Mythologies | Rubens : Between Raging Dogs and Excellent Birds

||| DESERTED MUSEUM | UP TO : P. P. RUBENS | FOCUS ON : “STORMY LANDSCAPE …” | FOCUS ON : “THE HUNT …” | DETAILING – TELLING – MEANING | KLANGAPPARAT

DESERTED MUSEUM

Dream or Nightmare ? – Being shut into one of those huge 19th century- cathedrals harbouring the tremendous treasures of the monarchic collections of Fine Art assembled during centuries of Power and Glory . For once the dream becomes real and I find myself alone – shut in the enourmous , formerly imperial Kunsthistorisches Museum ( “Museum of Art History” ) .

Allthough it is not nighttime , but early morning , I enjoy the privilege to stroll through the empty halls and staircases on a closing day . Provided with an official licence to take pictures ( no flash allowed – which makes about two to three seconds exposure- time for my beloved OM-2 furnished with a dozen of 400 ASA films and – you bet ! – with a tripod ) I seem to be the sole soul in this whole cosm of the very originals of some major works of art .

The truth though is that I am being followed by a watch- person from behalf of the museum’s adminstration , who is sent after me to ensure my appropriate behaviour . I wonder whether this person might watch me very much , totally absorbed by the local tabloid she brought along … The better !

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UP TO : P. P. RUBENS

Strictly holding on to my plan I cross the halls dedicated to “The Italians” …

… shortly glimpsing at all those Tintorettos , Titians and Veroneses .

My aim is strictly Rubens , assembled within the so called “Rubenssaal” ( XIV ) . Deliberately neglecting the famous Portrait of Hélène Fourment covered with nothing than “The Fur” ( “Das Pelzchen” , c. 1638 ) I tend to focus on two specific paintings referring to ancient Greek mythology :

“Gewitterlandschaft mit Philemon und Baucis” ( “Stormy Landscape with Philemon and Baucis” , c, 1630 ) aswell as “Die Jagd des Meleager und der Atalante” ( “The hunt of Meleagros and Atalante” , c. 1617 – 1628 ) .

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FOCUS ON : “STORMY LANDSCAPE …”

Commencing my experiment with some capture of the entire “Landscape” , I proceed by focussing more and more on the details as well as the texture of the support medium .

Obviously the wood ( ? or other support medium ? ) once was plied for reasons of storage or transport . And the layers of colour broke . You may note the crack lines .

Even though we see a scenario of restored harmony , the violence lies within the very material and the very fate of this painting . The staggering details only emerge by means of the enlarging features of the objective lens .

But still : Finally I discover by means of the zoom an absolutely poetic feature overseen by most people meditating in front of the large- scale- painting : The tiny seagull far away in the horizon . Technically speaking : Four seconds of exposure .

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FOCUS ON : “THE HUNT …”

Fascinated by the richness of details in Rubens’ firsthand overwhelming frames , I approach “Die Jagd des Meleager und der Atalante” ( “The hunt of Meleagros and Atalante” ) with an openly selective bias .

Time is running out , the watchperson clearly gets uneasy , so I arrange the tripod in front of this rendering of a hideous fight . Again , it is the topic of violence and suffering I am looking for : e. g. one of the hunting dogs , thrown upside- down , gasping for breath and survival , run over by the Calydonian Boar ( = kalydonischer Eber ) .

Considering the richness of the overcrowded painting one stays awestruck by the painstaking rendering of details by Rubens ( or by his workshop’s guys ) .

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DETAILING – TELLING – MEANING

Rubens’ dog , Rubens’ seagull : It seems that hope and tragedy , joy and pain reside not only in the big narrative , but also in the very detail .

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KLANGAPPARAT

Writing about the little seagull within Rubens’ vast horizon , I immediately had to think of “Excellent Birds” , written and composed by Laurie Anderson , featuring Peter Gabriel . Simple , charismatic , irresistible . And – regarding the Vizuals – a little bit kitsch .

LAURIE ANDERSON FEAT. PETER GABRIEL : EXCELLENT BIRDS

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