwer, en in sommige legendes kon hul horings wonde genees. Hierdie legende was genoeg om mense vir eeue lank te inspireer om na hierdie ontwykende wese te jag. Selfs goed opgeleide lede van die koninklikes het gekoop wat volgens hulle eenhoringhorings was, en wetenskaplikes het die moontlikheid van hul bestaan in die verlede baie ernstig behandel. Maar het hierdie dier ooit bestaan? Is dit uit die lewe gejag soos die Dodo -voël, of was dit werklik 'n idee van iemand se verbeelding?
Van 'n tapisserie genaamd & ldquoThe Lady and the Unicorn & rdquo. Krediet: Wikimedia Commons.
Wat ons nie sien nie
Hoe gepas sou 'n museumvertoning gewy aan die eenhoorn - 'n mitiese dier wie se naam iets so skaars en ontwykend beteken het dat dit al dan nie bestaan het - nie kon gebeur nie. 'A Blessing of Unicorns' sou die vyftiende-eeuse eenhoorn-tapisserie van die Musée de Cluny in Parys saam met hul eweknieë in die Cloisters in New York se Metropolitan Museum of Art bring, as deel van 'n viering ter ere van die Met se honderd- en vyftigjarige herdenking. Die vertoning is vir 2020 beplan en is gekanselleer weens die COVID-19 pandemie. 'N Uitstalling van Middeleeuse kuns het die slagoffer geword van die plaag, die meeste middeleeuse gevare.
Die Met se pragtig geïllustreerde Somer 2020 -nuusbrief, A Blessing of Unicorns: The Paris and Cloisters Tapestries, wys ons nie net wat ons gemis het nie, maar kan ons ook laat dink oor eenhorings - 'n onderwerp wat, om eerlik te wees, jare lank nie by my opgekom het nie. Ek het baie gereeld aan eenhoorns gedink. Eintlik het ek by een geleef, jy kan sê: 'n reproduksie van Die Eenhoring rus in 'n tuin hang in my kinderjare se slaapkamer. Ek het vroeër gestaar na die donker velde wat so dik bedek was met onmoontlik volmaakte blomme, en na die eenhoorn in sy klein ronde omhulsel, so soet, so weemoedig, so eensaam - so soos die gees van 'n preteen meisie wat in die liggaam van 'n wit perd met 'n enkele kurketrekkerhoring.
Dit was 'n skok om dit weer te sien, toe ek deur die Met -katalogus kyk en die helder, insiggewende opstel deur Barbara Drake Boehm, die senior kurator by die Cloisters, lees. En terwyl ek lees, sien ek iets in die beeld wat ek nog nooit tevore gesien het nie. Hoe kon ek nie opgemerk het dat die eenhoring se vel vol bloed is nie, dat dun klinkers karmosynrooi in die gladde wit vleis drup terwyl dit so geduldig in sy sirkelomhulsel rus? Sommige geleerdes het aangevoer dat die rooi strepe granaatappelsap is, die simbool van vrugbaarheid, maar dit lyk vir my na bloed, en dit lyk onwaarskynlik dat die hond die eenhoring se rug knibbel The Unicorn Surrenders to a Maiden dribbel rooi vrugte nektar.
Wat sou ek as kind gedink het as ek geweet het dat hierdie delikate, grasieuse wese 'n dier is wat gejag moet word, soos een van die bedreigde spesies safari-trofeë wat so trots vertoon word deur Don Junior en Eric Trump? En wat sou ek tot die gevolgtrekking gekom het as ek meegedeel is dat hierdie slagting nie kan gebeur sonder die gewillige hulp van 'n aangename maagd nie?
Die eenhoorn was blykbaar nie net vinnig nie, maar ook sterk, wat 'n olifant met sy horing kon doodmaak. Die jagters kon nie alleen daar naby kom nie. Daarom het jy die maagd nodig gehad. Die eenhoring lê graag sy kop in 'n maagd se skoot, en terwyl dit afgelei is, het die jagters toegesluit. Die maagd was aas. As die implikasies ons ontgaan en ons die gevolge misloop-die kosbaarheid van vroulike suiwerheid en die relatiewe besmetting van vroulike seksualiteit-hier is Richard de Fournival, die dertiende-eeuse kanselier van die katedraal van Amiens en skrywer van Die Bestiary of Love:
Ek is ook vasgevang deur die reuk ... soos die Eenhoring wat aan die slaap raak in die soet reuk van die meisie ... niemand durf dit aanval of in 'n hinderlaag behalwe 'n jong maagd nie. Want as die eenhoorn 'n maagd voel deur haar reuk, kniel dit voor haar en verneder homself saggies om van diens te wees. Gevolglik plaas die slim jagters wat die aard daarvan ken, 'n meisie in sy pad, en dit raak aan die slaap in haar skoot. En dan, as dit slaap, kom die jagters, wat nie die moed het om dit na te streef terwyl hulle wakker is nie, uit en maak dit dood.
As ek as 'n meisie na die prentjie kyk, word ek subliminêr geprogrammeer vir 'n toekoms waarin ek moet kies tussen die eenhoringvriend en 'n sekslewe? Wat as ons voorgee dat ons maagde is? Die eenhoring sal dit ruik. En as ons maagde was, wat sou dit vir ons inhou om die lieflike dier aan sy moordenaars te lewer? Teen die hoërskool het ek en my vriende maagdelikheid gesien as 'n las wat ons graag wou ontslae raak, ons was te onskuldig om te verstaan hoeveel van meisies - die energie en gees - jammer is om te verloor. En ek was beslis te jonk om te oorweeg hoe die kultus van die maagd - die fetisjisering van die maagdelikheid - 'n slegte ding was vir vroue, wat deur mans gestraf is, nie bedoel was vir die beskerming van meisies nie, maar in die eerste plek as 'n waarborg vir die produk wat een was besig om te koop, verkoop of ruil in die huwelik.
Baie is gemaak van die eenhoorn as 'n simbool van Christus, 'n voorlesing van hierdie beelde wat 'n Middeleeuse vriend ondersteun as gevolg van uitverkiesing, sê sy, die ingewikkelde onlogika van die maagd wat medepligtig was aan die moord op haar seun, is buitensporig. Die woning van die eenhoring is die wonde van Jesus. Boehm is minder oortuig en beweer dat die simboliese godsdienstige interpretasie tot uiterstes geneem is. Maar of die eenhoorn Jesus verteenwoordig (of herinner ons daaraan), of die bloed daarvan die bloed van Christus is, daar is geen twyfel dat die jagters in die Cluny -tapisserieë - growwe, gewelddadige, wrede, nare - dooie lui is vir die jok wat spot Christus in die skilderye van Bosch en Grunewald.
Alhoewel ek nie anders kon as om te treur oor my verlore onskuld nie, maar my liefde vir eenhoorns ontbloot, was ek dankbaar vir die heerlike eenhoorn-feite wat Boehm bied: Die twaalfde-eeuse mistikus en komponis Hildegard von Bingen het geglo dat u melaatsheid kan genees deur 'n eenhoorn te kap lewer met eiergeel. Cesare Borgia verklee hom as eenhoorn vir sy troue in 1498. Julius Caesar het geskryf dat die eenhoorns in die woude van Duitsland gewoon het, terwyl Duitse pelgrims later 'n eenhoring in die omgewing van die berg Sinai gewaar het.
Elk van die Cluny -tapisserieë, wat omstreeks 1500 geweef is, verteenwoordig een van die sintuie (smaak, reuk, sig, ensovoorts) en toon 'n relatief statiese toneel (eenhoring, dame) teen 'n rooi agtergrond wat sterk gestippel is met klein diertjies, lokke, baniere en blomme. Dit is verstommend dat hierdie enorme, baie gedetailleerde werke van verteenwoordigende kuns geweef is, alhoewel my verbasing effens gedemp was deur dit nie persoonlik te sien nie.
Die tapisserieë by die Kloosters is nie net later nie (dateer uit die begin van die sestiende eeu), maar ook baie meer dinamies, realisties en bloediger.
The Hunters Enter the Woods, from the Hunt for the Unicorn Tapestries, 1495–1505.
Die naam van die reeks, "The Unicorn Hunt", is 'n onmiddellike wenk: dit is nie My klein ponie. En tog, in die eerste van die reeks, Die Jagters gaan die bos in, dinge lyk vriendelik genoeg. Dit lyk nie asof die honde so bloeddorstig is dat hulle agteruit kyk in plaas van vorentoe nie. Die mans dra snaakse hoede, sommige met groot pluime, en miskien is die spiese net bykomstighede wat mans uit die dertiende eeu in die bos gaan stap het. Wandelstokke met punte.
