The Culture Enthusiast

I am once again posting a day ahead schedule to take part on Broke and Bookish's meme Top 10 Tuesday. Today the topic is free so I chose Top 10 Favorite Words.

1) Revival
I've been obsessed with this word lately. I find myself saying: a Tudor revival house, an Art Deco revival in the 60's, a much expected dry tomato revival. I'm just rejoiced whenever I hear it.

Meaning: "a spirit who is God's servant in heaven, and who is often shown as a person dressed in white with wings".

These beautiful flower studies were drawn by Dutch painter Jan van Huysum from 1697 to 1749. He specialized in still lifes and he aimed for his paintings to be as realistic as possible. 

One of the problems with contemporary culture is the importance placed on originality. Many writers and artists strive to create something deemed original and when they can’t they take the easy way out, the pessimistic: “there’s nothing left to create, everything has been done already”.

One of the most enjoyable experiences to me is finishing a book. For some, is buying a book, for others is starting it, for some crazies is beginning Chapter 5. I like all those things too, but nothing beats that final page rush.

I'd say I have more or less three common but different reactions when I finish a book.

The "I made it" reaction: this is how I feel when I finish difficult books. It's a mixed sense of relief and accomplishment. When I got to the last page of Practical Criticism, which took me three months to finish, it was like Rocky I: arms up, little imaginary jumps, "I finished Practical Criticism!"

A little bit of history

Date: 1871

Located in the Gallery of Modern Art, Florence.

A little bit of technique

The use of light and shadow is amazing. Pilate's clothes are transparent and there's great contrast between the hot sun of the background and the cooling marble of the foreground.  

Many famous artists, like Caravaggio and Titian, portrayed this scene. What's unique about Ciseri's portrayal is that Jesus and Pilate are not facing the viewer. They have their backs to us and it is as if we are in the backstage of the scene. We are a character, maybe a servant or a centurion  who was just passing by, heard all the screaming and stopped to see what's happening. 

Because we can't see their faces, body posture is incredibly important.  Pilate bends his body and puts his foot towards the crowd to get closer to them, arms pointing to the "man of pains" as if saying: "Isn't this enough?". 

Christ's body posture is completely different. He looks down, motionless, patiently suffering. 

A little bit of enthusiasm

What calls my attention, other than the extreme beauty of the painting, are the two "supporting" characters: the faceless crowd standing in the balconies at the top of the painting and Pontius Pilate's wife in the right corner of the painting.2

We can't see the faces in the crowd, but some figures at the roof tops have their arms raised. In their euphoria wouldn't they be screaming "Crucify Him!"? 

Pilate's wife, on the other hand, is holding another woman for support. She can't even bear to look at what's happening. Before this all began she told her husband not to harm Jesus because she had dreamed about Him. 

Maybe these two characters, Pilate's wife and (part of) the crowd, weren't Jesus' followers. Not everybody knew and believed He is the Son of God. I've always wondered how non-believers would react being witnesses to the Passion.

The painting shows these different, opposite reactions of people that weren't Jesus' disciples. The crowd's reaction was excitement in face of cruelty. At best they were just going with the flow, with what the majority wanted. Pilate's wife' reaction was sadness and compassion.

Plus, the movie answers those questions above. In two different ways, actually. First off, we like stories (whether they're movies, books or the ones we tell ourselves using our imagination), because they are better than reality. And by better, I mean more attractive, more exciting and more stimulating.

Have you seen The Fall? What did you like the most about it?