Tuesday 26 February 2013

It's Tough to Be the Queen - Part 8


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.



This would seem to imply that it is a thing that is actually happening in the room, and 90% of the people just don’t think indoor cloud formations with winged beings throwing around cash money is worth noticing.

18 comments:

  1. 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.

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    1. This 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.

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  2. Replies
    1. The real downfall of French royalty: spending 100% of national income on nice cloaks.

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  3. Huh, gold is quite heavy, you'd think they'd be upset about having little winged hoodlums chucking it at their heads.

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    1. Well, if you're going to have something chucked at you, it may as well be gold coins.

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  4. As 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?".

    Curious 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?

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    1. The Cardinals had busy schedules. Cardboard cutouts greatly improved official Church presence at grand events.

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  5. I 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.

    "Le Sigh," he thinks, "Another coronation. Another queen to boss me around."

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    1. 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.

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  6. How 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.

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    1. I had not noticed Lady Hitler! But now I can't un-notice her. Thanks for that.

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  7. The queen is about to be coronated, and that dog is going in for a butt lick! How regal.

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    1. Ass-licking dogs at the coronation, hmm. Maybe Rubens was slipping in more symbolism and social commentary than the queen realized...?

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  8. I 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!

    Although, 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.

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    1. 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!

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  9. I 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.

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    1. Realism is very important in paintings like this.

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