Go Tell it to the Olive Tree (4/4/2025 - Post Abandoned)

 

A living historical record: the olive tree of Vouves, Greece.

The Olive Tree - A Living Record

Oldest olive tree in the world is located in Crete

"The ancient Olive Tree of Vouves (Elia Vouvon) is located in the village of Ano Vouves on the island of Crete. It is believed to be the oldest olive tree in the world which still produces highly-prized olives.

Although its exact age cannot be verified using radioisotopes as the tree’s heartwood has been lost through the centuries, scientists from the University of Crete have estimated it to be 4,000 years old. It is presumed that the tree first appeared in 1100BC, in the sub-Minoan period of Cretan history." (2020, Andriana Simos of the Greek Herald)

Meet The 4,000-Year-Old Olive Tree That Saw The Rise And Fall Of Alexander The Great’s Empire—A Biologist Explains

"Deep in the heart of Crete, where myth intertwines with natural wonder, stands the legendary olive tree of Vouves. For millennia, this 2,000-year-old ancient sentinel has silently witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations, outlasting even some of Greece’s most famous historical figures.

Olive trees have long been revered not only for their fruit and oil but also for the resilience encoded in their DNA. These trees symbolize endurance, wisdom and continuity. In a landscape where nature’s secrets are often obscured by time, the olive tree of Vouves reminds us that life can sometimes persist against all odds."

- The Olive Tree of Vouves was my initial inspiration for this post. It is a protected historical monument in Greece and has possibly witnessed over 4000 years of human history.

Ironically, less than a week later, what should appear in new's headlines, but articles about a different historical tree.

White House to remove magnolia tree dating to Andrew Jackson

•

Historic tree planted nearly 200 years ago to be cut down at the White House

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One American Political party Attempts to Censor Natural History, a Nation's History and the History of the World

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

- Excerpted from George Orwell's novel, "1984", and sourced from this sobering article.

•

Trump targets 'anti-American ideology' at Smithsonian museums

"Trump has set out to radically reshape American culture, which he says has been contaminated by "woke" left-wing ideology. He has signed several orders that are intended to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programmes from the federal government - some of which led to legal challenges."

•

Trump Executive Order Targets ‘Anti-American’ Content at Smithsonian

"President Donald Trump has signed an executive order on Thursday directing the Smithsonian, a federal consortium of cultural and research institutions, to eliminate “divisive” and “anti-American” content from its exhibitions and restore “monuments, memorials, statues, markers” that have been removed from public spaces since 2020.

The “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” order gives Vice President JD Vance the authority to determine what content is “improper” at the Smithsonian Institution. A fact sheet from the White House describes the order as opposed to “anti-American ideology.”

•

Unabashed Fascism': Trump Executive Order Targets 'Improper Ideology' at Smithsonian

"First Trump removes any reference of diversity from the present—now he's trying to remove it from our history," wrote one Democratic lawmaker. "You cannot erase our past and you cannot stop us from fulfilling our future."

•

US orders French companies to comply with Trump's diversity ban

"American interference in the inclusion policies of French companies, along with threats of unjustified tariffs, is unacceptable," France's Ministry of Foreign Trade said in a statement sent to Reuters.

"France and Europe will defend their businesses, their consumers, and also their values," the ministry, which is under the authority of the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, added."

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Aphroditus - Gender in the Ancient World

"There's also a statue of Venus on Cyprus, that's bearded, shaped and dressed like a woman, with scepter and male genitals, and they conceive her as both male and female. Aristophanes calls her Aphroditus, and Laevius says: Worshiping, then, the nurturing god Venus, whether she is male or female, just as the Moon is a nurturing goddess. In his Atthis Philochorus, too, states that she is the Moon and that men sacrifice to her in women's dress, women in men's, because she is held to be both male and female."

(Continued below the jump...)

Vale, Marianne...

"Will you take me across the channel,

London Bridge is falling down

Strange a woman tries to save

What a man will try to drown

And he’s the rain that they predicted,

It’s the forecast every time

The rose has died because you picked it

I believe that brandy’s mine

And all over the world

Strangers

Talk only about the weather

All over the world

It’s the same"

- Lyrics to Strange Weather, written by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, 1987.

***

"I know I'm not young and I'm damaged," she wrote defiantly. "But I'm still pretty kind of funny."

- Marianne Faithfull, ironic till the very end. In youth, irony is an art... In old age it's a necessity. This quote was sourced from the BBC's comprehensive tribute.

I'm sad to report that Marianne Faithfull slipped away from us on January 31 of this year. Weirdly, I didn't find the news till yesterday, although I can't understand how I managed to miss it.