The Unicorn Surrenders to the Maiden, from the Hunt for the Unicorn Tapestries, 1495–1505.
'N Skare het saamgedrom Die Eenhoorn suiwer water, en dit is alles 'n baie vredige koninkryk, die eenhoorn word omring deur 'n pak regte en mitiese diere, ontstellend maar onbedreigend. The Unicorn Surrenders to the Maiden bevat slegs twee mense - die (vermoedelike) maagd en 'n jagter wat van die bome spioeneer en sy toeter blaas en die ander aandui. Maar nou is die honde opgewerk. Een van hulle knik of byt die eenhoorn, wat kalm bly, hoewel daar nou twee strome bloed oor sy rug stroom. Die bloed is net so mooi - as esteties - soos alles anders.
Die Eenhoorn verdedig Homself, van die jag na die eenhoorn -tapisserieë, 1495–1505.
Dit is nie tot nie Die Eenhoorn verdedig Homself dat die spiese gelig word. Die honde het gemeen geword, miskien omdat een van hulle deur die eenhoring getorring is, wie se bloed begin vloei het.
Die jagters keer terug na die kasteel, van die jag na die eenhoorn -tapisserieë, 1495–1505.
Die Jagters keer terug na die kasteel is een van die Middeleeuse/Renaissance -beelde wat soos 'n film funksioneer, wat ons tonele wys wat ons opeenvolgend van die een kant van die beeld na die ander kan volg. Links bo is die eenhoorn in pyn, diep deurboor deur drie spiese en deur die honde omring. En op die onderste voorgrond is die dooie eenhoring - wat meer op 'n geslagde bok lyk as 'n magiese wese, die afgeblaasde karkas wat oor die rug van 'n mooi bruin perd geslinger is - gebring vir die goedkeuring van die koninklike heer en dame en hul hofdienaars.
Toe ek op hoërskool was, dikwels, in mooi weer, het ek en my vriende die bus van die vyfde laan tot aan die einde van die ry, Fort Tryon Park, geneem. Ons het die hele middag by die Cloisters deurgebring. Dit was ons Europese vakansie, ons goedkoop tydsreis. Ek weet nie hoeveel tyd ek voor die eenhoorn -tapisserie deurgebring het nie, maar ek weet dat dit deur al die ure nooit by my opgekom het dat ek na bloedbad kyk nie.
Miskien het die wreedheid en bloedige gesindheid van hierdie jaar die bloedbad sterker in fokus gebring. Dit is irriterend, selfs verleentheid, maar ek hou altyd (of byna altyd) daarvan om my oë oop te maak vir iets wat ek nie opgemerk het nie, al was dit altyd voor my. Dit was nie asof dit nooit by my opgekom het nie, hoe ernstig ons samelewing deur rassisme en inkomste -ongelykheid vergiftig en vervorm is. Maar die gebeure van hierdie somer, die protesoptredes van die Black Lives Matter en die gruwelike statistieke wat onthul hoeveel erger die armes en bruin mense aan die pandemie gely het, het dit onmoontlik gemaak om nie die bloed te sien nie. Ek het vroeër gesê dat ons demokrasie 'n brose instelling is, dat dit wat gebeur het om ander demokrasieë in diktatorskappe te verander, maklik hier kon gebeur. Maar ek dink nie ek het dit regtig geglo tot onlangs nie.
Hoe ontstellend of pynlik die waarheid ook al is, om te sien wat ons nie raakgesien het nie, voel soos 'n voortgesette opleiding, 'n les, selfs 'n geskenk. Soos soveel verhale wat ek gedink het ek ken, soos soveel van die verhale wat ons onsself vertel en vertel, is die verhaal van die eenhoring nie wat ek gedink het nie. Die skoonheid van hierdie tapisserieë is opwindend, selfs in reproduksie, maar dit laat die vraag ontstaan hoe maklik ons die voor die hand liggende kan miskyk as ons nie noukeurig kyk nie.
Francine Prose is die skrywer van negentien romans, agt nie-fiksiewerke, drie kortverhaalbundels en een kinderboek. Haar mees onlangse roman is Meneer Aap.
Jy mag dalk ook hou van
Die geheime geskiedenis van onkruid
‘Wat is 'n onkruid? ’Vra Ralph Waldo Emerson die skare wat vergader het om hom te hoor spreek by die Old South Church van Boston op 30 Maart 1878. Sy antwoord: 'n plant wat nog nie bruikbaar is nie. Daar was ongeveer 200 000 onkruid, het hy opgemerk in sy lesing, 'Fortune of the Republic', en bygevoeg: 'Tyd sal nog 'n uitvinder na elke plant bring. Daar is geen eiendom in die natuur nie, maar 'n verstand word gebore om dit te soek en te vind [...] Die oneindige toepaslikheid van hierdie dinge in die denkende mens se hande, elke nuwe toepassing is gelykstaande aan 'n nuwe materiaal. 'Hy verwys na kapitalisme en beheer en oorheers die land. Sy verhaal is die van 'n man, van 'n blanke, van 'n 'denkende man'.
My onkruid is nie die onkruid van Emerson nie. Diegene wat ek sien, bevat verhale oor globalisering en massamigrasies. Die meeste onkruide in die VSA is hier omdat iemand eens gedink het dit is nuttig. Die taal rondom hulle is vandag problematies: 'inheems', 'indringend', 'vreemd' - asof 'n mikrokosmos van ons politiek. Ek kyk na my grasperk en dit is alles onkruid. Daar is kamille en osseelysbloem, wat deur die National Park Service 'n 'gevaarlike sier' genoem word en smaak soos 'n vuurpyl in slaaiwortel wat Achilles gedra het om sy troepe se wonde prunella, wat bekend staan as 'selfgenesend' of 'genees-alles' te bestry 'vanweë sy medisinale eienskappe rooiklaver wat as veevoer gebruik kan word of om vroulike hormone te modereer. Daar is dokke en weegbree.
Deborah Pierce Bonnell, Queen Anne's Lace, 2014. Met vergunning: die kunstenaar
Hierdie plante en hul geskiedenis is nie eenvoudig nie. Hulle is dikwels deur wit koloniseerders gebring. Weegbree word ook 'witmensvoet' genoem omdat dit oral getrek het waar wit mense gegaan het. Die jong blare maak slaaigroen ryk aan voedingstowwe en werk as 'n slaai - selfs gekou in speeksel - as 'n uitstekende geneser van snitte.
Ander onkruide bevat geheime van weerstand. Koningin Anne se kant, met sy wipende wit koppe, is 'n wilde wortel. Die wortel is eetbaar, maar die saad daarvan is 'n ander verhaal - of liewer, dit is my storie. Dit is 'n progesteroon-remmer en kan werk soos die oggend-na-pil, of daagliks as die voorbehoedpil. Mugwort se lang rande waai na die motors wat langs die pad verbyjaag. Die blare met sy silwer onderkant ruik na denne en salie. Dit is 'n kragtige bron van thujone, 'n natuurlike verbinding met psigotropiese eienskappe. Volgens die gerugte is die rede waarom hekse vlieg, die plant vonkel lewendige, vinnige drome. Dit moduleer ook vroue se hormone en kan aborsie veroorsaak. Die wortels is 'n risoom wat eksponensieel versprei. Toe ek dit in Brooklyn langs die besoedelde Gowanus -kanaal sien, dink ek aan die vroue wat dit seker hierheen gebring het en hulle hul behoeftes, vrese en drome voorstel.
Mugwort, met sy modderige naam ('wort' beteken wortel), is die begin van die 'Nine Herbs Charm'. Gepubliseer in die Lacnunga, 'n boek met kruiemiddels uit die laat 10de of vroeë 11de eeu, roep die betowering die plant op asof dit lewendig en teenwoordig is:
jy is sterk teen gif
U is magtig teen die kwaad
wat deur die land vaar
Die Eenhoring rus in 'n tuin, uit 'Unicorn Tapestries', 1495–1505. Met vergunning: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Nadat ek die sjarme gelees het, het mugwort - die 'eerste' en 'oudste' - vir my 'n teken van opstand geword. Donald Trump was destyds president en het die voortplantingsregte van vroue uitgedaag. Ek wou hierdie plant oral hê, langs paaie en in sikloonheinings, op parkeerterreine en arm grond. Toe ek die oggend deur Prospect Park hardloop, sal ek dit groet. Ek sien die blare in die somer en dink aan die verlore geskiedenis van vroue. Die eerste keer dat ek dit geneem het, in 2018, volg ek die aanwysings wat 'n tuinier by The Met Cloisters -museum in Manhattan aan die kunstenaar Marlene McCarty gegee het. Ek het drome gehad
om 'n kind se rooi rugsak met tekenprentkarakters in te pak en in gedwonge migrasie te vlug - 'n gepaste visie lyk dit, as ek terugkyk.
