#54 Sun (8/14/22) - Arcimbaldo's The Librarian

 A man whose body consists of books and bookmarks passes into the foreground underneath a green curtain.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo created a number of portraits of people by painting an assemblage of objects such as fruits and vegetables, flowers, or in this case, books; the objects typically had some connection to the person's life or depiction. Benno Geiger called it a "triumph of abstract art in the 16th century". In 1957, art historian Sven Alfons was the first to conclude that this was specifically a portrait of Lazius. The work has been interpreted as both a celebration and a satirical mocking of librarians and scholarship. K. C. Elhard suggests an opposing view that it may be specifically a parody of "materialistic book collectors more interested in acquiring books than in reading them." Elhard notes that various references to the librarian's trade are missing from the image, such as any kind of classification marks. He also argues that the painting focuses on the materialistic qualities of the books and not the subject matter, pointing to collectors, and not necessarily librarians or intellectuals. Wikilink

*The painting was brought to Sweden following the looting of Prague Castle by the Swedish army during the 1648 Battle of Prague

========================================================

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#48 Mon (8/8/22) - Los cuatro ciclos (The Four Cycles) by Jorge Luis Borges (El oro de los tigres, 1972)

Found this piece in the usual place and proceeded to translate and examine it.  It was not in any of my previous translated editions, although it has a familiar feel, touching as it does upon so many of the favored topics and references; Illiad and Odyssey, myths of Ragnarök , Anglo-Saxon poetry, Sir Gawain, Jason and the Golden Fleece, the Simurgh, Captain Ahab and Kafka, Odin and Christ.  In so doing I followed (forged?) the links to Rosetti's Troy Town and Yeats' Leda and the Swan.  I found out about the Game of the Gods (tafl) recounted in the Voluspa (which also has a long roll call of familiar dwarfs, including Gandalf), and the castrated Phrygian fertility god, Attis.  I veered then back into Beckford's Vathek, and found out about the Sultan Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif of Morocco , one of the true inspirations for the cruel Caliph Vathek.  In the same edition, Beckford wrote about his dream and described some of his travels in letters (hilarious!).  I ...
Read more

Borges - VIÑETAS CARDINALES DE BUENOS AIRES (1927)

  VIÑETAS CARDINALES DE BUENOS AIRES NORTE Almacén rosadito de los que a mí me gustan . La luna entera, encima . La luna oronda, dura . El almacén — de tierno — una mejilla . SUR Ésta, que no es mi tierra , porque no quiere darme ni un querer ni otra pena , cuida en los verdes patios, cedrón y caña de ámbar… ¡Lo bien que yo sabría merecerla! ESTE El viento zamarrea las esquinas tembleques del Paseo de Julio . En la noche rotosa, los compadritos muertos le apuntalan los muros . OESTE El callejón final con su poniente . Inauguración de la pampa . Inauguración de la muerte .   * Inicial , Buenos Aires, Año 3, Nº 11, febrero de 1927.   ======================================== CARDINAL VIGNETTES OF BUENOS AIRES NORTH A pinkish store of the kind I like. The full moon, above. The plump, hard moon. The store - so tender - a cheek. SOUTH This land, which is not mine, because it refuses to give me either love or another sorrow, tends in the green patios, lemon verbena and amber can...
Read more

#45 Fri (8/5/22) - [OW] The word must have been in the beginning a magic symbol

"La palabra habría sido en el principio un símbolo mágico, que la usura del tiempo desgastaría. La misión del poeta sería restituir a la palabra, siquiera de un modo parcial, su primitiva y ahora oculta virtud. Dos deberes tendría todo verso: comunicar un hecho preciso y tocarnos físicamente, como la cercanía del mar" J.L.Borges en Prólogo a "La Rosa Profunda" (1975)   “The word must have been in the beginning a magic symbol, which the usury of time wore out. The mission of the poet should be to restore to the word, at least in a partial way, its primitive and now secret force. All verse should have two obligations: to communicate a precise instance and to touch us physically, as the presence of the sea does." J.L. Borges in Prologue to "La rosa profunda" (1975) (SP, 343-345, A.R.)   The passage continues in the next line; I have here an example from Virgil:   sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt   After providing two more examples, he ...
Read more