It seems like I had just blogged about her recently. So, the news hit hard. Marianne was a special  woman; sort of a triple goddess figure: a charming, gracious lady, a bawdy  broad, and, lastly, an enchanted little match girl. But, for those of us who more or less grew up with her, she was an invincible survivor. Throughout all of her trials and tribulations she remained strong, maintaining her dignity and a sense of humor. Oh, and she remained an unapologetic smoker, an outstanding feat of resilience these days.

As a performer she was unique; she had at least 3 incarnations. Marianne #1 had the clear-bell voice of an angel. Marianne #2 sang like a wildcat on the prowl. Marianne #3 was the world-weary chanteuse. She could've glammed it up with feathers and furs, but, she never needed to. She was the real deal.

And, we'll miss her.

(The lovely photo - inset right above - was taken by Bruce Weber in 1996 and can be found on MF's website, along with many other great shots.)

Digging Up Women for International Women's Day (#people+uterus)*

A 20th century Antique beaded purse found in an Etsy shop.

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Like many women, I find I have to steal time in order to create. I've stolen a lot of time in my day... but, despite my efforts to fashion a life around my creativity, I find that I continue to feel as if I am forced to steal time.

I stole time to write this post... have to steal more time to complete it. I am a woman. By a long-held tradition my time is not my own... especially if I chose to be a mother, a wife, or a caregiver... or a woman trying to survive. But, as life would have it, in some way all women are in danger of becoming sacrificial lambs.

But, maybe, not all.

Inset left is a blade fashioned from quartz crystal. Thousands of years ago it belonged to a woman we now refer to as the Ivory Lady. I wonder about her times. I wonder if her time was her own. It may have been.

And, so, sisters, with this tiny light in mind we'll tip our hats to our singular allotted day, International Woman's Day... which, in terms of this foreword was yesterday. Oddly enough, during the past two days, the Global Day of Unplugging took place. Talk about really bad timing... was the date chosen deliberately to undermine and inconvenience women?

In which case, I guess we may as well take a few days for ourselves. 3's the charm.

This post goes out to all the archaeologists - especially the women - who made it possible or even feasible. As a little girl, I used to like to dig holes in the back yard when allowed. What was I digging for? I never really asked. Perhaps, I was looking for the vestiges of another little girl... who lived long ago... and made things.

(Make every day women's day.)

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Huge Collection of 270,000 Beads Unearthed in Copper Age Tomb in Spain

“Beads are a widespread and pervasive element of material culture produced by Homo sapiens, ”the study authors noted. “As excellent indicators of technology, social organization, exchange patterns, and even beliefs, beads are a topic of research in their own right.”

"Each was made by shaping a single seashell and boring a hole through its center. The huge number represents the largest single-burial assemblage of beads ever found in any grave site."

Buried in more than 270,000 beads, grave reveals women’s power 5,000 years ago

"The team found the majority of the beads in a large chamber of the Montelirio tomb, which held the remains of 20 people, including 15 women and five individuals whose sex wasn’t determined. A smaller chamber where two women were buried also contained beads.

... The researchers identified what they believe to be threaded beads that could have formed two full-body beaded tunics, skirts and other clothes or cloths of undetermined shape."

“They would have been extremely glittery under the sunlight and that would have been a very powerful effect to see these women standing in front of a crowd performing whatever rituals they were in charge of performing.”

***

Before the advent of the photographic image, artists and artisans provided visual documentation of their times. Regarding very ancient times such as the Copper Age, artifacts (and bones) are generally all that remain.

The featured artifact in this archaeological story is the humble bead; not one, but over 2 hundred thousand of them! Many of them were found draped over and around a group of 15 female skeletons in a prehistoric Spanish tomb - Tholos de Montelirio - near to that of the so-called Ivory Lady (who was originally determined to be male). Apparently, there are 5 additional bodies whose genders have yet to be determined because their bones were crushed.

But, while the beads and the majority of bones withstood the test of time, merely a few scraps of fabric were in evidence and while the beads are thought to have decorated clothing, there are few clues as to how the clothing was really fashioned... or what the beaded garments represented. What we can determine is that they were expensive and time consuming to create. And, by this, we can deduce that the entombed women were highly regarded; they were special in some way.

Many of the beads were created from scallop shells... which may have been devotionals for a marine goddess such as Aphrodite, Astarte, Ishtar, or the moon goddess Innana to whom the hymn excerpt (below) was addressed.

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"The day is auspicious,

The priestess is clothed

in beautiful robes,

In womanly beauty,

As in the light of the rising moon."

- Via Enheduanna's Hymn to Innana (c. 2300 BC), reposted from an earlier Woman's Day article.

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And, there are some reasons to believe that the women were priestesses. For one, it would explain why they were all interred in one tomb, sporadically, over a period of years.