Toe die sjarme toegewy was aan skryf, was dit een van die laaste stryd teen die Christendom. Vier eeue later sou 'n groot aantal vroue as hekse vervolg word vanweë hul kruie-kennis, en namate boerdery tot monokulture ontwikkel het-met gewasse in rye en lyne soos eenpuntperspektief-het grond self rykdom en erfenis van mans geword. Toe kom kolonisasie, kapitalisme, slawerny en die ontneem van die mag van vroue oor hul lewens en liggame. Geneeskunde het ook die domein van die mens geword. In die VSA het blanke setlaars - met die regering se goedkeuring - grond van die inheemse Amerikaners gesteel en vermoor omdat hulle steeds meer gebiede wou hê om hul golwe graan en katoen te plant.
Emerson het sy toespraak gelewer naby die begin van die lang depressie (1873–96), en hy spreek die ekonomie van katoen en die burgeroorlog aan in 'n argument wat ek nie heeltemal verstaan nie. Die depressie het 'n teenverhaal tot boerdery en kapitalisme veroorsaak. Die jaar toe Emerson gepraat het, het swart-en-wit deelboere wat katoen in die suide verbou, ooreenstem-nie die storie wat ons gereeld hoor van die tydperk na die heropbou nie-en hul gesamentlike mag het die blanke oppergesag afgeskrik. Hierdie boere word deur kapitalisme, deur handelaars en banke en katoenmakelaars verslind. Hulle het die Farmers Alliance in 1877 gestig en het die klasbewussyn oor rassegrense verhoog. Die groep het geveg vir vakbonde, koöperasies en sosialistiese hervormings van die bankwese en spoorweë. Katoen self was ook 'n weerstandsmiddel: verslaafde vroue dra kennis van die plant uit Afrika, waar dit ook groei. Katoen, of gossypium soos die genus genoem word, het aborsief eienskappe en kan ek, soos ek gelees het, sperms onderdruk.
Illustrasie van B.D. Basu en K.R. Kritkar, Indian Medicinal Plants, vol. 3, 1918. Met vergunning: Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
As ek die 'Nine Herbs Charm' lees, dink ek aan die 'Unicorn Tapestries' (1495–1505). Een van my graadstudente, Kate Brock, skryf daaroor en wys op die tegniek van die millefleurs, met blomme wat oral gestippel is, die grond, die lug, die eter word. Daar is niks tussen die plante en ons nie. Hierdie tapisserieë is gemaak ongeveer 500 jaar nadat die 'Nine Herbs Charm' opgeneem is, maar die tegniek wat hulle gebruik, is uit die gotiese era. Die plante en blomme versmoor alles wat menslike figure tussen hulle staan asof dit deel van die blare is. In die latere tapisserieë, merk Kate op, word die blomme verminder en getem. Hulle word 'n lyn onder die eenhoringjagters se voete. Die plante en grond is nou onder ons domein.
Wat is 'n onkruid? Myne is 'n ekonomie van die afvalplekke, wat deur krake in die sypaadjies van giftige stortingsterreine, parkeerterreine en snelwegrande gryp, waar hulle kan help om die gronde reg te stel. Die VSA bestee jaarliks $ 20,5 miljard aan plaagdoders vir monokulture om gewasse te verbou, en versprei 23 miljoen ton kunsmis op variëteite mielies, sojabone en koring met 'n hoë opbrengs. Die meeste kunsmis is stikstofgebaseerd en vereis dat metaan geproduseer moet word. Metaan is die belangrikste dryfveer vir klimaatsverandering.
My onkruid staan daarteen. Hulle groei buite die rye, buite die lyne, en beweer ander verhale. Hierdie plante wat nie meer as nuttig beskou word nie, wat die kapitalistiese boerdery wil vernietig, kan help om die verlore landskappe terug te kry. Docks is ryk aan ysterwortel, is anti-inflammatories en antisepties. Weegbree kan sommige insekdoders fytoremedieer. Selfs genesende voordele bevat onder meer veroudering, kanker, ontsteking. In die somer pluk en eet ek sy pers blomme terwyl ek deur die gras loop wat nie gras is nie, maar 'n onkruid, en dit vertel stories van my eie weerstand.
Hierdie artikel verskyn die eerste keer in fries uitgawe 218 met die opskrif 'In die Onkruid'.
Hoofbeeld: The Unicorn Crosses a Stream, uit 'Unicorn Tapestries', 1495–1505. Met vergunning: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Sluit aan by kundiges vir 'n interdissiplinêre, virtuele verkenning van die beroemde Unicorn Tapestries van The Met Cloisters. Leer meer oor die kuns en innovasie agter die tapisserieë en kyk na die komplekse en blywende verhouding tussen menslikheid en natuur. Die program bevat praktiese leerplanverbindings vir onderrig en leer met wetenskap, tegnologie, ingenieurswese, kuns en wiskunde (STEAM). Vir opvoeders van alle dissiplines en graadvlakke.
Let wel: hierdie regstreekse geleentheid vind op Zoom plaas. Plek is beperk vooraf registrasie is nodig. Registrasie sluit 21 Mei 2021, 17:00 (ET), of wanneer registrasie vol is.
Outogegenereerde onderskrifte is beskikbaar.
Image: The Unicorn Rests in a Garden (from the Unicorn Tapestries) (detail), 1495–1505. Gemaak in Parys, Frankryk (tekenprent) Gemaak in Suid -Nederland (geweef), Wolskering met wol, sy, silwer en vergulde inslag, totaal: 368 x 251,5 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr., 1937 (37.80.6)
Waaruit is 'n eenhoring se horing gemaak?
Die Cambridge Animal Alphabet -reeks vier Cambridge se verbintenis met diere deur middel van letterkunde, kuns, wetenskap en samelewing. Hier is U vir Unicorn. Alhoewel dit berug is dat dit moeilik is om te vang, verskyn dit op maiolica-borde, in die 15de eeuse heraldiek, en in vroeë resepte vir anti-gif.
Die resep uit die 17de eeu vir een anti-gif, 'Banister's Powder', het 'n eenhoring, 'oosbeeste' en 'hartbene' van die hart gevra
Blaai na die einde van die artikel om na die podcast te luister.
Met die eerste oogopslag is dit dalk 'n perd met golwende maanhare en swaaiende stert - maar dan sien jy die lang, gedraaide horing wat uit sy voorkop steek. As u hierdie wonderlike dier van nader beskou, sien u dat sy voete die meeste verskil van perde se hoewe, in syfers gesplit, amper soos menslike voete.
Niemand weet presies hoe 'n eenhoorn lyk nie, maar die kunstenaar wat hierdie maiolica-bord (in die versameling van die Fitzwilliam-museum versier: volgens C.86-1927) het 'n wese op groot skaal voorgestel. Die jeugdige ruiter, wat langs 'n ryk geborduurde doek sit, word verdwerg deur die indrukwekkende grootte van sy buigstok.
Die bord was oorspronklik deel van 'n reeks, wat vroeg in die 16de eeu in Italië gemaak is, wat die keiser se triomfantelike intog in Rome na die einde van die tweede Puniese oorlog uitbeeld. Die toneel is geneem uit 'n stel houtsnitte en die letter H dui sy plek in die vertelling aan. Die plate word vermoedelik vervaardig deur 'n werkswinkel in Cafaggiolo, nie ver van Florence nie.
Die gewaagde ontwerp is 'n bewys dat eenhorings nie altyd die skaam en sagmoedige wesens was wat ons in die Middeleeuse kaste en 20ste -eeuse kinderliteratuur sou laat glo nie. Dit was eintlik 'n woeste toevoeging tot die geledere van mitiese diere in klassieke tekste. Plinius die Ouere beskryf die eenhoorn so:
'' ... 'n baie kwaai dier genaamd die monoceros wat die kop van die hert het, die voete van die olifant en die stert van die vark, terwyl die res van die liggaam soos dié van die perd is, dit 'n diep neergeluid maak, en het 'n enkele swart horing wat uit die middel van sy voorkop uitsteek. "
Vanuit hierdie chimeriese begin het die eenhoorn 'n verskeidenheid rigtings geneem in terme van voorkoms en simboliek. Dit het in die Middeleeue 'n embleem vir Christus geword en word vanaf die 15de eeu gereeld in die heraldiek gebruik. Die leeu en die eenhoorn is die simbole van die Verenigde Koninkryk met die leeu wat Engeland en die eenhoring Skotland verteenwoordig.
