Posted on 12/03/2014 9:15:22 AM PST by C19fan
As Michelangelo was finishing his famous sculpture David, a powerful patron appeared below the ladder on which he was standing and suggested that perhaps the nose was too thick. The artist came down and stood beside his patron to assess things. When the man looked away, Michelangelo quickly snatched a handful of dust and ascended again, pretending to tap his chisel and letting the dust slip between his fingers. Having altered nothing, he climbed down once more and waited for an opinion. The patron was delighted: “Oh, that’s much better! Now you’ve really brought it to life.”
The anecdote is a perfect parable for the power and ignorance of artistic patrons. Eager but incompetent to offer advice, Michelangelo’s patron had to be tactfully appeased. The artist’s solution was a small masterpiece in its own right: feign polite obedience, then do exactly as you please. Behind the chiseled perfection of the David lies a less savory story with more recognizably human themes: a clueless and arrogant patron outwitted by a confident and devious artist.
This is one of the tamer stories that Alexander Lee tells in his new book, The Ugly Renaissance: Sex, Greed, Violence and Depravity in an Age of Beauty. A gossipy work of muckraking history, Lee’s book unleashes all the dark spirits usually confined to the lower circles of Dante’s Inferno: brawling popes, feuding mercenaries, corrupt patrons, and sex-crazed artists. The Renaissance humanist Alberti once said that the ideal painting represents reality so perfectly that it can be mistaken for an “open window.” Lee’s book is a prose painting of Renaissance Italy with a decidedly grotesque emphasis; the sights and smells wafting through its window are invariably foul.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
That observation is brilliant!
The cuckoo clock.
And probably just about anything else that was possible with the clockwork technology of the time? Only till the electronic age was that capacity surpassed.
Anyhow, the brawling of the Renaissance is a candid portrait of the fallenness of men. That is what the story of redemption on earth looks like. Honest eyes would be aghast, but there is another, pure element that bubbles up among the chaos.
The bells and whistles may have changed but the behavior and personality types are the same today and throughout recorded history in all cultures.
Only till => not until
The contrast is most pronounced in Judeo-Christian societies.
Orson Welles has some memorable, readily recognized quotes, three of which are just three words or less:
Has the author taken a look at the art produced in modern America?
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
Guy didn’t know much about the history of the Swiss.
They fought several civil wars, some of them religious.
They also provided most of the best mercenaries of Europe for several centuries, and had a rep for giving no quarter.
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So this guy made a name for himself by wading through the Renaissance’s sewers?
I guess the pen follows the mind.
Graham Greene wrote the brilliant screenplay for The Third Man and it was directed by Carol Reed. The movie really stars Joseph Cotton with a smaller but charismatic role for Orson Welles. That line is the most remembered of the movie (as is the score) and is spoken by the wily Harry Lime.
Very good movie.
Not terribly good history.
The other thing the Swiss give us is an entirely laudable refusal to bow the knee to arrogant nobility, at a time when aristocrats ruled almost universally. A precursor to America in many ways.
America has had more than 30 years of Democrapic rule in Big Sh*ties. All of the bad behavior of Italian City States has been diligently, even assiduously practiced in places like ChiCongo, Detoilet, and the LA basin. Most exemplary is Neu Yuk Sh*ty - seemingly, only modern art daubers have thrived.
Perhaps if we shut off power, running water, and plugged the sewers - might the level of art might improve?
I used to tend bar at a nice Italian restaurant many years ago. There was a couple who came in 2-3 times a week, always reserved the same table and were very demanding. And cheap, tipping 5% on a good day. They always asked for Jeanne to serve them, and she hated it but hid it well.
The woman in particular (the waitstaff called her “the queen”) always wanted things her way. If they were present when it was time to dim the lights in the dining room for the evening she’d complain that it was too dark, or not dark enough. Same with the heat/AC with the thermostat located behind the bar in their line of sight.
It got to where we would pretend to make a heat/AC change to get her to complain, then reset it to where we needed it.
HA HA, I never heard that before. Pretty amusing.
Because that was the funniest thing ever, and I have taught my toddler to say in a boozy voice "Muuaaaahhhhhh the Frehhhehhnch..."
Yes it is although the sponsor is different. There are certain things that are simply evergreens -- they never wear out. And for those who haven't seen it, here's the unforgettable commercial with outtakes for Paul Masson.
The Late William Manchester wrote a small book a few years back that covers this subject quite well. “A World Lite Only By Fire”
An eye opening read.
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