Then, too, we are given an interesting description of one of the bodies...

(Continued below the jump...)

Laughing in the Face of Evil

"This is going to be great television!"

- Former reality-TV show host*, Donald Trump, regarding his hostile, disrespectful reception of Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.**

“I’d like to welcome President Zelenskyy to this incredible trap,” James Austin Johnson’s Trump said at the top of the sketch before making a dig at Zelenskyy’s casual attire."

- Via yesterday's Saturday Night Live's opening skit - "cold open" - partially transcribed by The Wrap.

There were a number of hilarious moments, but few of them could dispell the memory, nor the abject horror many Americans felt while watching the original travesty;

well, unless it was Canadian comedian Michael Myers' take on Elon Musk's psychedelic "glitch." Ha, ha, ha.

In other entertainment news:

Can the Oscars Pull a Satisfying Show Out of a Year of Chaos and Ugliness?

"This Oscar season, which at one point seemed as if it could be the first normal awards season after the impact of a pandemic and two big Hollywood strikes, has been a mess. But here’s the rub: It may have been an ugly, chaotic awards season — but when you step out of awards season, it’s an uglier, even more chaotic world.

“It’s been a great year for film,” Film Independent Spirit Awards host Aidy Bryant said at the beginning of that show on Feb. 22. “And a bad year for human life.”

Protesters target JD Vance in Vermont after clash with Zelensky

This just in!

‘A crossroads in history’: Europe seeks to take control of Ukraine negotiations at pivotal London summit

***

(Perhaps "evil" is too strong a word to use... and it's never a word to use lightly. But, for some odd reason, it just felt right as I was searching for a title for this post. Generally words like ignorance or deception will do. But, evil is a word expressed by the heart; not the mind.)

I had another post in the works slated for today but it's been well over a month since the Circus from Hell came to town and the news here in the States has grown exponentially grimmer by the day. In other words, we are in desperate need of comic relief!

The latest "cherry" on the shit-sundae being the Trump administration's failed diplomacy towards the leader of, yet, another American allied country. But, it went worse than anyone could have predicted. As far as many are concerned, Trump bombed with French President Macron - his "friend" - as well... but this latest spectacle was so foul it left us all reeling.

Perhaps, the MAGA mind confuses egotism with patriotism and strong-arm with strength... or, perhaps, they've just chosen the wrong words for their motto. Because it is now evident to the world that they never intended to "Make America Great Again." Their motto should read: Make American Billionaires Great (and Screw Everybody Else).

Pro-Ukraine protests erupt across US after Trump and Vance ‘ambush’ Zelenskyy

In photos: Thousands across the U.S. protest Trump and Musk's policies

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* One take-away from Wiki's entry for The Apprentice:

"Trump was fired by NBC when the studio disagreed with remarks he made about Mexican immigrants during his announcement that he was running for president of the United States on June 16, 2015."

** Zelenskyy or Zelensky? See here.

The Man Who Sold the World (last update: 2/3/2025)

"Oh no, not me

We never lost control

You're face to face

With the man who sold the world

- Lyrics from The Man Who Sold the World, 1970, David Bowie.

***

Amusingly, the day Donald Trump was inaugurated this song trended on YouTube. The Man Who Sold the World was an early Bowie tune which never received much airplay till British pop-diva, Lulu - whom DB adored - brought it to the top of the UK charts several years later.

Nirvana covered the song in the 90s - above is an MTV performance - and totally nailed it. But, meanwhile, hiding in the Saturday Night Live archives is, perhaps, DB's most definitive interpretation of the "man" who is revealed to be an eerily puppet-like figure. (Also see.) Featuring the German performance artist, Klaus Nomi, the full video can be found here.

***

"I was saved by God to make America great again."

- A grandiose (delusional) statement attributed to Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration sourced from USA Today's Donald Trump sworn in as 47th president, declares 'America's decline is over'.

America's "decline" is over? No, judging by the news headlines over the past 8 days, many, both here and abroad, secretly fear the alleged "decline" may have just begun.

Moreover, America may be losing the support of friendly nations and allies due to the present administration's seemingly pathological disregard for diplomacy. (See article here and videos of officials from Germany, Ireland, and Denmark.)

Observe: 

• Trump is withdrawing from the Paris Agreement (again), reversing U.S. climate policy

• Trump administration launches nationwide immigration enforcement blitz

• Trump’s new gender rules gut a key part of the Prison Rape Elimination Act

• Trump uses mass firing to remove independent inspectors general at a series of agencies

• What is US birthright citizenship and what does Trump’s executive order do?

