Last time on As the World Turns (Around Marie de’ Medici),
her hubby Henry presented her with a disappointing representation of imperial
domination in the form of a small orb.
This time things get real, with her actual coronation to become Queen of
France.
Besides my pop-cultural training that immediately makes me
expect the cardinals in red to leap forward and shout, “NOBODY expects the
Spanish inquisition!”, a few things are noteworthy in this painting.
First, apparently royal coronations were pet-friendly
affairs. These dogs are practically on
the dais, in position to jump and wee with joy on the new queen’s impressive
blue train at a moment’s notice. I
think they are hoping that someone will throw the Orb of Royal Power so they
can fetch it.
Next, while most of the crowd is raptly watching the
coronation proceedings, in the back there are a couple of guys who look about
ready to start a brawl.
Maybe this was the early equivalent of sport hooliganism,
and the supporters of opposing would-be regents are going to go at it?
Perhaps most striking, however, is the pair of angels that
have entered the proceedings riding on weather patterns that are unusual for the typical
indoor event. Furthermore, they are
dumping gold over the crowd.
And almost NOBODY PAYS ATTENTION TO THIS.
Now, if this were meant to be a symbolic representation of
divine sanction of the new queen, raining divine bounty upon her invisible to
the masses, that would be one thing.
But there are some people looking up and desperately scrabbling
for the golden showers.
Ah, but are you sure the angelic largesse is gold coins rather than chocolates wrapped in yellow foil? A tasty treat is not to be sniffed at, but it's not something you want to be scrambling for when you're wearing a funny hat.
ReplyDeleteThis is true. And there is a large possibility of tripping and being smothered by all of the fabric in the room while trying to get it.
DeleteThere's a lot of fabric in that room.
ReplyDeleteThe real downfall of French royalty: spending 100% of national income on nice cloaks.
DeleteHuh, gold is quite heavy, you'd think they'd be upset about having little winged hoodlums chucking it at their heads.
ReplyDeleteWell, if you're going to have something chucked at you, it may as well be gold coins.
DeleteAs an Leading Industry Expert in the field, I'm 93% certain that the left-most dog in the foreground has moist flatulence and is checking whether he needs to go outside or anything. The other hound is thinking (82% certainty factor, guaranteed) "bugger me, what a palaver" and "Oh I say, Cyril, do you perhaps need to go outside?".
ReplyDeleteCurious lack of depth perspective in this one. Queenie is having her head ripped off by some old Popey-figure in gold and yet she seems to also be in alignment with the two red-clobbered Inquisitors. Were these two perhaps cardboard cut-outs?
The Cardinals had busy schedules. Cardboard cutouts greatly improved official Church presence at grand events.
DeleteI love the casual guy in the red skirt and heels in front completely ignoring that he stands only a few feet away from the queen. Or maybe he's turning his head because of the stinky dogs. Or maybe he's a guard and happened to notice that brawl starting. But I think I'd like to image that he is just that blase over the whole thing.
ReplyDelete"Le Sigh," he thinks, "Another coronation. Another queen to boss me around."
All of those things sound plausible. It was tough with all of these foreign queens coming in, bringing in an influx of unusually rich winged immigrants to throw off societal balance.
DeleteHow does no one take notice of the freaking angels dropping freaking gold on them?!? "Golden showers" made me chuckle. Well done. I noticed a lady on the far left, now I don't know if it's shadowing, but she kind of looks like she has a Hitler mustache.
ReplyDeleteI had not noticed Lady Hitler! But now I can't un-notice her. Thanks for that.
DeleteThe queen is about to be coronated, and that dog is going in for a butt lick! How regal.
ReplyDeleteAss-licking dogs at the coronation, hmm. Maybe Rubens was slipping in more symbolism and social commentary than the queen realized...?
DeleteI think you may have just revived my interest in art. I can just imagine the Queen being coronated while angry crowds shouted obscenities outside and a dog awaited to poop on her new dress. Awesome!
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I have to say the painter probably put the dogs there as a way to silently stick it to the Medici. If I remember correctly, they weren't terribly popular with the people they ruled but they did sponsor the arts so artists had no choice but to be nice to them or starve.
Well, Rubens seems to have gone out of his way to not include anything offensive. There are dogs in several of these paintings, which Wikipedia claims represent things like fidelity. But I do like the idea of it as a subtle message about the new Queen's personality!
DeleteI like that one of the dogs seems to be sniffing its own butt. That's great attention to detail and shows the painter knows dogs well.
ReplyDeleteRealism is very important in paintings like this.
Delete