Monday, April 28, 2008
Spanish Exhibition at MFA
The Spanish Exhibition at MFA is now open. It is great. Everybody knows about it anyway, so I am writing not to advertise it, but to address everybody with a personal request. There is one painting I liked so much I could not get away from it. It is by Eugenio Cajes and it is something about the meeting of Ioachim and Anna - I don't remember the exact title. He, obviously, is not a major artist, and this is not his major painting. I could only find his "Adoration of the Magi", but I am looking for this one. I believe, it is allowed to take pictures there, at least I saw people doing it. If anybody wants to take a picture of this painging, please let me know, and I thank you ahead of time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Lenya found it on the internet and sent to me. Thank you, Lenya. Here it is, in case you are curious:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/04/24/arts/20080425greco_4.html
Спасибо за репродукцию, я вспомнил картину. Чудесная выставка. Я не ожидал, что привезут такие знаменитые картины Эль Греко и наиболее известные работы молодого Веласкеса. Молодого наверное надо взять в кавычки, так как, если найдут картину 13 летнего Веласкеса, то это тоже будет шедевр. На мой взгляд, это самая значительная выставка в MFA за последние несколько лет. Однако я удивлен официальным представлением “The seventeenth century has been called Spain’s Golden Age, when art and literature flourished and the kingdom enjoyed enormous wealth and power”. Если убрать многочисленые "по-моему" и "как мне кажется", которые можно ставить после каждого моего слова, то время Филипа 3 было как Брежневское. Империя покатилась с горы. Прекратилась любая экспансия, экономическое банкротство, слабый правитель, недалекий фаворит, военные авантюры, интриги и коррупция, а в провинциях просто запредельная, аристократия день молится, день гуляет, все пропитано двуличием. И, kстати, наверное это способствует расцвету культуры куда больше, чем расцвет империи . А про живопись отдельный разговор. Она официальная, каноничная и экзальтированная, а на дворе 16-17 век. Конечно есть гений Эль Греко, но появление Риберы и Веласкеса в самом конце этого периода (не ясно, как они вообще относятся к режиму Филипа 3), обязано не ему или другим испанским художникам, а скорее Кароваджо, если становление Веласкеса, как художника, вообще хоть кому-то обязано.
день молится, день гуляет--Bukval'no zolotoi vek!
Так и я о том же. Что может быть лучше для расцвета культуры, чем богатые аристокракраты, которые то грешат, то каются
Mark Yedvabny wrote:
This is my contribution to the world's art.
>
> In the current exhibition *El Greco to Velazquez* at MFA, the last
> painting
> by Velazquez is titled "Old Woman Cooking Eggs". The curator's notes
> explain
> that the painting shows a village woman cooking eggs in hot oil. Having
> read
> that, I looked at the painting again and said, "No Way!" Coming home, I
> googled it up and quickly found out that the painting was called as
> "*Woman
> Frying Eggs"* all along from 1618.
>
> Here is the blog where this painting is taken apart.
>
>
http://100swallows.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/a-kitchen-by-velazquez/#comment-1295
>
> This is what I wrote there:
>
> It's a great painting, no doubt, but there is no way this woman can be
> frying eggs as depicted by Velazquez. Here is why:
>
>
> 1. The cast iron brazier holding the burning charcoal sits on what
> seems to be a clay stand. Neither the stand, nor the brazier has
> openings
> for access of air for the coals to burn. Moreover, the pot, in which
> the
> woman cooks the eggs, covers the brazier entirely leaving virtually
> no space
> for the smoke to escape. This should tell you that this contraption
> can be
> used for cooking only for a very short time before the coals are
> completely
> choked up and the heat starts dropping rapidly.
> 2. A clay pot is never used for what we call now as deep frying
> (cooking food floating in hot oil) as it may crack with the
> temperature
> rising. In this painting, the pot is spotless, which tells us that it
> is
> brand new and untested. Knowing of a danger for a clay pot filled
> with oil
> to crack over glowing coals (splattering burning oil, inescapable
> fire, burn
> injuries), no one would have used an untested pot for this type of
> cooking.
> 3. As you heat oil, it does not give you signs of how hot it is till
> it is close to the smoking point. This happens when the temperature
> approaches approx. 400F (410F for olive oil) as opposed to water
> starting bubbling at close to 212F. The contraption shown to us by
> Velazquez has no way for controlling the temperature. And when
> cooking eggs,
> everyone knows that the temperature is the key.
>
> Even if this contraption worked as intended in the title, the woman
> could
> not avoid overheating the oil, and the eggs (90% water) slipped off into
> the
> very hot oil would dangerously splatter around turning into a mess and
> burning the woman rather than remaining nice and whole as shown.
>
> 1. As we see a sizable layer (depth) of the oil in the pot, I don't
> think Velazquez shows us the woman trying to make her eggs sunny-side
> up –
> we would not see so much oil, and the whites floating on the surface
> rather
> than hardening on the bottom, and the cooking eggs having a definite
> look as
> if they are suspended rather than resting on the bottom.
> 2. The venerated mastery of cooking eggs is in ability to bring them
> to the degree of doneness where they coagulate just enough to remain
> creamy
> yet cooked through (hot), i.e. to retain sufficient moisture as they
> are
> brought to the table. In professional kitchen, it is considered
> unacceptable
> when the bottom of your cooked eggs has even a slight brownish tint-
> it
> means they are dry and taste as a cardboard. Who then would come up
> with an
> idea to deep-fry the eggs?
> 3. The cruet in the boy's hand with what seems to be the oil may, in
> fact, contain some vinegar, which the boy just brought over to be
> added to
> the simmering water to help in holding the whites together which is
> normally
> done when you are poaching eggs.
>
> So, the conclusion: The woman is definitely poaching the eggs in the
> simmering water as it takes 3 to 4 minutes and the brazier and the pot,
> which we see in the painting, would work perfectly for this.
>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poaching_(cooking)
Я прочитал свой коментарий и даже не понял зачем Я вылез с этим Филипом 3. Разве так важно, что ни Эли Греко ни Веласкес не имели с ним дела. Привезли отличные картины и лучше писать о них чем о королях. Я понимаю, что никто не пропустит Эль Греко или Веласкеса, но там есть и известная картина молодого Риберы "Обжора" (задержитесь около нее) и наверное самая популярная картина Maino "Поклонение Волхвов" из Прадо. И мне очень понравился его портрет королевского цензора "Портрет монаха". Вообщем, если кто не был, сходите. Выставку закроют через 2 месяца.
Post a Comment