• Brazil slams US after dozens of deportees arrive handcuffed

• Trump imposes tariffs, sanctions on Colombia after it refuses deportation flights

(Update)

• US freezes foreign aid for almost all countries including Ukraine, except Israel and Turkey

• Trump offering buyouts to all federal workers

• Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans

***

The news is coming fast and furiously these days. I've never seen anything like it. Every day introduces a new abomination... with the leader of the new administration shooting out executive orders with machine gun-like rapidity. If this is an element of his strategy then it's effectively disabling us, leading some Americans to wonder: has there been a coup?

Seriously...

(Continued below the jump...)

Navigating the New Year (Revised: 2/15/2025)

Red Shoes - cellphone photo - 2024, DS.

 (Text added & revised February 9 - 15, 2025)

About the photo: It looks like it might be a reject from a fashion-photo shoot; in reality' it was anything but. Nor was it any sort of "selfie," or so I thought when I shot it.

Actually, when I first noticed the way the shadows were falling on the motel balcony that night, my first thoughts were on all the geometry that lay beneath my feet. I had to use it. Shot in just the right way, the shadows, the balcony, the railing, my feet...

well, to make a long story shorter, I think it worked. Basically, I just kept my eye on that corner in the foreground and kept shooting.

"I began to see the possibilities offered by the regular division of the plane. For the first time I dared to create compositions based on the problem of expressing endlessness within a limited plane."

I've posted the (single) money shot (above). Poised in the red shoes, I seem to be standing on a spiraling, impossible plane designed by M.C. Escher, (quoted directly above). Success! A birthday gift!

But, then, there was the matter of the red shoes. Because, apart from the pop of color the shoes provided, intuition informed me that the red shoes had more significance; perhaps, a personal one. It also occurred to me that, although I had heard references to red shoes in the past, I had never read the original fairy tale... 

(Continued below the jump.)

***

"... Booker T. & the M.G.'s played a handful of instrumental R&B tunes, wearing brilliant lime green suits, then they were joined by an identically attired Otis Redding who electrified the audience with his sexually charged singing style.He sang his 1965 song "Respect" which was topping the charts because of a popular new interpretation by Aretha Franklin. Redding finished with a riveting "Try a Little Tenderness". The crowd responded by standing and screaming for more. Redding had been included on the bill through the efforts of promoter Jerry Wexler, who saw the festival as an opportunity to advance Redding's career. Until that point, Redding had performed mainly for black audiences, besides a few successful shows at the Whisky a Go Go..."

The festival would be one of his last major performances: Redding died only six months later, in a plane crash, at the age of 26."

- A quote sourced from the Wiki entry for the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival which rock purists recognize as more relevant to rock music history than Woodstock, the larger and more famous festival which followed in 1969.

I found the video (above) of Otis Redding on Christmas day. It was my first gift of the holidays. In spite of his tragically short career, Redding was considered the King of Soul and it's confirmed by this stellar Monterey Pop performance. There's a few moments in the video when he extends a note in such a way it pierces your heart. Can't touch that.

Note: Redding died at age 26; a tad too soon to gain entrance into the 27 Club. Interestingly, however, also performing at Monterey were Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin... while Brian Jones wandered through the crowd. And they, like Morrison and, later, Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain, are members of that incorporeal group of rock dignitaries who died at the tender age of 27.

Otis beat them to it.

In Memory of Otis Redding and His Revolution

Happy New Year!

(More below the jump...)

The Aftermath - A Fractured Terrain (updated thru 1/2/2025)

NEW! (12/5/2024) - For your viewing pleasure: Le Bouffon Orange (The Orange Buffoon) from the brilliant Jeremy Newberger AI collection.

NEW! (12/19/2024) - Sadly, my laptop has died and there's only so much I can do on my little phone. But, while I can't embed videos I can embed links. Here's two new must-see creations via Mr. Newberger: Musk Musk and The Snake.

New article (12/20/2/24) - Via Voice of America: Elon Musk backs German far-right party. Via the HuffPost: Democrats Wonder if Elon Musk is Trump's "Shadow President".

New article (12/28/2024): Black American and African faith leaders band together to take on Trump and White Christian nationalism.

New article (12/30/2024): Elon Musk eyes a deal with his native South Africa to let SpaceX offer Starlink service in exchange for a Tesla battery plant, report says.

New articles (1/2/25): What does Trump mean for Canadian-American relations and Canada’s fight with Trump isn’t just economic, it’s existential.

Harris and the Huckster

(Election results as of Dec. 17, 2024)(via The Hill).

Harris: 75,009,128 votes      Huckster: 77,289,764 votes

"It's a reality that needs to be examined with eyes wide open. The path on which Trump, strengthened for his second term by his party's success in the Senate, will take his country diverges fundamentally from the one charted by the United States since the end of the Second World War. It marks the end of an American era, that of an open superpower committed to the world, eager to set itself up as a democratic model. It's the famous "shining city on a hill," extolled by President Ronald Reagan. The model had been challenged over the past two decades. Now, Trump's return is putting a nail in its coffin."