Die versameling van die Fitzwilliam -museum wemel van eenhoorns. Sommige van die mees verleidelike verskyn in 'books of hours' en 'bestiaries'. Die vryskutnavorser, Robert Lloyd Parry, het slegs 'n paar daarvan ondersoek tydens die ondersoek na 'n verkenning van tekens en simbole in kuns vir die Fitzwilliam -webwerf.
'N Vlaamse boek van ure, wat uit 1526 dateer, toon die aankondiging. Mary sit in 'n ommuurde tuin (simbolies van haar maagdelikheid) en 'n wit eenhoorn sit sy horing in haar skoot. God die Vader loer agter haar uit 'n brandende bos, en anderkant die tuin blaas Gabriel 'n jaghoring.
'N Verligte manuskrip uit die 15de eeu-'n Franse vertaling van 'n 13de-eeuse ensiklopedie-beeld 'n eenhoring in die tuin van Eden voor die val van die mens uit. Lloyd Parry skryf: “God die Vader hou die regte hande van Adam en Eva terwyl engele en diere kyk. 'N Stroom kom uit die grond by God se voete. Die horing van die eenhoring wys na sy helder water - miskien 'n verwysing na sy legendariese vermoëns om water te suiwer. "
'N Magiese wese het waarskynlik magiese kragte: eenhoring word met suiwerheid geassosieer. Natalie Lawrence, 'n PhD -kandidaat in die Departement Geskiedenis en Wetenskapsfilosofie in Cambridge, ondersoek vroeë ontmoetings met eksotiese wesens - insluitend die geleenthede wat dit vir handelaars en apteke gebied het.
Lawrence se werk bied vars insigte oor hoe beskermende en genesende kragte aan natuurlike stowwe toegeskryf word, in 'n tyd toe daar wydverspreide vrees vir vergiftiging was. Die 17de-eeuse resep vir 'n antigif, 'Banister's Powder', het 'n eenhoring, 'oosbeeste' en 'hartbene' van die hart gevra. Lede van die adel het tafelgerei en bekers met 'n 'eenhoornhoring'-basis gekoop om te voorkom dat hulle vergiftig word, en die troonstoel van Denemarke (gebou 1662-1671) is selfs gemaak van' eenhoringhoring '.
Die medisinale 'eenhoringhoring' was gewoonlik walrus -ivoor, renosterhoring of narwaltand, soms 'see -eenhoring' genoem. Die Franse dokter, Pierre Martin La Martinière (1634-1690), het kommentaar gelewer op die probleem om 'ware horing' te onderskei, wat die moeilikheid het om te weet 'wat skep die regte eenhoring ... daar is verskeie diere wat die Grieke Monoceros noem, en die Latines Uni-Cornis ', van 'n verskeidenheid terrestriële viervoete en' slange ', tot die' see-olifant '(walrus).
Materiale, soos walrus -ivoor, kan as sodanig geïdentifiseer word, soortgelyke eienskappe hê as die eenhoring se horing. Een apteker, 'die heer Alexander Woodson van Bristoll', ''n bekwame Phisition', het 'een van hierdie diere se tande', waarvan 'hy' probeer het 'deur' medisyne aan sy pasiënte te bedien, en dit as soeverein teen poyson gevind het soos enige Unicornes horne '.
Die implisiete skakels tussen eenhorings en hierdie ander diere het nie die waargenome mediese vermoëns van horings verminder nie. Die Deense geleerde Ole Worm (1588-1655) ontken die bestaan van die aardse eenhoorn in 'n openbare lesing met behulp van die skedel van 'n narwal, maar hy getuig steeds van die mediese sterkte van die horing. Worm het eksperimente beskryf waarin vergiftigde diere herleef is deur toediening van 'n 'eenhoring' in poeier.
Aan die begin van die 18de eeu was 'eenhoringhorings' baie minder gewaardeer in versamelings, wat 'n deel van hul status as 'rariteite' verloor het, aangesien groot invoer na Europa die mark oorstroom het. Maar die aantrekkingskrag van die eenhoorn self, veral inkarnasies soos die voet-en-kwik-wese van CS Lewis Narnia boeke, het nog nooit afgeneem nie.
Miskien is dit omdat dit die bekendste was dat dit altyd baie moeilik was om dit te vang.
Volgende in die Cambridge Animal Alphabet: V is vir 'n dier wat verantwoordelik is vir tot 94,000 sterftes per jaar, maar word ook gebruik om behandelings vir siektes soos hemofilie, diep veneuse trombose, longembolie, hartaanval en beroerte te help ontwikkel.
Het u die reeks tot dusver gemis? Haal Medium hier in.
Ingesette beelde: Detail uit Salutations of the Virgin, uit die Carew-Poyntz Book of Hours (Fitzwilliam Museum) Detail uit Maagdlees in omheinde tuin, Book of Hours, deur Geert Grote (Fitzwilliam Museum) Eenhoorns uit vroeë moderne natuurgeskiedenisse deur Topsell en Johnstone Illustrasie van 'n narwalskedel uit die boek van Ole Worm.
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Die basis vir die argitektoniese struktuur van die museum kom uit die versameling van George Gray Barnard, 'n Amerikaanse beeldhouer en versamelaar wat byna eiehandig 'n Middeleeuse kunsmuseum naby sy huis in die Fort Washington-gedeelte van Upper Manhattan opgerig het. Alhoewel hy 'n suksesvolle beeldhouer was wat aan die Art Institute of Chicago gestudeer het, was sy inkomste nie genoeg om sy gesin te onderhou nie. Barnard was 'n waagmotor en het die grootste deel van sy lewe op die rand van armoede gelei. [6] Hy verhuis in 1883 na Parys waar hy studeer aan die Académie des Beaux-Arts. [6] Hy het tussen 1905 en 1913 in die dorpie Moret-sur-Loing, naby Fontainebleau, [7] gewoon en begin met 13de- en 14de-eeuse Europese voorwerpe om sy verdienste aan te vul. In die proses het hy 'n groot persoonlike versameling gebou van wat hy as "antiek" beskryf het, eers deur losstaande voorwerpe met Franse handelaars te koop en te verkoop, [8], dan deur die verkryging van in situ argitektoniese artefakte van plaaslike boere. [6]
Barnard was hoofsaaklik geïnteresseerd in die abdye en kerke wat deur kloosterordes uit die 12de eeu gestig is. Na eeue van plundering en vernietiging tydens oorloë en revolusies, is klippe uit baie van hierdie geboue hergebruik deur die plaaslike bevolking. [6] Barnard, wat 'n pionier was om die waarde van sulke artefakte raak te sien, het dikwels vyandigheid teenoor sy pogings van plaaslike en regeringsgroepe beleef. [7] Tog was hy 'n slim onderhandelaar wat die voordeel van 'n professionele beeldhouer se oog gehad het vir uitstekende klipsnywerk, en teen 1907 het hy 'n versameling van hoë gehalte teen relatief lae koste gebou. Na bewering het hy $ 25,000 vir die Trie -geboue betaal, $ 25,000 vir die Bonnefort en $ 100,000 vir die Cuxa -kloosters. [9] Sy sukses het daartoe gelei dat hy 'n ietwat romantiese siening van homself aangeneem het. Hy onthou dat hy op die Franse platteland fiets gery het en dat hy langs die pad gevalle en vergete Gotiese meesterwerke ontdek het. Hy beweer dat hy die grafbeeld van Jean d'Alluye met sy gesig na onder gevind het, as 'n brug oor 'n klein stroompie. [8] Teen 1914 het hy genoeg artefakte versamel om 'n galery in Manhattan oop te maak. [10]
Barnard het dikwels sy persoonlike finansies verwaarloos, [9] en was so ongeorganiseerd dat hy dikwels die oorsprong of herkoms van sy aankope misplaas het. Hy verkoop sy versameling in 1925 aan John D. Rockefeller Jr. tydens een van sy herhalende geldkrisisse. [11] Die twee is deur die argitek William W. Bosworth voorgestel. [12] Die aankoop is gekoop vir die Metropolitan Museum of Art en bevat strukture wat die fondament en kern van die museum sou word. [6] [7] Rockefeller en Barnard was polêre teenoorgesteldes in beide temperament en uitkyk en het nie reggekom nie Rockefeller was gereserveerd, Barnard uitbundig. Die Engelse skilder en kunskritikus Roger Fry was toe die Metropolitan se belangrikste Europese verkrygingsagent en het as tussenganger opgetree. [13] Rockefeller het uiteindelik die versameling van Barnard vir ongeveer $ 700 000 bekom, terwyl Barnard as adviseur behou is. [14]
In 1927 het Rockefeller Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., seun van een van die ontwerpers van Central Park, en die firma Olmsted Brothers aangestel om 'n park in die Fort Washington -omgewing te skep. [15] In Februarie 1930 het Rockefeller aangebied om die Cloisters vir die Metropolitan te bou. [16] In oorleg met Bosworth, [7] besluit hy om die museum te bou op 'n terrein van 26,5 ha in Fort Tryon Park, wat hulle gekies het vanweë die hoogte, uitsigte en toeganklike, maar geïsoleerde ligging. [10] Die grond en bestaande geboue is daardie jaar gekoop van die landgoed C.K.G. Billings en ander besittings in die Fort Washington -omgewing. Die Cloisters-gebou en aangrensende tuine van 1,6 ha is ontwerp deur Charles Collens. [17] Hulle bevat elemente uit abdye in Katalonië en Frankryk. Dele van Sant Miquel de Cuixà, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, Bonnefont-en-Comminges, Trie-sur-Baïse en Froville is steen-vir-klip gedemonteer en na New York gestuur, waar dit gerekonstrueer en geïntegreer is in 'n samehangende geheel. Construction took place over a five-year period from 1934. [18] Rockefeller bought several hundred acres of the New Jersey Palisades, which he donated to the State in an effort to preserve the view from the museum. [19] The Cloisters' new building and gardens were officially opened on May 10, 1938, [20] though the public was not allowed to visit until four days later. [21]
Early acquisitions Edit
Rockefeller financed the purchase of many of the early collection of works, often buying independently and then donating the items to the museum. [5] His financing of the museum has led to it being described as "perhaps the supreme example of curatorial genius working in exquisite harmony with vast wealth". [6] The second major donor was the industrialist J. P. Morgan, founder of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, who spent the last 20 years of his life acquiring artworks, "on an imperial scale" according to art historian Jean Strous, [22] spending some $900 million (inflation adjusted) in total. After his death, his son J. P. Morgan Jr. donated a large number of works from the collection to the Metropolitan. [23]
