Banquet Scene with a Lute Player by Nicolas Tournier, 1625
Characters, left to right
Nicolas Tournier, French Baroque painter, 1590-1639
la Serveuse (waitress)
Claudio Monteverdi, Italian opera composer, 1567-1643
Sybille de la Tour, Georges's younger sister
Georges de la Tour, French Baroque painter, 1593-1652
Monteverdi: Now, do you see changing from the major key of C to the key of A minor creates an entirely different mood? And if you were to use a more agitated tempo, the mood changes once again?
de la Tour (who has been playing the lute to please his guests): Nicolas, don't you feel we're doing the same thing with light? Placing some characters in darkness and others in light reveals something of the soul of those characters?
Tournier: Exactly. It gives a contemplative feel to the painting.
de la Tour: You know, Pascal says in his Pensees that the beginning and end are concealed from man in an impenetrable secret. When we paint shrouds of black, that is the unaware blindness; when we paint streams of light, that is the illuminated consciousness.
Sybille: I feel as though I am in the light, that I am aware, and that this sense of enlightenment is only heightened by looking through the eye loup at the ray of light beaming down on me.
Magpie Tales is the vision of Tess Kincaid. If you would like to participate, just post your poem or vignette--based on Tess Kincaid's photo prompt--on your blog and link back to http://www.magpietales.blogspot.com.
An intriguing interaction between the characters in the painting! Very creative and clever!
ReplyDeleteThat was excellent, Margaret. You should be a play writer. :) Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteI love how you describe the personalities of the characters through the painting. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI love the story!The quote from Pensees is thoughtful and thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteOhhhhhh nicely done!
ReplyDeleteWow. I see it through your eyes. Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent analysis.
ReplyDeleteThis is my second visit here, but it won't be my last. Your pieces crackle with intelligence without being presumptuous. This was fascinating and educational. Vb
ReplyDeleteIs Sybille sending up the others' learned conversation? It's wonderfully uncertain, I think.
ReplyDeleteWonderful, thought provoking. I know nothing of art techniques so I was leaning in to my screen, reading. I assume you are educating us about art theory? Loved it, really.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gemma! I see we both dug up major players of the 17th century! Galileo was perfect with the eye loup and religious tension... xo
ReplyDeleteTthanks, Grammy! Every time I see this painting now, I can only envision the future Queen. You are so right! xo
ReplyDeleteThanks, Choices! It's fun! You should try it: http://www.magpietales.blogspot.com. xo
ReplyDeleteThanks, Paintdiva Kathleen! Pascal fit the time (the Age of Reason), so I tried to work up a dialogue among the major players using the philosophy of Pascal. Looking back, I wouldn't have made it so stilted! xo
ReplyDeleteThanks, Helen! A lot of different takes on this painting! Your food critic was very original! xo
ReplyDeleteThanks, Thingy! I think we both defined the five characters, but yours were so much wittier! xo
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anthony! xo
ReplyDeleteWhat a treat to have sat at the table and eavesdropped with these clever and creative personnages. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Versebender! I liked how you fast-forwarded your poem to the present! Hysterical and rollicking as the 17th century must have been! xo
ReplyDeleteHi Dr. Faustus! (Your avatar just makes me see this!) Because Sybille is the only person in full spotlight, she gets to be the enlightened one! :) xo
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ann! I guess I basically started with the 17th century, what was going on then, and who the players were. Your beautiful verse took me back there, too, both in lifestyle and language. It was the Age of Reason with new ideas emerging in every artform. Monteverdi discovered that musical variations could evoke different emotions. This artist, Tournier, de la Tour, and some Caravaggio and Rembrandt used light and darkness to do something of the same. Pascal's Pensees seem to be using this metaphor of light and darkness, too. Gemma at Greyscale Territory incorporated Galileo and his discovery that the world in fact revolved around the sun and not vice versa. It's fun, isn't it? :) xo
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lynne! In your lycee, did you have a series of French books by century? I liked them because they put everything and everyone in context. Who would be the personnages at table today? Lady Gaga, Charlie Sheen, Stephen Hawking, Isabel Allende??? xo
ReplyDeleteI love the philosophical conversation you've initiated by the prompt of this great painting. It relates so well to this particular painting, the act of painting in general, and a kind of symbolism used in visual forms of communication. Very enlightened and enlightening!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stickup! I think it's interesting that at that particular time in history the major artists/musicians/philosophers were drawing heavily on the contrast between light and shadow: an analogy for good v. evil, enlightenment v. ignorance? What will our time be remembered for?! :) xo
ReplyDeletequite creative magpie.
ReplyDeletelove your thoughtfulness.
So wonderfully creative! Love the depth.
ReplyDeleteLove this - completely original approach on this week's prompt.
ReplyDelete