 - Via Le Monde's post-election editorial: The end of an American world. Also see: 'The nightmare': Germany's media react to Trump's victory.

"'Trump promised voters that 'I alone can fix it' Ben-Ghiat recalled.

'This is reassuring to some people,' she continued, calling it 'very sad' because, throughout history, people have all eventually discovered 'that this brought disaster upon the country.'

'The illusion of competency is very important,” she added. 'That’s why they’re going to put their trust in him to solve their problems because they think he’s competent. And that’s one of the biggest scams of all.'"

- Via the Huffington Post article: Authoritarianism Expert Shatters A Trump ‘Illusion’: ‘One Of The Biggest Scams Of All’

"Based solely on precedent, the near future appears to be grim. The 2016 Trump presidency was disastrous for arts funding, diversity, and education. He issued a travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries that blocked entry for artists and arts professionals, to the outrage of the museum and university sector. Trump repeatedly attempted to defund federal arts funding; his 2018 and 2021 proposed budgets included the outright elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts (its budget in 2021 was $167.5 million, markedly low for a federal agency). The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which partially funds PBS and NPR, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services were also targets. The cultural sector, already battling for crumbs with the Trump agency, took a blow during the Covid-19 pandemic and has yet to fully recover."

- Via the Art News article: The Art World Reacts to a Second Trump Presidency

***

(November 16, 2024)

As much as I hate mixing politics with art - political discourse mars the aesthetic of this blog - every now and then I realize that it is necessary to interject personal and current events within its content to give my trips down the rabbit hole an official-world context.

As it happened, for one manic moment in time (in early October), I almost thought "reality" - a relative term used to designate what is allegedly real (although, ultimately, it fails) - was about to shift in some way... creating a brighter and more bearable zeitgeist than that which America has been experiencing for the past 9 years. This isn't to say I had "hope" (in itself, an emotional, often delusional response) but I was open to it... I could conceive of having hope. Honestly, I was beginning to envision a new cultural Renaissance... even a new World Renaissance...

(continued below the jump...)

Dark Eros & Gothic Dreams

Untitled painting, detail, 1960, Leonora Carrington. (Click to enlarge)
The full image can be found below the jump-break....

(From) Spirits of the Dead by Edgar Allen Poe

"Thy soul shall find itself alone

'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tombstone;

Not one, of all the crowd, to pry

Into thine hour of secrecy.

Be silent in that solitude,

Which is not loneliness - for then

The spirits of the dead, who stood

In life before thee, are again..."

(From) Speak, God Of Visions by Emily Brontë

"So, with a ready heart I swore

To seek their altar-stone no more;

And gave my spirit to adore

Thee, ever-present, phantom thing—

My slave, my comrade, and my king.

A slave, because I rule thee still,

Incline thee to my changeful will,

And make thy influence good or ill;

A comrade, for by day and night

Thou art my intimate delight..."

(From) Elm by Sylvia Plath

"I am inhabited by a cry.   

Nightly it flaps out

Looking, with its hooks, for something to love.

I am terrified by this dark thing   

That sleeps in me;

All day I feel its soft, feathery turnings, its malignity.

Clouds pass and disperse.

Are those the faces of love, those pale irretrievables?   

Is it for such I agitate my heart?"

(From) Letter to Sainte-Beuve and a prose poem by Charles Baudelaire

"Poet, is it an insult, or a well-turned compliment?

For regarding you I’m like a lover, to all intent,

faced with a ghost whose gestures are caresses,

with hand, eye of unknown charms, who blesses,

in order to drain one’s strength. – All loved beings

are cups of venom one drinks with eyes unseeing,

and the heart that’s once transfixed, seduced by pain,

finds death, while still blessing the arrow, every day."

"Dreams! Always dreams! And the more aspiring and fastidious the soul, the more its dreams exceed the possible. Every man has within him his dose of natural opium, endlessly secreted and renewed, and how many hours do we count, from birth to death, that are filled with positive pleasure, by successful deliberate action? Shall we ever truly live, ever enter this picture my mind has painted, this picture that resembles you?"

***

No tricks, just treats. Have a great holiday... with hidden pleasures... and mysterious treasures.

(Below:  Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex with some clips from Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride.)

(continued below...)

Higher Ground - A Meme

Devi;Vijaya Lakshmi - the Lakshmi of Victory. G - DS - 2024.

