art appreciation, and it appreciates me back
Today's Sunday New York Times has a special page on "ART" -- this is true! The purpose appears to be slagging Frans Hals, not sure why, but the vehicle used for the Hals-bashing is his painting "Merrymakers at Shrovetide."
What is Shrovetide, I ask myself, and why am I not celebrating it? SHROVETIDE. I love it. I see the ocean receding, or not, with...shroves...all around. I look up Shrovetide on Wikipedia, and find that, and this is also true, another name for it is PANCAKE DAY. "On Pancake Day, pancake races are held in villages and towns across the United Kingdom."
Even curiouser, "shrove" is not in the dictionary. It is NOT A WORD. But I am getting off topic because the NYT article mentions that Hals's Shrovetide painting includes the "stock" characters of Pekelharing (pickled herring) and Hans Worst (John Sausage). Hans has sausages dangling from his hat. Pekelharing has "golden fish dangling from his right shoulder." This is not made up!
I give the last word to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art:
"Pekelharing wears a garland of Shrovetide victuals, including salted herring and mussels, which symbolized the male and female genitals, respectively. Eggs, also present in the garland, were considered an aphrodisiac and symbolized male prowess or, when cracked (as here), impotence. The figure wears a pig's trotter, symbol of gluttony, at his waist. Sausages dangle from Hans Worst's cap and are also on the table, which is strewn with an array of items alluding to "male" and "female" forms. The abundance of phallic imagery coupled with the obscene gestures of the figures made this image too lewd for the average household."
What is Shrovetide, I ask myself, and why am I not celebrating it? SHROVETIDE. I love it. I see the ocean receding, or not, with...shroves...all around. I look up Shrovetide on Wikipedia, and find that, and this is also true, another name for it is PANCAKE DAY. "On Pancake Day, pancake races are held in villages and towns across the United Kingdom."
Even curiouser, "shrove" is not in the dictionary. It is NOT A WORD. But I am getting off topic because the NYT article mentions that Hals's Shrovetide painting includes the "stock" characters of Pekelharing (pickled herring) and Hans Worst (John Sausage). Hans has sausages dangling from his hat. Pekelharing has "golden fish dangling from his right shoulder." This is not made up!
I give the last word to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art:
"Pekelharing wears a garland of Shrovetide victuals, including salted herring and mussels, which symbolized the male and female genitals, respectively. Eggs, also present in the garland, were considered an aphrodisiac and symbolized male prowess or, when cracked (as here), impotence. The figure wears a pig's trotter, symbol of gluttony, at his waist. Sausages dangle from Hans Worst's cap and are also on the table, which is strewn with an array of items alluding to "male" and "female" forms. The abundance of phallic imagery coupled with the obscene gestures of the figures made this image too lewd for the average household."