Saturday, December 31, 2011

Satyr Taxis

Fantasy ornament designs (1550s) by Cornelis Bos
- image captions below are translated/edited.
A bit.


Wagen getrokken door twee fantasiedieren...1550
Chariot of grotesques and scrollwork drawn by two fantasy animals and pushed by a satyr, whose head is trapped in a large shell. A satyr is in the car with a lighted lamp. [I]n print series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures; decorated with trophies, garlands and vines. [1550]



Voor op de wagen staat een sater...1550
Chariot of grotesques and scrollwork (series title).

Chariot pulled by a fantasy beast (?like a goat) -- the chariot has a seated woman and four satyrs, one of the satyrs on the front of the car is holding a mask in his hand, without a name. [1550]



Voorop zit een man met een lans...1552
Frieze with chariots of grotesques and roll and fittings work with figures and animals, decorated with garlands and vines (series title)

Car containing a woman, pushed by a man and pulled by a man riding on the back of a bear. A man with a lance sits in the front. Behind the back of the woman is a monkey. Belongs to series of 4 prints. [1552]



De wagen wordt getrokken door...1552
Frieze with chariots of grotesques and roll and fittings work with figures and animals, decorated with garlands and vines (series title) [1552]

The car is pulled by two men and a goat, which runs between them. Belongs to series of 4 prints.



De wagen wordt voortbewogen...1550
Chariot of grotesques and scrollwork (series title)

The car is propelled by three satyrs with saucer-shaped chins. [From a] series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures, decorated with trophies, garlands and vines. [1550]



De constructie rust op een schildpad...1550
The structure rests on a turtle. [From a] series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures, decorated with trophies, garlands and vines. [1550]



De wagen wordt getrokken door...1550
A man and woman are seated in a car pulled by a satyr and pushed by two men, all caught in the frame. [From a] series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures, decorated with trophies, garlands and vines.




De wagen beweegt voort over water...1550
The vehicle is moved through the water by a paddle wheel. Two satyrs pull, two women push. [From a] series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures, decorated with trophies, garlands and vines.



De vrouw zit in een lus van rolwerk...1552
The woman sits in a loop of scrollwork in a cart pushed by 2 men. A woman riding on a deer leads the way. [1550]



Achter de schildpad zit een vrouw...1552
Frieze with chariots of grotesques and roll and fittings work with figures and animals, decorated with garlands and vines (series title)

Behind the turtle is a woman with a stick. Another woman holds a dog's ears in front of her. The car is pushed by a dog and two men. Belongs to series of 4 prints. [1552]



De voorste sater loopt tussen...1550
The front satyr runs between two plates. [From a] series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures, decorated with trofeeëen, garlands and vines.



Achterop zitten drie saters... 1550
Three satyrs with heads and hands locked in the rear bogie. A male sits under a trellis in the vehicle. The chariot is pulled by 2 bulls and a satyr. [From a] series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures, decorated with trophies, garlands and vines. [1550]



Bacchus 1600 to 1699
2-part picture. A procession in honor of the god Bacchus who sits in a chariot. And a procession to the temple with his satyrs and putti and others elated with feasting and dancing. Some play on flutes and tambourines, others carrying sticks or jars with grapes and vines with them.




In the absence of a handy academic storyline to explain the hallucinogenic excesses of **mannerist** ornament, I'm choosing to believe that this array of 'transport' is the mid-16th century equivalent of a bloated movie franchise: the one sequel too many inadvertently became a parody of itself.

These designs are essentially riffing on a seminal technological, artistic and mythological motif from throughout recorded history: the chariot, which was first developed in the Middle East in about 2000 to 3000 BC.
"The chariot, driven by a charioteer, was used for ancient warfare during the bronze and the iron ages. Armor was limited to a shield. The vehicle was used for travel and in processions, games, and races after it had been superseded by other vehicles for military purposes." [W]

"One of the culminating battles of chariotry came early in the 13th century B.C., when armies of the Hittites and Egyptians clashed on the plains of northern Syria at Kadesh. Muwatallis II, the Hittite king, deployed a force of 3,500 chariots, and Ramses II is supposed to have countered in kind, but the battle seems to have ended in a stalemate. By the end of that century, as armies learned to blunt the attacks with swarming infantry and later cavalry, the age of the chariot as a weapon drew to a close. The high-speed vehicle was reduced to roles in sport and regal parades." [source]

For the sake of brevity we fast forward to Roman times when the ceremony of the Roman Triumph (sanctification of military honour) involved parading of the celebrated hero through the city streets on a chariot. This would seem to be the true origin for the establishment of the chariot as an important iconographic symbol for elevating/feting/honouring/celebrating either man or God in drama and art (mythological in particular : see the final image, pertaining to Bacchus, above).