In the Hindu understanding of the cosmos, the female counterpart of Vishnu - Lakshmi - is the Devi, or goddess, of prosperity... "who is the guiding light for the world - who has obtained the sustained (continued, everlasting) glance (Grace) from Brahma."

Also: "She is often depicted sitting upon a lotus and adorned with lotus at her hands and feet. Many of her names, Padmā, Kamalā, Ambujā, refer to the lotus. The lotus has powerful symbolism in Hinduism. While its roots are in the mud, its stalk rises clearly through the murky water, with its petals blossoming above, untouched by the mud. It is a symbol of rising above the material world through divinity, of being good in the midst of negative influences."

Lakshmi was first introduced on this blog in this post. (Shyamala Gopalan didn't name her daughter Kamala Devi for nothing. She saw the future.)

***

prosperous (adj.)

synonyms: thriving, doing well, fortunate, successful, lucky, rich, vigorous, roaring, strong, productive, flourishing, booming, opulent, golden...

antonyms: depressed, poor.

- Via Google/Oxford Languages. Prosperous is a word few of us can really wrap our heads around. Why is this?

I see them every day now in southwestern Albuquerque... more of them, and more frequently: the misfortunate nomads - the darker side of the American dream - wheeling their life's belongings in shopping carts down the vacant streets with no destination... no protection, no peace. They appear to be American refugees of every description. While I was never one of them, I, too, was homeless - and, theoretically, still am - but the emergence of the new Traveler or Nomad and the plight of the disenfranchised is not a recent development. I began living in my car the year following Trump's inauguration. And, then, came the Black Hole - the Pandemic. We all know the rest.

It is true: we - none of us - can "go back"; "back" no longer exists as we once knew it.

(Continued below the jump...)

The Dürer Files: 1c. The Bees & Keys of House Barberini (Completed 10/5/2024)

Pope Urban VIII Barberini's coat-of-arms, 1600s. Geometry: 2024, DS.

"Originally from the small Tuscan town of Barberino Val d’Elsa, the Barberini family moved to the regional metropolis of Florence in the early 11th century. They grew prosperous as wool, grain and textile merchants, but later came into conflict with the powerful Medici dynasty and fled to Rome after the Medici seized control of Florence in the 1500s. This did not deter the Medici from assassinating prominent Barberini family member Francesco di Antonio, but his son Francesco di Carlo survived to see their business flourish and ultimately rose to the exalted position of papal treasurer. The family’s good fortune was to continue, and in 1623 Cardinal Maffeo Barberini was ordained Pope Urban VIII."

- Excerpt from an entertaining article about the House of Barberini from Ben's Bees. While not the most popular pope in some respects, Pope Urban was an avid supporter and collector of art. In fact, the many members of the Barberini dynasty were all great patrons of the arts, amassing an impressive collection which can be found at the Palazzo Barberini in Rome and museums throughout the world. Inset right is an example: a stunning twin-tailed mermaid or mixoparthenos - a Vitruvian mermaid, if you think about it - housed at the Met Museum in New York. Little is actually known about her for certain, but, let's face it, this bronze siren is a show-stopper and, in some odd way, she became my guide at first encounter.

"With Pope Urban VIII, Gian Lorenzo Bernini became the official artist of the court and it is to this architect and artist that we owe the creation of many objects that adorn the city centre of the capital. The Barberini family had a coat of arms that included three bees on a blue background next to a papal tiara and to the keys of St. Peter. It is no coincidence that many popes and prominent figures resorted to symbols to express their position and to emphasize their own programs and ideals. The bee has always been a symbol of hard work, dedication, and eloquence. St. Ambrose and St. Bernard of Clairvaux, both connoisseurs and propagators of the Holy Scriptures were associated with this symbol, and in hagiographic sources they are often at the centre of episodes with bees as protagonists.

- Via another informative article written by Scuola Romit regarding the mysterious Barberini family. Their coat-of-arms can also be seen on the coin inset left (above). It (and the sculpture introducing the post) may have been designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, an architect as well as a sculptor, whose grandfather was also an architect.

Regarding the coin, presumably, it was minted for or by Urban. The combination of keys and crown (the papal tiara), however, had been a generic papal emblem and ecclesiastical symbol since, at least, the 15th century. Suffice to say, it's inclusion into the Barberini coat of arms (the shield with the three bees) required a specific symmetry which is made evident by the ovoid shown in the second image (inset left).

Both examples of the coat of arms have ovoids with spirals in all 4 quadrants. I deliberately neglected to include the large pentagrams to illustrate that this ovoid is actually a combination of two smaller pentagrams as well. (See diagram inset right, below.)