A further major early source of objects was the art dealer Joseph Brummer (1883–1947), long a friend of a curator at the Cloisters, James Rorimer. Rorimer had long recognized the importance of Brummer's collection, and purchased large quantities of objects in the months after Brummer's sudden death in 1947. According to Christine E. Brennan of the Metropolitan, Rorimer realized that the collection offered works that could rival the Morgan Collection in the Metropolitan's Main Building, and that "the decision to form a treasury at The Cloisters was reached. because it had been the only opportunity since the late 1920s to enrich the collection with so many liturgical and secular objects of such high quality." [24] These pieces, including works in gold, silver, and ivory, are today held in the Treasury room of the Cloisters. [24]
The museum's collection of artworks consists of approximately five thousand individual pieces. They are displayed across a series of rooms and spaces, mostly separate from those dedicated to the installed architectural artifacts. The Cloisters has never focused on building a collection of masterpieces, rather the objects are chosen thematically yet arranged simply to enhance the atmosphere created by the architectural elements in the particular setting or room in which they are placed. [5] To create the atmosphere of a functioning series of cloisters, many of the individual works, including capitals, doorways, stained glass, and windows are placed within the architectural elements themselves. [25]
Panel paintings and sculpture Edit
The museum's best-known panel painting is Robert Campin's c. 1425–28 Mérode Altarpiece, a foundational work in the development of Early Netherlandish painting, [26] which has been at The Cloisters since 1956. Its acquisition was funded by Rockefeller and described at the time as a "major event for the history of collecting in the United States". [27] The triptych is well preserved with little overpainting, glossing, dirt layers or paint loss. [28] Other panel paintings in the collection include a Nativity triptych altarpiece attributed to a follower of Rogier van der Weyden, [29] and the Jumieges panels by an unknown French master. [30]
The 12th-century English walrus ivory Cloisters Cross contains over ninety-two intricately carved figures and ninety-eight inscriptions. A similar 12th-century French metalwork reliquary cross contains six sequences of engravings on either side of its shaft, and across the four sides of its lower arms. [31] Further pieces of note include a 13th-century, English Enthroned Virgin and Child statuette, [32] a c. 1490 German statue of Saint Barbara, [33] and an early 16th-century boxwood Miniature Altarpiece with the Crucifixion. [34] Other significant works include fountains and baptismal fonts, chairs, [35] aquamaniles (water containers in animal or human form), bronze lavers, alms boxes and playing cards. [36]
The museum has an extensive collection of medieval European frescoes, ivory statuettes, reliquary wood and metal shrines and crosses, as well as examples of the very rare Gothic boxwood miniatures. [37] It has liturgical metalwork vessels and rare pieces of Gothic furniture and metalwork. [38] Many pieces are not associated with a particular architectural setting, so their placement in the museum may vary. [39] Some of the objects have dramatic provenance, including those plundered from the estates of aristocrats during the French Revolutionary Army's occupation of the Southern Netherlands. [40] The Unicorn tapestries were for a period used by the French army to cover potatoes and keep them from freezing. [41] The set was purchased by Rockefeller in 1922 and six of the tapestries hung in his New York home until donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1938. [42]
Illuminated manuscripts Edit
The museum's collection of illuminated books is small, but of exceptional quality. J.P. Morgan was a major early donor, but although his taste leaned heavily towards rare printed and illuminated books, [43] he donated very few to the Metropolitan, instead preserving them at the Morgan Library. [23] At the same time, the consensus within the Met was that the Cloisters should focus on architectural elements, sculpture and decorative arts to enhance the environmental quality of the institution, whereas manuscripts were considered more suited to the Morgan Library in lower Manhattan. [44] The Cloisters' books are today displayed in the Treasury room, and include the French "Cloisters Apocalypse" (or "Book of Revelation", c. 1330, probably Normandy), [45] Jean Pucelle's "Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux" (c. 1324–28), the "Psalter of Bonne de Luxembourg", attributed to Jean Le Noir and the "Belles Heures du Duc de Berry" (c. 1399–1416) attributed to the Limbourg brothers. [46] In 2015 the Cloisters acquired a small Netherlandish Book of Hours illuminated by Simon Bening. [47] Each is of exceptional quality, and their acquisition was a significant achievement for the museum's early collectors. [44]
A coat of arms illustrated on one of the leaves of the "Cloisters Apocalypse" suggests it was commissioned by a member of the de Montigny family of Coutances, Normandy. [48] Stylistically it resembles other Norman illuminated books, as well as some designs on stained glass, of the period. [49] The book was in Switzerland by 1368, possibly at the abbey of Zofingen, in the canton of Aargau. It was acquired by the Met in 1968. [50]
The "Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux" is a very small early Gothic book of hours containing 209 folios, of which 25 are full-page miniatures. It is lavishly decorated in grisaille drawings, historiated initials and almost 700 border images. Jeanne d'Évreux was the third wife of Charles IV of France, and after their deaths the book went into the possession of Charles' brother, Jean, duc de Berry. The use of grisaille (shades of gray) drawings allowed the artist to give the figures a highly sculptural form, [51] and the miniatures contain structures typical of French Gothic architecture of the period. The book has been described as "the high point of Parisian court painting", and evidence of "the unprecedentedly refined artistic tastes of the time". [52]
The "Belles Heures" is widely regarded as one of the finest extant examples of manuscript illumination, and very few books of hours are as richly decorated. It is the only surviving complete book attributed to the Limbourg brothers. [53] Rockefeller purchased the book from Maurice de Rothschild in 1954, and donated it to the Metropolitan. [54]
The very small "Bonne de Luxembourg" manuscript (each leaf 12.5 × 8.4 × 3.9 cm) is attributed to Jean le Noir, and noted for its preoccupation with death. It was commissioned for Bonne de Luxembourg, Duchess of Normandy, daughter of John the Blind and the wife of John II of France, probably at the end of her husband's life, c. 1348–49. It was in a private collection for many years, and thus known only through poor-quality photographic reproductions until acquired by the museum in 1969. Produced in tempera, grisaille, ink, and gold leaf on vellum, it had been rarely studied and was until that point misattributed to Jean Pucelle. Following its acquisition, it was studied by art historians, after which attribution was given to Le Noir. [55]
Tapestries Edit
While examples of textile art are displayed throughout the museum, there are two dedicated rooms given to individual series of tapestries, the South Netherlandish Nine Heroes (c. 1385) [56] and FlemishThe Hunt of the Unicorn (c. 1500). [57] The Nine Heroes room is entered from the Cuxa cloisters. [56] Its 14th-century tapestries are one of the earliest surviving examples of tapestry, and are thought to be the original versions following widely influential and copied designs attributed to Nicolas Bataille. They were acquired over a period of twenty years, involving the purchase of more than 20 individual fragments which were then sewn together during a long reassembly process. The chivalric figures represent the scriptural and legendary Nine Worthies, who consist of three pagans (Hector, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar), three Jews (Joshua, David and Judas Maccabeus) and three Christians (King Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfrey of Bouillon). Of these, five figures survive: Hector, Caesar, Joshua, David and Arthur. [58] They have been described as representing "in their variety, the highest level of a rich and powerful social structure of later fourteenth-century France". [59]
Die Hunt of the Unicorn room can be entered from the hall containing the Nine Heroes via an early 16th-century door carved with representations of unicorns. [60] The unicorn tapestries consist of a series of large, colourful hangings and fragment textiles [61] designed in Paris [58] and woven in Brussels or Liège. Noted for their vivid colourization—dominated by blue, yellow-brown, red, and gold hues—and the abundance of a wide variety of flora, [62] they were produced for Anne of Brittany and completed c. 1495–1505. [63] The tapestries were purchased by Rockefeller in 1922 for about one million dollars, and donated to the museum in 1937. [64] They were cleaned and restored in 1998, and are now hung in a dedicated room on the museum's upper floor. [65]
