The oldest form of communication that reaches us from ancient man comes from artists. The oldest drawing, found on a rock in South Africa last year, is some 73,000 years old. In Germany there is a 40,000-year-old sculpture of a human with lion’s head. In France, a 14,000- to 21,000-year old mural depicts a figure fighting a bison, with the faces sporting a beak.
A new discovery extends narrative cave painting back 44,000 years. In caves on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, archaeologists discovered a painting of a hunt or ritual. There are two wild pigs and four dwarf buffaloes chased by mythical human-animal figures hunting with rope- and spear-like weapons. They are not just individual pieces as in older discoveries but tell a story. If the age of the paintings is confirmed independently, these become the oldest known narrative cave paintings.
These two women are currently exhibited at El Prado in Madrid, which I attended recently. It is a large collection. Unfortunately they do not allow photos. You can see a few more at their website El Prado expos.
Lavinia Fontana (1552 – 1614) was trained by her father Prospero Fontana of the well known School of Bologna. She worked in Bologna and Rome. She relied on commissions for her income, difficult for anyone, more so for a woman. She was perhaps the first woman to do so. It allowed her to support her agent husband and their eleven children. She painted female nudes, also perhaps a first for women.
She began her commercial practice by painting small devotional paintings on copper. Christ with the Symbols of the Passion (1576 age 24) , is now in the El Paso Museum of Art. By the 1580s she was well known as a portrait painter in Bologna, often developing close friendships with her paying subjects. She moved on to large religious and mythological works where in another likely first she included female nudes.
Self-Portrait at the Clavichord with a Servant, 1577 considered her masterpiece
Pope Clement VIII invited her to Rome in 1603. The family moved with her. She became the portrait painter, painting Pope Paul V among others.
Lavinia Fontana, Minerva Dressing, 1613, now in the Borghese Palace
I have written previously of the next painter. See Sophonisba
Three Sisters Playing Chess, Sofonisba’s masterpiece
It was a bit past midnight. We were on the way home from the theater, passing through Parque Turia, when we came across this group doing some worship dancing. There is an impromptu shrine to Mary in front of which they dance.
There were perhaps 100 people in the crowd. Children were running about like it was afternoon. People were laughing, watching the dance, clapping, chatting.
Near Plaza- Redonda, Valencia, watercolor, 11.5 x 16.5
“Plaza Redondo in Valencia.” 30 x 40 cm, 11.5 x 16.5′ Watercolor I did several years ago, when I was going round with a group of Spanish watercolor artists. I published a small illustrated book about the Spanish city which you can read for free http://www.garyjkirkpatrick.com/valencia-city-on-the-med/ .
The Festival Internacional de Mediometrajes (Short Films) is an annual event in Valencia. This year the venue was the historical Centre Cultural de la Nau on the campus of the Universidad de Valencia and at the Filomteca. The former is an impressive building with a large courtyard where they seated hundreds and it where we were this evening. Spoiler alert- I go though the plot of Notre Dame de la Zad.
The film was introduced in person by the French director. He told is that Our Lady of the Zad is a comedy about a fictitious group’s effort to block highway construction through a forested area containing an endangered species, a huge escargot. Well, you know how the French love snails.
A priest visits the site. He is met by a young woman who spins a tale, obviously made up as she goes. It is about the appearance of the Virgin Mary, who tells her that the highway must not be built as this is now a holy place.
The priest is not convinced by the story but is a supporter of the protest so tells her he will report to the bishop. He convinces the bishop that it’s worth a visit to the site to determine the veracity of the claim. The bishop brings his laptop so he can fill in the app, which asks questions about the predominant colors, rosey or pale pink. She says black, so the priest asks if the Mary was an immigrant (no), then concludes is was a black Madonna. There are statues of such, by the way. During the exchange the priest interrupts by banging the table as the young woman tries to bring up the highway protest in connection with the apparition, the banging causing the lights to fail. Protecting endangered species does not appear as an option in the app, noted in the tongue in cheek dialogue.
Once the app gives him the positive result, the bishop leaves to spread the word of the appearance of Mary. Later, as the police are about to arrest the protesters, pilgrims looking for Mary’s assistance appear with walkers and canes. The police chase the protesters, who circle around, bringing the police back to the supplicants. The police think they are all in it together at first, wading into the pilgrims with clumsily wielded batons, before they distinguish the groups from one another, not at all difficult unless you are really into batoning people. The cops finally arrest just the protesters. Instructions then come from the Prefect, the priest’s sister, say to arrest the priest as well. However, the officer says, the orders are to arrest the Protestants, misreading protesters for Protestants, and the priest is clearly a Catholic, so must not be arrested. They sort that confusion out finally. The priest is thrown in with the woman, the two alone at first. They kiss, but not before she asks, “What about God.” The priest replies, “He already knows.”
The protesters are then packed in with the couple. The van shortly has a flat yet again – a running gag (pun intended) – and it is suddenly dark (part of another running gag), but there is no jack and they are still in the middle of the forest. The rest of the police force is nowhere to be seen. As they ponder the problem, a woman in robes appears out of the fog. They stare, look at each other, and when they look back she is holding a jack. One of the officers approaches with pointed pistol – imagine approaching someone you think is Mary with a gun for protecton – retrieving the jack. In the meantime the protesters have escaped unnoticed – how could that happen? – running off into the woods. The two officers drive on without a glance back.
No one died laughing but most enjoyed the cleverness of the farce. If you get the chance, check it out!
Tubas at the Palau, acrylics, 57 x 76 cm, 22.5″ x 30″ Arches paper
This is another in a series of paintings based on pen and ink drawings done at the Palau de la Musica. There are normally tuba and contrabass sections of these symphonic bands.