"These commissioned artworks often teem with suns and bees (the Barberini family coat of arms had three bees), as also the Cortona fresco does. At one end of the sky sits the eminent solar Divine Providence, while at the other end are putto and flying maidens holding aloft the papal keys, tiara, with robe belt above a swarm of heraldic giant golden bees. Below Providence, the simulated frame crumbles. Time with a scythe seems to swallow a putto's arm. As the graceful bearer of the twelve stars that constitute Crown of Immortality is unequivocally extending it to the heraldic swarm, she earnestly looks towards Divine Providence."

- A description provided by Wiki of Italian Baroque painter, Pietro da Cortona's monumental fresco: Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power, created between 1633 and 1639, and the centerpiece of this post, as we will see.

"The big fresco is conceived as a single epic narration even though the artist decided to use a huge amount of images to fill the entire vault, painting various scenes separated in the several panels of the ceiling. The variety of the scenes which overlap and run into the vault forces the observer to move back and forth across the entire ceiling to follow the sequence of images, which are linked together, creating a constant relationship with the surroundings...  The effect is that of a recreation of reality that captivates the viewer, involving their senses and provoking their wonder. Considered from this point of view the Barberini ceiling has no precedent in the history of art and represents the blooming of a new language. The decoration of the vault confirms Cortona’s position as a great history painter. In the Rome of his days this commission conferred Cortona supremacy, which would accompany him throughout his career as a painter."

-  An astute observation via Simona Albanese - our "personal connection to Italy in the heart of Brisbane" - from her 2006 thesis submitted to the University of Auckland regarding The Triumph of Divine Providence, another name referring to Pietro da Cortona's creation.

Thus far, Albanese has written the most informative article I could find on the web regarding this masterwork. But, I will only be (geometrically addressing) a small detail of what, in terms of beauty, intricacy of design, clarity of artistic vision, and sheer magnitude of size and contour, should be classified as another Wonder of the World! Inset right is a detail of the fresco; the detail I tested is framed in red. For the full fresco, see the Albanese page, or,  my chosen image source, this fabulous Web Gallery of Art page.

***

"But, these secrets of Pythagorean-Platonic harmonic geometry, for which the golden section is, if not the keystone at least the symbolic instrument, after being loudly acclaimed publicly for a half a century, were once again obscured. Palladio and Michelangelo (and, perhaps, Gabriel) were probably the last architects to still deliberately apply the proportions produced by the golden section and the Vitruvian concepts of symmetry and eurhythmy in their works...

Only the baroque, which is generally scorned and poorly understood, continues to 'sing the cathartic geometry' in its waves of stone and stucco."

- A small excerpt from Chapter 8 of The Golden Number: Pythagorean Rites and Rhythms in the Development of Western Civilization by Matila Ghyka.

In the quote above, Matila Ghyka reminds us that the golden section was revitalized during the Baroque period. He was referring to architecture specifically but he may have been unaware of how extensively pentagonal phi was used at the time by artists and artisans alike. Of course, he did not have excess to the WWW in the 1930's... which we obviously do. How else could I find an article regarding an Italian work of art written by an academic in Brisbane? In the earlier half of the 20th century this wouldn't have been as readily possible.

That being said, even with the WWW at my fingertips I have only recently been introduced to Pietro da Cortona  and his masterpiece... and, as I've mentioned, this was revealed to me by the enigmatic golden siren. Really.

Meanwhile, in the midst of constructing this post, I came to the conclusion that the Bernini/Barberini spirals may have been the inevitable result of having to marry the 3 Barberini bees with the (given) symmetry of the Papal keys and crown symbol - possibly designed in the 1400s by an unknown artisan - which, as you can see (inset right) - has an undeniably pentagonal symmetry. For the artist, Bernini, one thing may have led to another, and an intriguing phi symmetrical relationship - the golden egg - just happened to emerge. For Bernini the architect, however, it should have been a fundamental exercise in geometry. Then again, for a magician... well, we won't speculate further.

Moving closer to the point, while the Barberini logo is the theme of this post, my sole purpose was not to interpret it. Instead, my goal was to present the subtly elegant ways in which a great artist might utilize pentagonal symmetry.

To this end, I've posted a series of details of Cortona's Triumph superimposed with the applicable pentagonal geometry. Text will be minimal. Click on any image (below the jump) to enjoy a slide show.

It begins here... with the bees...

The Dürer Files: 1b. Hendrick Goltzius & The Gods of the Golden Egg (Completed 9/14/24)

Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus (Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus Would Freeze),
1600-1603, Hendrick Goltzius. Geometry: 2024, DS.

"When Goltzius created this so-called "pen painting," which combines pen and ink and brush with oil color, it caused a sensation in Europe and was immediately purchased by Emperor Rudolf II for his collection in Prague. Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus Would Freeze, c. 1600-1603, marks the critical moment when Goltzius, the most famous draftsman and printmaker in Europe, turned to large-scale painting."

