At the museo del prado 95% of the people were speaking Spanish Italian or french only heard a sprinkling of English. .. so different to what I expected.
There was a massive line but i booked online the night before and so walked straight in - nice. Must say i was surprised by the number of portraits of #@%& virgin and child - surely there were artists around at the time that found this offensive - as i do.
In my study of gender and philosophy at uni we drew from the work of Genevieve Lloyd in the Man of Reason a book I'd like to go back to, but as i recall Lloyd talked about a divide between body and spirit that infused western thinking - reason being pure and the body degraded and base. Decartes - i think therefore i am - an example of this - men where thought to exemplify reason and women were associated with the body and where therefore base and impure. There were many examples of this divide between purity and the body evident in the works of art on display. The only way the mother of Jesus could be pure was for her to be a virgin - and unfortunately this association with purity and virginity survives today.
My favourite of the artists i saw today was Martin Rico a Spanish artist
You can see through these examples below that art worked in the form of story boards with the gold depicting the wealth and glory to found in heaven. Fair enough to display these works as historical items but I was very disappointed with the audio-guide commentary that I feel should have provided the historical context.
For now Joan
Joan you miss the point of the virgin birth, read Luke 1:27-35. The whole point of the virgin birth is that Jesus is the Son of God. If Mary had not been a virgin this claim would be in dispute.
ReplyDeleteSorry not reading the bible for confirmation of virgin birth - naturally it needs to make that claim J
DeleteJoan you are doing really well despite some language barriers. You are sounding like a seasoned traveller. Good luck with your trip to Alicante - think you are meeting up with a fellow academic there? Dont think those artists of Madonna & Child were thinking too much about impurity of body, probably commissioned by the church and enjoyed robust relationships with beautiful impure women. All part of the Madonna worship especially of the middle ages - is that the area you were looking at?
ReplyDeleteEnjoy & have fun.
-- annette
Hi Joan
DeleteIs Alicante in the Bask area of Spain?
Western Europe was Christian ruled by the church - Education, land ownership, rulers, trades, absolutely everything up until the early 16th century. Non Christians were mostly persecuted or driven out to ghettos. We cant understand Western culture unless we understand its history and the Middle Ages was amazing in many ways.
Keep safe and out of trouble. Enjoy!
annette
Howdy, Alicante is on the coast south of Barcelona. Don't think it is the Bask area but don't think so. I am going there because i thought good to go on the trsin south, to see a smaller coastal town, and to meet up with a fellow maternal researcher.
DeleteInteresting the influence of Christianity throughout Europe. I know very little about the middle ages if you've got the time why do you say they were amazing?
Ciao joan
Hi annette it seemed 70 to 80% of paintings were inspired or paid for by religious but were there no other voices at the time. I keep thinking of monty pythons take on the spanish inquisition. All good so far, J
ReplyDelete