The large "Nativity" panel (also known as "Christ is Born as Man's Redeemer") from c. 1500, South Netherlandish (probably in Brussels), Burgos Tapestry was acquired by the museum in 1938. It was originally one of a series of eight tapestries representing the salvation of man, [66] with individual scenes influenced by identifiable panel paintings, including by van der Weyden. [67] It was badly damaged in earlier centuries: it had been cut into several irregular pieces and undergone several poor-quality restorations. The panel underwent a long process of restoration from 1971, undertaken by Tina Kane and Alice Blohm of the Metropolitan's Department of Textile Conservation. It is today hung in the Late Gothic hall. [68]
Stained glass Edit
The Cloisters' collection of stained glass consists of around three hundred panels, generally French and Germanic and mostly from the 13th to early 16th centuries. [70] A number were formed from handmade opalescent glass. Works in the collection are characterized by vivid colors and often abstract designs and patterns many have a devotional image as a centerpiece. [71] The majority of these works are in the museum's Boppard room, named after the Carmelite church of Saint Severinus in Boppard, near Koblenz, Germany. [10] The collection's pot-metal works (from the High Gothic period) highlight the effects of light, [72] especially the transitions between darkness, shadow and illumination. [73] The Met's collection grew in the early 20th century when Raymond Picairn made acquisitions at a time when medieval glass was not highly regarded by connoisseurs, and was difficult to extract and transport. [74]
Jane Hayward, a curator at the museum from 1969 who began the museum's second phase of acquisition, describes stained glass as "unquestioningly the preeminent form of Gothic medieval monumental painting". [75] She bought c. 1500 heraldic windows from the Rhineland, now in the Campin room with the Mérode Altarpiece. Hayward's addition in 1980 led to a redesign of the room so that the installed pieces would echo the domestic setting of the altarpiece. She wrote that the Campin room is the only gallery in the Met "where domestic rather than religious art predominates. a conscious effort has been made to create a fifteenth-century domestic interior similar to the one shown in [Campin's] Annunciation panel." [76]
Other significant acquisitions include late 13th-century grisaille panels from the Château-de-Bouvreuil in Rouen, glass work from the Cathedral of Saint-Gervais-et-Saint-Protais at Sées, [76] and panels from the Acezat collection, now in the Heroes Tapestry Hall. [77]
The building is set into a steep hill, and thus the rooms and halls are divided between an upper entrance and a ground-floor level. The enclosing exterior building is mostly modern, and is influenced by and contains elements from the 13th-century church at Saint-Geraud at Monsempron, France, from which the northeast end of the building borrows especially. It was mostly designed by the architect Charles Collens, who took influence from works in Barnard's collection. Rockefeller closely managed both the building's design and construction, which sometimes frustrated the architects and builders. [78]
The building contains architecture elements and settings taken mostly from four French abbeys, which between 1934 and 1939 were transported, reconstructed, and integrated with new buildings in a project overseen by Collins. He told Rockefeller that the new building "should present a well-studied outline done in the very simplest form of stonework growing naturally out of the rocky hill-top. After looking through the books in the Boston Athenaeum . we found a building at Monsempron in Southern France of a type which would lend itself in a very satisfactory manner to such a treatment." [78]
The architects sought to both memorialize the north hill's role in the American Revolution and to provide a sweeping view over the Hudson River. Construction of the exterior began in 1935. The stonework, primarily of limestone and granite from several European sources, [79] includes four Gothic windows from the refectory at Sens and nine arcades. [80] The dome of the Fuentidueña Chapel was especially difficult to fit into the planned area. [81] The east elevation, mostly of limestone, contains nine arcades from the Benedictine priory at Froville and four flamboyant French Gothic windows from the Dominican monastery at Sens. [80]
Cloisters Edit
Cuxa Edit
Located on the south side of the building's main level, the Cuxa cloisters are the museum's centerpiece both structurally and thematically. [72] They were originally erected at the Benedictine Abbey of Sant Miquel de Cuixà on Mount Canigou, in the northeast French Pyrenees, which was founded in 878. [82] The monastery was abandoned in 1791 and fell into disrepair its roof collapsed in 1835 and its bell tower fell in 1839. [83] About half of its stonework was moved to New York between 1906 and 1907. [82] [84] The installation became one of the first major undertakings by the Metropolitan after it acquired Barnard's collection. After intensive work over the fall and winter of 1925–26, the Cuxa cloisters were opened to the public on April 1, 1926. [85] [5]
The quadrangle-shaped garden once formed a center around which monks slept in cells. The original garden seemed to have been lined by walkways around adjoining arches lined with capitals enclosing the garth. [86] It is impossible now to represent solely medieval species and arrangements those in the Cuxa garden are approximations by botanists specializing in medieval history. [86] The oldest plan of the original building describes lilies and roses. [86] Although the walls are modern, the capitals and columns are original and cut from pink Languedoc marble from the Pyrenees. [85] The intersection of the two walkways contains an eight-sided fountain. [87]
The capitals were carved at different points in the abbey's history and thus contain a variety of forms and abstract geometric patterns, including scrolling leaves, pine cones, sacred figures such as Christ, the Apostles, angels, and monstrous creatures including two-headed animals, lions restrained by apes, mythic hybrids, a mermaid and inhuman mouths consuming human torsos. [88] [89] The motifs are derived from popular fables, [82] or represent the brute forces of nature or evil, [90] or are based on late 11th- and 12th-century monastic writings, such as those by Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153). [91] The order in which the capitals were originally placed is unknown, making their interpretation especially difficult, although a sequential and continuous narrative was probably not intended. [92] According to art historian Thomas Dale, to the monks, the "human figures, beasts, and monsters" may have represented the "tension between the world and the cloister, the struggle to repress the natural inclinations of the body". [93]
Saint-Guilhem Edit
The Saint-Guilhem cloisters were taken from the site of the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, and date from 804 AD to the 1660s. [94] Their acquisition around 1906 was one of Barnard's early purchases. The transfer to New York involved the movement of around 140 pieces, including capitals, columns and pilasters. [9] The carvings on the marble piers and column shafts recall Roman sculpture and are coiled by extravagant foliage, including vines. [95] The capitals contain acanthus leaves and grotesque heads peering out, [96] including figures at the Presentation at the Temple, Daniel in the Lions' Den [97] and the Mouth of Hell, [98] and several pilasters and columns. [94] The carvings seem preoccupied with the evils of hell. Those beside the mouth of hell contain representations of the devil and tormenting beasts, with, according to Young, "animal-like body parts and cloven hoofs [as they] herd naked sinners in chains to be thrown into an upturned monster's mouth". [99]
The Guilhem cloisters are inside the museum's upper level and are much smaller than originally built. [100] Its garden contains a central fountain [101] and plants potted in ornate containers, including a 15th-century glazed earthenware vase. The area is covered by a skylight and plate glass panels that conserve heat in the winter months. Rockefeller had initially wanted a high roof and clerestory windows, but was convinced by Joseph Breck, curator of decorative arts at the Metropolitan, to install a skylight. Breck wrote to Rockefeller that "by substituting a skylight for a solid ceiling . the sculpture is properly illuminated, since the light falls in a natural way the visitor has the sense of being in the open and his attention, consequently, is not attracted to the modern superstructure." [102]
Bonnefont Edit
