Gosh Christy, no wonder your education is so grounded in biblical history. Bible art is certainly remarkable. I have a friend in Florence right now. She arrived there about 6 hours ago and has already been out and about. She has instructions to send me great postcards. I must email her and tell her to go see this piece at the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. And others of course. Oh, I must go to Florence one day. And the rest of Italy of course. And ..... hmmm. One day.
3 comments:
Boticelli was truly a Master.
When I was little my mother had possession of the 'Family Bible' for a while. It had all kinds of written notations in it, births, deaths, even my birth had been recorded in it.
It was one of those big mammoth bibles, you know a 30 pounder, anyways it had these lithographs in them, all depicting historical biblical scenes. It had all the Masters in it, Boticelli, DaVinci, and Michaelangelo and it was full of artwork. I used to study those pictures for hours and hours and days. It took a while before my family realized I was not actually reading it, just about the art work.
On the backs of the lithos it had stories about the artist, about how that piece came to be.
On the back of The Last Supper, Da Vinci, it had this story I have never heard before or since.
It spoke of how Da Vinci worked on The Last Supper for 7 years. The first figure he painted in, was of course Jesus. He searched everywhere for a model who had that perfect face of innocence and purity.
And seven years later he painted the last figure, Judas.
He searched again for a model. He looked everywhere and finally decided on a criminal who was in prison. He had great political pull by then, so he arranged to have the man brought in to sit for Judas.
According to the story on that litho, the man and Da Vinci never spoke, they simply sat in their places and did what they were suppossed to do.
Da Vinci finished to the point he did not need the man anymore. So he called for the guard, and the man knew he would not be allowed back out of his cell again so he became desperate.
He ran to Da Vinci and begged him to not send him back, and screamed at him 'Don't you recognize me...!?'
Da Vinci told him no, and as they dragged him away he screamed ' Seven years ago I posed for you, as Jesus Christ!'
I have never looked at that image without studying the faces of Judas and Jesus.
I don't know if it is true about Da Vinci, but, that bible got me hooked on art.
Wow Christy! What a story. It is so bizarre it has the ring of truth to it. And yet, not bizarre. But, isn't it so, that the most evil is often the most innocent looking person amongst us?
That doesn't apply to GWB. He's always looked pure evil to me. Always. But some were suckered in by him I guess.
It really does have the 'ring of truth' to it. Like I said, I don't know if it is true, but the story is what me to study faces.
It is an odd thought that someone who can look innocent can change so radically in 7 years due to hard circumstances.
I don't know if it is true, but as a kid I believed everything I read.
Funny how something common, like a bible, can change our lives forever.
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