word of the day : callipygian

The word of the day is callipygian : kallos means beauty, puge means buttocks. Aphrodite Kallipygos.

a Callipygian Venus (Naples)
1st or 2nd century BC

a Callipygian Venus (Naples)

1st or 2nd century BC

(second view)

Callipygian Venus by François Barois, 1683-1686 (2 views)

movie notes : Prometheus

spoilers abound below the fold

Book Notes : nasty, misogynistic, fearful contempt

page from The Essential Hieronymus Bosch

from the little book The Essential Hieronymus Bosch by W. John Campbell (2000) p81 about the painting the Temptations of Saint Anthony :

Unlike the abstract theme of salvation through prayer in the middle panel, the right wing – like the left – is a narrative, the temptation of the saint by a beautiful girl. This misogynist episode – a nasty medieval expression of fearful contempt of women – pits the saint and his Bible against the allure of a slender nude in the hollow of a dead tree.

the Temptations of Saint Anthony triptych (right panel) by Hieronymus Bosch.  (A complaint about misogyny and no one mentioned the phallic shaped top of the building in the upper right?)  

click to embiggen
detail of the Temptations of Saint Anthony (right panel) by Hieronymus Bosch

So, Saint Anthony being tempted by a plate full of gold coins is a gold-hating episode and a nasty medieval expression of fearful contempt of gold.

Is it misogynistic to suggest that many men can be tempted by a naked woman? Is it misogynistic to reject the advances of a naked woman? Or is it that she is naked? It must not be the temptation itself or it would be "biblical contempt" and not medieval contempt. Or is it misogynistic that she appears not to have feet (because she is standing in water)? Is the man and woman on a flying fish misogynistic too?

She appears to be covering herself with a crab. If she is infested with gigantic genital crabs then most men would be less tempted by her.

If the author intends "misogynist episode" to refer to Saint Anthony's rejection of the woman then the author has it wrong as I think she was actually the devil in disguise. A mis-diabolus-ist episode!

an attempt to show the scale of the painting

Essential Hieronymus Bosch book review : As an aside, I bought the book on impulse and blindly online and it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for.  It is physically small (about 6" x 6") and parts of it are written in a style that, I think, is intended to sound like a high school girl. Oddly, this casual style isn't consistent. It is as if an editor circled a few paragraphs and said "Hey, punch this up a little and make it sound cool and youthful. Y'know, hep and groovy like the kids talk these days. And be sure to mention a popular TV show so the readers know that we know what's on TV. And call something misogynistic because the whippersnappers are always doing that."

It isn't a very deep book. Many of Bosch's paintings have a great many elements in them and while the book may take a stab at explaining a couple things it then moves on to the next painting. For example, the painting The Seven Deadly Sins illustrates the 7 deadly sins. There is an overview of the painting and about basically one line illuminating what is going on in most scenes. Like "Greed (Avaricia), as a judge taking a bribe (sitting on a bench, as in a modern court, he extends his palm behind him in a gesture called a 'porter's tip')" I would point out that the judge in the painting is literally sitting on a long bench with 2 other people while a modern judge sits on an elevated platform behind a large desk – which is called the bench for historical reasons. No mention of the other 2 men in the painting, the wood in the body of water or the peculiar tree behind the judge or if any of those elements are significant.

Some barely lend any insight at all to the painting like "Gluttony (Gula), a common problem in a world of feast or famine," or "Lust or Excess (Luxuria), as a party in a tent that recalls medieval book illustrations for romance of courtly love" while I think most people might want to know if that is a monk spanking a jester's bare bottom? The answer isn't found in this book.

Hieronymus Bosch's Seven Deadly Sins detail of Lust
"medieval book illustrations for romance of courtly love" =  a man in robes spanking a man dressed like a rabbit?