The Bonnefont cloisters were assembled from several French monasteries, but mostly come from a late 12th-century Cistercian Abbaye de Bonnefont [fr] at Bonnefont-en-Comminges, southwest of Toulouse. [103] The abbey was intact until at least 1807, and by the 1850s all of its architectural features had been removed from the site, often for decoration of nearby buildings. [104] Barnard purchased the stonework in 1937. [105] Today the Bonnefont cloisters contain 21 double capitals, and surround a garden that contains many features typical of the medieval period, including a central wellhead, raised flower beds and lined with wattle fences. [106] The marbles are highly ornate and decorated, some with grotesque figures. [107] The inner garden has been set with a medlar tree of the type found in The Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries, and is centered around a wellhead placed at Bonnefont-en-Comminges in the 12th century. [108] The Bonnefont is on the upper level of the museum and gives a view of the Hudson River and the cliffs of the Palisades. [10]
Trie Edit
The Trie cloisters was compiled from two late 15th- to early 16th-century French structures. [110] Most of its components came from the Carmelite convent at Trie-sur-Baïse in south-western France, whose original abbey, except for the church, was destroyed by Huguenots in 1571. [111] Small narrow buttresses were added in New York during the 1950s by Breck. [81] The rectangular garden hosts around 80 species of plants and contains a tall limestone cascade fountain at its center. [112] Like those from Saint-Guilhem, the Trie cloisters have been given modern roofing. [113]
The convent at Trie-sur-Baïse featured some 80 white marble capitals [114] carved between 1484 and 1490. [110] Eighteen were moved to New York and contain numerous biblical scenes and incidents form the lives of saints. Several of the carvings are secular, including those of legendary figures such as Saint George and the Dragon, [114] the "wild man" confronting a grotesque monster, and a grotesque head wearing an unusual and fanciful hat. [114] The capitals are placed in chronological order, beginning with God in the act of creation at the northwest corner, Adam and Eve in the west gallery, followed by the Binding of Isaac, and Matthew and John writing their gospels. Capitals in the south gallery illustrate scenes from the life of Christ. [115]
Tuine Redigeer
The Cloisters' three gardens, the Judy Black Garden at the Cuxa Cloister on the main level, and the Bonnefont and Trie Cloisters gardens on the lower level, [116] were laid out and planted in 1938. They contain a variety of rare medieval species, [117] with a total of over 250 genera of plants, flowers, herbs and trees, making it one of the world's most important collections of specialized gardens. The garden's design was overseen by Rorimer during the museum's construction. He was aided by Margaret Freeman, who conducted extensive research into the keeping of plants and their symbolism in the Middle Ages. [118] Today the gardens are tended by a staff of horticulturalists the senior members are also historians of 13th- and 14th-century gardening techniques. [119]
Gothic chapel Edit
The Gothic chapel is set on the museum's ground level, and was built to display its stained glass and large sculpture collections. The entrance from the upper level Early Gothic Hall is lit by stained glass double-lancet windows, carved on both sides, and acquired from the church of La Tricherie, France. [120] The ground level is entered through a large door at its east wall. This entrance begins with a pointed Gothic arch leading to high bayed ceilings, ribbed vaults and buttress. [121] The three center windows are from the church of Sankt Leonhard, in southern Austria, from c. 1340. The glass panels include a depiction of Martin of Tours as well as complex medallion patterns. [121] The glass on the east wall comes from Evron Abbey, Normandy, and dates from around 1325. [122] The apse contains three large sculptures by the main windows two larger than life-size female saints dating from the 14th century, and a Burgundian Bishop dating from the 13th. [123] The large limestone sculpture of Saint Margaret on the wall by the stairs dates to around 1330 and is from the church of Santa Maria de Farfanya [ca] in Lleida, Catalonia. [121] Each of the six effigies are supreme examples of sepulchral art. [124] Three are from the Bellpuig Monastery [ca] in Catalonia. [124] The monument directly facing the main windows is the c. 1248–67 sarcophagus of Jean d'Alluye, a knight of the crusades, who was thought to have returned from the Holy Land with a relic of the True Cross. He is shown as a young man, his eyes open, and dressed in chain armor, with his longsword and shield. [123] The female effigy of a lady, found in Normandy, dates to the mid 13th century and is perhaps of Margaret of Gloucester. [125] Although resting on a modern base, [126] she is dressed in high contemporary aristocratic fashion, including a mantle, cotte, jewel-studded belt and an elaborate ring necklace brooch. [127]
Four of the effigies were made for the Urgell family, are set into the chapel walls, and are associated with the church of Santa Maria at Castello de Farfanya, redesigned in the Gothic style for Ermengol X (died c. 1314). [124] The elaborate sarcophagus of Ermengol VII, Count of Urgell (d. 1184) is placed on the left hand wall facing the chapel's south windows. It is supported by three stone lions, and a grouping of mourners carved into the slab, which also shows Christ in Majesty flanked by the Twelve Apostles. [128] The three other Urgell tombs also date to the mid 13th century, and maybe of Àlvar of Urgell and his second wife, Cecilia of Foix, the parents of Ermengol X, and that of a young boy, possibly Ermengol IX, the only one of their direct line ancestors known to have died in youth. [125] The slabs of the double tomb on the wall opposite Ermengol VII, contain the effigies of his parents, and have been slanted forward to offer a clear view of the stonework. The heads are placed on cushions, which are decorated with arms. The male's feet rest on a dog, while the cushion under the woman's head is held by an angel. [129]
Fuentidueña chapel Edit
The Fuentidueña chapel is the museum's largest room, [130] and is entered through a broad oak door flanked by sculptures that include leaping animals. Its centerpiece is the Fuentidueña Apse, a semicircular Romanesque recess built between about 1175 to 1200 at the Saint Joan church at Fuentidueña, Segovia. [131] By the 19th century, the church was long abandoned and in disrepair.
It was acquired by Rockefeller for the Cloisters in 1931, following three decades of complex negotiation and diplomacy between the Spanish church and both countries' art-historical hierarchies and governments. It was eventually exchanged in a deal that involved the transfer of six frescoes from San Baudelio de Berlanga to the Prado, on an equally long-term loan. [33] The structure was disassembled into almost 3,300 mostly sandstone and limestone blocks, each individually cataloged, and shipped to New York in 839 crates. [132]
It was rebuilt at the Cloisters in the late 1940s [133] It was such a large and complex reconstruction that it required the demolition of the former "Special Exhibition Room". The chapel was opened to the public in 1961, seven years after its installation had begun. [134]
The apse consists of a broad arch leading to a barrel vault, and culminates with a half-dome. [135] The capitals at the entrance contain representations of the Adoration of the Magi and Daniel in the lions' den. [136] The piers show Martin of Tours on the left and the angel Gabriel announcing to The Virgin on the right. The chapel includes other, mostly contemporary, medieval artwork. They include, in the dome, a large fresco dating to between 1130–50, from the Spanish Church of Sant Joan de Tredòs. The fresco's colorization resembles a Byzantine mosaic and is dedicated to the ideal of Mary as the mother of God. [137] Hanging within the apse is a crucifix made between about 1150 to 1200 for the Convent of St. Clara [es] in Astudillo, Spain. [138] Its reverse contains a depiction of the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God), decorated with red and blue foliage at its frames. [139] The exterior wall holds three small, narrow and stilted windows, [136] which are nevertheless designed to let in the maximum amount of light. The windows were originally set within imposing fortress walls according to the art historian Bonnie Young "these small windows and the massive, fortress-like walls contribute to the feeling of austerity . typical of Romanesque churches." [135]
Langon chapel Edit
The Langon chapel is on the museum's ground level. Its right wall was built around 1126 for the Romanesque Cathédrale Notre-Dame-du-Bourg de Digne. [140] The chapter house consists of a single aisle nave and transepts [141] taken from a small Benedictine parish church built around 1115 at Notre Dame de Pontaut. [142] When acquired, it was in disrepair, its upper level in use as a storage place for tobacco. About three-quarters of its original stonework was moved to New York. [141]
The chapel is entered from the Romanesque hall through a doorway, a large, elaborate French Gothic stone entrance commissioned by the Burgundian court [10] for Moutiers-Saint-Jean Abbey in Burgundy, France. Moutiers-Saint-Jean was sacked, burned, and rebuilt several times. In 1567, the Huguenot army removed the heads from the two kings, and in 1797 the abbey was sold as rubble for rebuilding. The site lay in ruin for decades and lost further sculptural elements until Barnard arranged for the entrances' transfer to New York. The doorway had been the main portal of the abbey, and was probably built as the south transept door.
