karenika - books - from dawn to decadence: 500 years of western cultural life

From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life

After the Council of Trent, when every form of religious opinion was more or less under surveillance by church authorities, works of art were liable to censorship. The case mentioned earlier of Veronese's Last Supper is notorious. His interrogatory shows the painter confident that in the exercise of their art artists are free agents. The tribunal pressed hard but did not shake him. Asked first about his trade, the accused said: "I paint and compose figures." The quizzing goes on:

Q: Do you know why you have been summoned?

A: I can well imagine. Your lordships had ordered the Prior of the Convent to have a Magdalen painted in the picture [ of the Lord's Last Supper ] instead of the dog. I told him that I would do anything for my honor and that of the painting, but that I did not see how a figure of Magdalen would be suitable there.

Q: have you painted other Suppers besides this one?

A: Yes, my lord. [ He mentions five. ]

Q: What is the significance of the man whose nose is bleeding? And those armed men dressed as Germans?

A: I intended to represent a servant whose nose is bleeding because of some accident. We painters take the same license as poets and I have represented two soldiers, one drinking and the other eating on the stairs, because I have been told that the owner of the house was rich and would have such servants.

Q: What is Saint Peter doing?

A: Carving the lamb to pass it to the other end of the table.

Q: And the one next to him?

A: He has a toothpick and cleans his teeth.

Q: Did anyone commission you to paint Germans, buffoons, and similar things in your picture?

A: No, my lords, but to decorate the space.

Q: Are not the added decorations to be suitable?

A: I paint pictures as I see fit and as well as my talent permits.

Q: Do you not know that in Germany and other places infected with heresy, pictures mock and scorn the things of the Holy Catholic Church in order to teach bad doctrine to the ignorant?

A: Yes, that is wrong, but I repeat that I am bound to follow what my superiors in art have done.

Q: What have they done?

A: Michelangelo in Rome painted the Lord, His Mother, the Saints, and the Heavenly Host in the nude - even the Virgin Mary.

The Illustrious Judges decreed that the painting must be corrected within three months, at the expense of the painter. In the end, he changed nothing except the title of the work.

I heard about From Dawn To Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life from the New York Times and from Jake. This massive, 800-page, book is overwhelming. I can't honestly say that I read all of it. I skipped and danced around, reading the parts I wanted and ignoring the ones that were of no interest to me. But I liked this writing style and I found his vast knowledge a pleasure to read. I enjoyed the side comments on the evolution of certain terms and words.