The blurb on the otherwise sparse back cover (there is only "bosch" in large letters, the UPC and the blurb) says "'Be an art expert in 5 minutes.' – The New York Times". The actual headline is "MAKING BOOKS; Be an Art Expert In Five Minutes!" and may involve sarcasm. The article itself says things like "At their worst (and perhaps at their best, too) the books provide art education through one-liners, sometimes with an attitude that, if not snide, is flip and condescending."  Also from the NYTimes article is this bit of snobbery "…the words may be embarrassingly rudimentary at times…" The problem is the lack of information not the lack of polysyllabic words.

Venus and Psyche

click to embiggen

Venus and Psyche by Raphael (Raffaelo Santi), 1517-1518
Red chalk, 26.3 x  19.7cm
Louvre, Paris, France inventory number 3875



This drawing was used by Raphael as a study for his fresco showing Venus and Psyche at Villa Farnesina (although some have attributed the drawing to Giulio Romano, pupil of Raphael) and eventually it was bought for the Royal Collection of Louis XVI.

click to embiggen

Venus and Psyche by Raphael (Raffaelo Santi), 1517-1518

fresco, size unknown

Villa Farnesina, Trastevere district, Rome, Italy

At the Louvre, the Raphael drawing was copied by Edgar Degas and later Paul Cézanne. Interestingly, both chose to copy many of the same figure drawings. But in this case they're purposes were not the same : Degas carefully copied the lines, line weights, hatching, shadows, and form (even drawing the container and Psyche's head transparent because that is how Raphael did it) to understand how it was done while I think Cézanne drew the pose as as if he were in front of live model.

click to embiggen

Venus and Psyche copy after Raphael by Edgar Degas, c1853-54
graphite, 11.375 x 8.25" (29 x 21 cm)
private collection

click to embiggen

Venus and Psyche copy after Raphael by Paul Cézanne, c1866-69
graphite, 9.5 x 6.75" (24 x 17cm)
private collection

an attempt to show the size and scale of the drawings

movie notes : The Wolverine

spoilers below

Mutants need love too

Rembrandt's Ledikant

Het Ledikant (The Bedstead) also called Le Lit A La Française (the French Bed)  by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1646
etching, height 125mmx width 224 mm

The subject matter is pretty unambiguous to most people. The book Rembrandt and His Work (1899) describes it as "A very rare plate, which need not be described".  The dutch genre was apparently called "boelering" which is dutch for "cohabitation." Rembrandt was 40 years old at the time so I would suggest he qualifies as a dirty old man.

The alternate title, "French bed," is the name curtained beds were known by.  The open bed curtains add to the voyeurism. Hanging off the end of the bedpost is his hat with a large feather in it. On the left is an arched doorway and to the right is a table with a glass and plates on a bedside table.

Both sixes in the date are printed backwards. That is to say they were not etched onto the plate backwards.

There are several different states to the etching. With each revision was it unnoticed that she has 3 hands (one right and 2 left hands)? Assuming, she doesn't have 4 arms and that the second right hand simply isn't shown. Or maybe the intent was to imply a kind of motion.

From a Descriptive Catalogue of the Prints of Rembrandt (1836) :
First impression There is a margin at top and the plate measures 6 in by 8.9 in
At the bottom of the door leading from the recess is written Rembrandt f 1646
Second impression The margin is cut off it is extremely rare and measures 5 in by 8.9 in
There is much of the bur in this impression
Third impression It is very scarce the recess and door with the name are cut off it measures 5 in by 6.9 in

It has been suggested that the final state was trimmed out of shame to take off Rembrandt's name.

The British Museum says there are at least 4 states to the plate. The Rijksmusuem possesses at least 3 different states of the print :

• RP-P-1961-1093 
• RP-P-OB-633
• man's arm burnished 
• add a bit of smile to the woman's face 
• (animation showing the differences between RP-P-1961-1093  and RP-P-OB-633)
• RP-P-1961-1092 
• darkened the leftmost bedpost
• crosshatching on the side table
• add shadow of the plate on table
• altered the bedding hanging down
• refined the curtain rod
• (This is the image shown at the top of the post. Animation showing the differences between  RP-P-OB-633 and RP-P-1961-1092. Or an animation comparing all three).

an attempt to show the size and scale of the etching