Carvings on the elaborate white oolitic limestone doorway depict the Coronation of the Virgin and contains foliated capitals and statuettes on the outer piers including two kings positioned in the embrasures and various kneeling angels. Carvings of angels are placed in the archivolts above the kings. [143] The large figurative sculptures on either side of the doorway represent the early Frankish kings Clovis I (d. 511) and his son Chlothar I (d. 561). [144] [145] The piers are lined with elaborate and highly detailed rows of statuettes, which are mostly set in niches, [146] and are badly damaged most have been decapitated. The heads on the right hand capital were for a time believed to represent Henry II of England. [147] Seven capitals survive from the original church, with carvings of human figures or heads, some of which as have been identified as historical persons, including Eleanor of Aquitaine. [141]
Romanesque hall Edit
The Romanesque hall contains three large church doorways, with the main visitor entrance adjoining the Guilhem Cloister. The monumental arched Burgundian doorway is from Moutier-Saint-Jean de Réôme in France and dates to c. 1150. [10] Two animals are carved into the keystones both rest on their hind legs as if about to attack each other. The capitals are lined with carvings of both real and imagined animals and birds, as well as leaves and other fauna. [148] The two earlier doorways are from Reugny, Allier, and Poitou in central France. [4] The hall contains four large early-13th-century stone sculptures representing the Adoration of the Magi, frescoes of a lion and a wyvern, each from the Monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza in north-central Spain. [10] On the left of the room are portraits of kings and angels, also from the monastery at Moutier-Saint-Jean. [148] The hall contains three pairs of columns positioned over an entrance with molded archivolts. They were taken from the Augustinian church at Reugny. [149] The Reugny site was badly damaged during the French Wars of Religion and again during the French Revolution. Most of the structures had been sold to a local man, Piere-Yon Verniere, by 1850, and were acquired by Barnard in 1906. [94]
Treasury room Edit
The Treasury room was opened in 1988 to celebrate the museum's 50th anniversary. It largely consists of small luxury objects acquired by the Met after it had built its initial collection, and draws heavily on acquisitions from the collection of Joseph Brummer. [150] The rooms contains the museum's collection of illuminated manuscripts, the French 13th-century arm-shaped silver reliquary, [151] and a 15th-century deck of playing cards. [152]
Library and archives Edit
The Cloisters contains one of the Metropolitan's 13 libraries. Focusing on medieval art and architecture, it holds over 15,000 volumes of books and journals, the museum's archive administration papers, curatorial papers, dealer records and the personal papers of Barnard, as well as early glass lantern slides of museum materials, manuscript facsimiles, scholarly records, maps and recordings of musical performances at the museum. [153] The library functions primarily as a resource for museum staff, but is available by appointment to researchers, art dealers, academics and students. [154] The archives contain early sketches and blueprints made during the early design phase of the museum's construction, as well as historical photographic collections. These include photographs of medieval objects from the collection of George Joseph Demotte, and a series taken during and just after World War II showing damage sustained to monuments and artifacts, including tomb effigies. They are, according to curator Lauren Jackson-Beck, of "prime importance to the art historian who is concerned with the identification of both the original work and later areas of reconstruction". [155] Two important series of prints are kept on microfilm: the "Index photographique de l'art en France" and the German "Marburg Picture Index". [155]
The Cloisters is governed by the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan's collections are owned by a private corporation of about 950 fellows and benefactors. The board of trustees comprise 41 elected members, several officials of the City of New York, and persons honored as trustees by the museum. The current chairman of the board is the businessman and art collector Daniel Brodsky, who was elected in 2011, [156] having previously served on its Real Estate Council in 1984 as a trustee of the museum and Vice Chairman of the Buildings Committee. [157]
A specialist museum, the Cloisters regularly acquires new works and rarely sells or otherwise gets rid of them. While the Metropolitan does not publish separate figures for the Cloisters, the entity as a whole spent $39 million on acquisitions for the fiscal year ending in June 2012. [158] The Cloisters seeks to balance its collection between religious and secular artifacts and artworks. With secular pieces, it typically favors those that indicate the range of artistic production in the medieval period, and according to art historian Timothy Husband, "reflect the fabric of daily [medieval European] life but also endure as works of art in their own right". [159] In 2011 it purchased the then-recently discovered The Falcon's Bath, a Southern Netherlands tapestry dated c. 1400–1415. It is of exceptional quality, and one of the best preserved surviving examples of its type. [160] Other recent acquisitions of significance include the 2015 purchase of a Book of Hours attributed to Simon Bening. [47]
The museum's architectural settings, atmosphere, and acoustics have made it a regular setting both for musical recitals and as a stage for medieval theater. Notable stagings include The Miracle of Theophilus in 1942, and John Gassner's adaption of The Second Shepherds' Play in 1954. [161] Recent significant exhibitions include "Small Wonders: Gothic Boxwood Miniatures" which ran in the summer of 2017 in conjunction with the Art Gallery of Ontario and Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. [162]
6) Role of SS Panzer Divisions
Allied Sherman tanks crossing the newly-captured bridge at Nijmegen in the Netherlands during their advance as part of Operation Market Garden.
Before Operation Market Garden even started, Allied intelligence got reports that two well-equipped German SS Panzer (tank) divisions were in the area around Arnhem. But commanders of the operation, including Lt. Gen. Frederick 𠇋oy” Browning, decided the operation should go ahead anyway𠅊 risk that turned into a disaster for Allied troops at Arnhem.
The slow advance of the XXX Corps gave Germany time to strengthen its defenses, confront the advancing ground troops at Nijmegen, and subject the lone British battalion at Arnhem to a crippling onslaught, which they resisted fiercely before submitting on the fifth day of the battle. With the main objective of the operation lost, more than 3,000 British troops dug in at Oosterbeek until September 25, when they were forced to begin evacuating across the Rhine.
History of the Qilin
The qilin first appeared in the historical record with the Zuo Zhuan, or "Chronicle of Zuo," which describes events in China from 722 to 468 BCE. According to these records, the first Chinese writing system was transcribed around 3000 BCE from the markings on a qilin's back. A qilin is supposed to have heralded the birth of Confucius, c. 552 BCE. The founder of Korea's Goguryeo Kingdom, King Dongmyeong (r. 37-19 BCE), rode a qilin like a horse, according to legend.
Much later, during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), we have solid historical evidence of at least two qilin showing up in China in 1413. Actually, they were giraffes from the coast of Somalia the great admiral Zheng He brought them back to Beijing after his fourth voyage (1413-14). The giraffes were immediately proclaimed to be qilin. The Yongle Emperor was naturally extremely pleased to have the symbol of wise leadership show up during his reign, courtesy of the Treasure Fleet.
Although traditional depictions of the qilin had a much shorter neck than any giraffe's, the association between the two animals remains strong to this day. In both Korea and Japan, the term for "giraffe" is kirin, or qilin.
Across East Asia, the qilin is one of the four noble animals, along with the dragon, the phoenix, and the tortoise. Individual qilin are said to live for 2000 years and can bring babies to deserving parents much in the manner of storks in Europe.
The Unicorn Rests in a Garden - History
The Unicorn in the Garden
by James Thurber
reprinted from
Fables For Our Time
Once upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a golden horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. The man went up to the bedroom where his wife was still asleep and woke her. "There's a unicorn in the garden," he said. "Eating roses." She opened one unfriendly eye and looked at him.
"The unicorn is a mythical beast," she said, and turned her back on him. The man walked slowly downstairs and out into the garden. The unicorn was still there now he was browsing among the tulips. "Here, unicorn," said the man, and he pulled up a lily and gave it to him. The unicorn ate it gravely. With a high heart, because there was a unicorn in his garden, the man went upstairs and roused his wife again. "The unicorn," he said,"ate a lily." His wife sat up in bed and looked at him coldly. "You are a booby," she said, "and I am going to have you put in the booby-hatch."
The man, who had never liked the words "booby" and "booby-hatch," and who liked them even less on a shining morning when there was a unicorn in the garden, thought for a moment. "We'll see about that," he said. He walked over to the door. "He has a golden horn in the middle of his forehead," he told her. Then he went back to the garden to watch the unicorn but the unicorn had gone away. The man sat down among the roses and went to sleep.
As soon as the husband had gone out of the house, the wife got up and dressed as fast as she could. She was very excited and there was a gloat in her eye. She telephoned the police and she telephoned a psychiatrist she told them to hurry to her house and bring a strait-jacket. When the police and the psychiatrist arrived they sat down in chairs and looked at her, with great interest.
"My husband," she said, "saw a unicorn this morning." The police looked at the psychiatrist and the psychiatrist looked at the police. "He told me it ate a lilly," she said. The psychiatrist looked at the police and the police looked at the psychiatrist. "He told me it had a golden horn in the middle of its forehead," she said. At a solemn signal from the psychiatrist, the police leaped from their chairs and seized the wife. They had a hard time subduing her, for she put up a terrific struggle, but they finally subdued her. Just as they got her into the strait-jacket, the husband came back into the house.
"Did you tell your wife you saw a unicorn?" asked the police. "Of course not," said the husband. "The unicorn is a mythical beast." "That's all I wanted to know," said the psychiatrist. "Take her away. I'm sorry, sir, but your wife is as crazy as a jaybird."
So they took her away, cursing and screaming, and shut her up in an institution. The husband lived happily ever after.