The chariot, as a symbolic cultural element, followed various paths down through history, from the pageantry and Joyous Entries associated with the festivals of the 16th/17th centuries to parodies in Fractured Fairytale cartoons in the 1960s, by way of polar examples.

My personal view - apply skepticism as necessary - is that the designs above by Cornelis Bos are much less concerned with adding to the visual language of pageantry (or even ornament) than they are with satirising the Renaissance festival culture itself. Ornament that once adorned the embellished chariots and floats of the festival scene has come alive here not as secondary decoration but as the primary focus. The abstracted grotesque figures and mythological details propel our 'taxis' - the almost irrelevant, bizarre land and water transport frames - forward.

Doubtless, art historians would observe these ornamental fantasies and line up to expand on the projected meanings from analysis of allegorical features and symbology. They are welcome to it. I prefer to see the simple, humorous mockery of artistic forebears by the emerging talents of a new movement. Mannerist Fractured Fairytales, if you will.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Oscar Sanmartin Vargas

All images below © Oscar Sanmartin
{posted here with permission}


El Planeta Hermetico
El Planeta Hermetico



El-Hotel-Maelstron
El Hotel Maelstron



Nadal-Baronio
Nadal Baronio



EL-EFECTO-LUPA-El-Niño-Gusano-1995
El Efecto Lupa El Niño Gusano 1995



Funeral
Funeral



Ritual-de-Fecundidad
Ritual de Fecundidad



El-Faro-de-Alesia
El Faro de Alesia



Composicion-Digital-3
Composicion Digital 3



Mercado-Medievál-2012
Mercado Medievál 2012



Leyendario-Cubierta
Leyendario Cubierta




Preview of book, 'Leyendario: Criaturas de Agua' 2007
{*Legendary Creatures of the Water*}
Text: Óscar Sipán :: Illustrations: Oscar Sanmartin



Study for diorama
[Study for diorama]



Diorama-3-45x54x14-cms.-2000
Diorama 3



Diorama-5-45x54x14-cms.-2000
Diorama 5



All images © Oscar Sanmartin - posted here with permission.


Oscar Sanmartin (Vargas) (b. 1972) is a mixed-media artist from Zaragoza (Spain). On his website you will find a collection of his box-dioramas, absurdist, surreal bio-etchings and paintings and faux retro collage-esque works, book illustrations and commercial art pieces. Marvellous stuff. {Oscar's BLOG}


Other related sites: one, two, three.

UPDATE: Oscar is now on Twitter : @SanmartinVargas

Saturday, December 24, 2011

On The Nile

On the Nile - titlepage 1874



On the Nile - Alexandria - (camel train adjacent to river)



On the Nile - Shébook in the Cabin- camels
“After getting astride of the saddle, comes motion No. 1, which is caused by the animal raising his hind quarters from the ground; this throws you forward, and you lose both your hat and your balance : then comes motion No. 2, which corresponds to motion No. 1, but with the front quarters; this motion throws the traveller as far backward as he was thrown forward before.

These two motions leave the animal and the traveller neither fairly up nor altogether down ; and it requires another motion, No. 3, to bring fore and hind quarters, together with the hump and other adjacent portions, to a “perpendicular;” which act, when accomplished, leaves the rider on the animal’s hump, provided he has clung to the saddle with sufficient tenacity. After the first mount the whole matter is simplified.“




On the Nile - Shébook in the Cabin vignettes (beggar, people on horses etc)



On the Nile - Shébook in the Cabin- whirling dervish



On the Nile - Alexandria vignettes (hookah, groups of people adjacent to river)



On the Nile - Paris to Marseilles vignettes (horse drawn carriage, sedan chair, boat)



On the Nile - Paris to Marseilles vignettes - large passenger + luggage transfer rowboat



On the Nile - Paris to Marseilles vignettes (jeweller, crowds, veiled woman etc)