- Via the Philadelphia Museum of Art page: A Masterpiece in Focus, a short article describing the unusual painting featured above and inset left which the museum acquired in 1992. Apparently, after the Dutch artist, Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617), completed it - and Goltzius was so secretive about his methods he never allowed anyone to see his work at an incomplete stage - it was snatched up by Emperor Rudolph, the "Mad Alchemist" of Prague. There's more to add to this post regarding Rudolph, but, suffice to say, he was also an avid collector of works by Albrecht Dürer. Meanwhile, Dürer was an artist that Goltzius felt motivated to "surpass," with the same competitive enthusiasm the old Master, himself, expressed regarding the Masters of his own time. 

So, did Goltzius surpass Dürer? Well, we shall investigate. But, before we go much further, allow me to mention that my first golden egg was found in Goltzius's odd Venus painting. Of the four golden eggs I've found, this appears to have the most perfect - albeit static - form. Interestingly, it is configured with the same arrangement of pentagrams as the former golden egg found in my previous file. But, note the star's differing orientation  (inset right).

The two ovoids are very similar; in some images they are almost interchangeable. The difference is shown inset right and below with phi-shells. I favor Ovoid 1 as superior in the Venus... image, but Ovoid 2 has a few things going for it, too.

So, which is the true ovoid in this painting?

Ovoids 1 & 2

In the last analysis, it doesn't matter. For Europeans living at the turn of the 16th/17th centuries, Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus Would Freeze caused "a sensation." It seemed to possess a kind of mojo. And one thing I'm going to be asking throughout this post - the bottom line - is whether or not the presence of phi in art, specifically via the pentagram, lends the work in question a certain kind of indelible magic... and why that might be. Keep in mind Dürer's iconic Melencolia I, Botticelli's Venus, Caravaggio's Amor, or that mysterious Italian lady painted by Leonardo da Vinci.*

Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus Would Freeze is a weird (but charming) image, but it might be helpful to know something about the gods involved in this oddly luminous, intimate scene... thereby, learning a few things about Goltzius (& Dürer) as well...

Interlude with a Fallen Angel (Completed 8/26/24)

L'Ange déchu (The Fallen Angel), 1847,  Alexandre Cabanel. Geometry: 2024, DS.

"The L’Ange Dechu, or Fallen Angel, may be one of the hottest artworks ever made. A winged nude shields his face behind flexed arms. His mane of hair snaps in the wind, and brows curl over red-rimmed eyes and a tear of anger. His body is perfect. His posture appears reposed, but each muscle is flexed with potential energy. Cast from heaven—this is the moment before he rises again..."

"After his previous rejection by the salon, Cabanel submitted the Fallen Angel, the first depiction of the devil submitted by a student. If he had aimed to cause some drama, he succeeded. The salon judges were first shocked, and then displeased... “…The movement is wrong, the draughtsmanship imprecise, the execution deficient…” and on top of that, it was considered too romanticist in its style. “…That’s my reward for all the trouble I gave myself not to submit an average piece of work…” wrote Cabanel in a letter to his friend and patron Alfred Bruyas."

- Two quotes from the Obelisk article, Fallen Angel. In it we learn that while we may admire Cabanel's sexy demon today, initially the painting was trashed by exhibition authorities. The "movement" was inexplicably considered "wrong;" the rest "imprecise" and "deficient" proving that beauty (to a large degree) really does lie in the "eye of the beholder." Meanwhile, just for fun, behold this geometrical interpretation.

***

I'm not sure what inspired Alexandre Cabanel's use of the golden triangle in the image above, but, it does seem as if he had the compulsion to confine his rogue angel within the confines of one. The spiral here is almost incidental; an artifact. Moreover, the largest lunette has been left almost entirely outside of the canvas and this is very unusual.

One might deduce that this was a happy accident and the golden meme slipped into his image - as it often does - spontaneously and without the artist's notice. And, yes, it may have. But, something about the angel's posture seems slightly contrived; perhaps, this is what bothered the judges at the salon. On the other hand, Cabanel created a unique tension... as if, at any moment, the angel will spring out of his invisible enclosure. This is an illusion of action made possible by the spiral, and we can see it in the curve of the angel's wing and around his wrists and elbows and the smaller golden gnomons formed. (See diagram inset right). (Note: generally, my spirals are limited to 4 gnomons, but 6 or 7 are possible to display in the average web image.)

However, the question remains: why is the strangely vacant lunette merely implied? It's as if someone cut off a large portion of the image. Was L’Ange Dechu originally a detail of a larger painting?

In any case, I've never come across anything like it. Well, that is, until I tested another Cabanel painting... (below the jump)!