On the Nile - Under the Awning - beggar, ostrich etc



On the Nile - Under the Awning - boat, gun etc



On the Nile - Mohammed Citabo and Mohammed Wergan - people in temple



On the Nile - Alexandria - camel and resting rider

"In the early nineteenth century a trip to Egypt and up the Nile aboard a native dhahabîyeh (large sailing craft) was reserved for only the most adventurous traveler, or howadji, a Turkish word originally meaning 'merchant' or 'shopkeeper'. Howadji soon became a term applied by local inhabitants to all foreign travelers." [Source: Smithsonian exhibit: Nile Notes of a Howadji]

"Augustus Hoppin [W] left his law profession in 1848 to study art and pursue a career as an illustrator. He became quite successful and widely known for his illustrations for novels. In 1873, he embarked on a extensive tour of Egypt and soon followed his adventure with a fully illustrated book, On the Nile. The accompanying narrative disturbingly captures the narrow, patronizing, and prejudiced views of Anglo travelers during the Victorian period, especially toward those from Middle Eastern culture and religion. Scattered about are illustrations describing more lighthearted amusing moments during the trip[..]. [source/via]

'On The Nile' by Augustus Hoppin (1874) is available from Widener Library at Harvard University.

The scratchy, engraved vignettes contain a lot of interesting/humorous detail.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Liber Floridus

These images come from the fabled manuscript, 'Liber Floridus' (Book of Flowers), a Medieval encyclopædia produced some 900 years ago by Lambert, Canon of St Omer, in the NE France/Flanders/Belgium region.
"For Lambert the encyclopedia is a heavenly meadow where the “flowers of literature” flourish together to attract faithful readers by their sweetness."


Liber Floridus - Lion



Liber Floridus - devil bull



Liber Floridus - dragon



Liber Floridus - griffin



Liber Floridus - Arbor Palmaru



Liber Floridus - geneology tree



Liber Floridus - plants



Liber Floridus - city



Liber Floridus - Globus Terre



Liber Floridus - Europe map



Liber Floridus - cosmos



Liber Floridus - Octavian Augustus



Liber Floridus - Noah's ark



{Some of these page and detail images were spliced together from screenshots, but I didn't go to the trouble, in most instances, of generating very large images; click through to adequately enlarged versions. Mouseover above for approximated image titles}


The 'Liber Floridus' is essentially a compilation of extracts from nearly two hundred late Classical and early Medieval works by authors such as Isidore of Seville, Orosius, Julius Honorius, Pomponius Mela, Solinus, Venerable Bede, Rabanus Maurus, Pseudo-Callisthenes and Martianus Capella. There are, unsurprisingly, biblical dimensions to the manuscript, including a description of the Apocalypse, and the final illustration above depicts Noah's Ark, for instance.

Lambert's manuscript was completed in his own hand by ~1120 and is regarded as the first encyclopædia of the High Middle Ages. It chronicles the history of the world and describes the cosmos and man's place in the greater whole. Lambert's personal contribution to the work was confined to the fields of cosmography, geography and cartography.

The copious illustrations and idiosyncratic maps ensured that the manuscript came to be regarded as a classic, and up to eight extant copies of 'Liber Floridus' may have survived. [Three contemporary manuscripts exist: Ghent {MS 92} is the original {some of the ending is missing}; and mid-12th c. copies are located at Paris and Wolfenbüttel - these later copies weren't produced by Lambert's hand and contain full mappa mundi-type world maps]

"A medieval encyclopedia has little in common with the modern form of encyclopedia that we know. [..]

Instead of an alphabetical order and rational classification, a medieval encyclopedia has an organic structure. Knowledge is embedded in the images showing the world – a so-called ‘world view’. [..]

Many of these encyclopedias were intended to be used as didactic tools in convent and cathedral schools and, later, in universities. The Liber Floridus was probably used for teaching at the chapter school. The few entries in the Liber Floridus which Lambert did not write himself are assumed to have been done by his pupils."
After some modest reading around on the web, I have come to the conclusion that delving into the cartography - the most interesting aspect of the MS, in my view - is beyond the scope of this post. The various commentaries are more ambiguous than enlightening, because it's hard to properly identify the maps and editions under discussion. Nevertheless, I very much recommend examining the maps (and the rest of the MS) in the rather tolerable high resolution zoom frame at the source site. This manuscript - of about 300 folio leaves - is a real treat to look at closely.