What are you reading Anna<\/p>\n
It is a book about Caravaggio<\/p>\n
Do you like his work or does the man fascinate you<\/p>\n
Both<\/p>\n
He was a complex artist and man and I believe he once killed someone<\/p>\n
Rather like Outlaw<\/p>\n
Outlaw has never killed anyone<\/p>\n
I agree but he tells me that he kills people in his thoughts each day<\/p>\n
Don’t we all<\/p>\n
Speak for yourself<\/p>\n
I think that people such as Caravaggio\u00a0 and maybe Outlaw have a strong life drive that is what creates them and without that they would go stale<\/p>\n
Do they realise that<\/p>\n
Very much and I believe that they are rather terrified of losing it<\/p>\n
I like this painting what is it called<\/p>\n
The Martyrdom of St Ursula it was his final work and maybe one of his most haunting<\/p>\n
Why is that<\/p>\n
If you look at the figure directly behind Ursula the chap who is staring upwards that is the artist himself<\/p>\n
To me there is a look of resignation on his face<\/p>\n
He is facing death<\/p>\n
How did he die<\/p>\n
From a fever rather like Byron<\/p>\n
But he had been weakened by a severe beating the year beforehand outside of a restaurant after getting into an argument<\/p>\n
This forced him to stay in Naples to convalesce I believe<\/p>\n
This book notes that the figures around Ursula are totally shocked at her senseless slaughter and yes they are but Caravaggio is different as he appears to staring into a void<\/p>\n
It is a haunting painting<\/p>\n
What is the story of Ursula<\/p>\n
It is the usual story of blood and gore<\/p>\n
It seems that she was an English princess who sailed from this island along with eleven thousand virginal handmaidens<\/p>\n
Well to cut a long story short Ursula decides to go on a pilgrimage but she runs into the Huns who were besieging Cologne which is not good news as Ursula is quite beautiful and the fairest of them all<\/p>\n
The Huns were a warlike race were they not<\/p>\n
Very much<\/p>\n
You are aware of my thoughts about race Anna some races are more warlike than others<\/p>\n
I believe in the natural order of things<\/p>\n
Not everybody is equal<\/p>\n
This is so obvious to anybody who opens their eyes<\/p>\n
Even to this very day one can see this<\/p>\n
Sometimes the savages conquer but they are always crushed in the long run<\/p>\n
That is the way God works<\/p>\n
Eleven thousand virgins seems to be rather fantastic<\/p>\n
It is there were most likely only eleven<\/p>\n
It just makes the tale seem larger and more striking<\/p>\n
Well going back to the story all the virgins are slaughtered by the Huns but their leader was very attracted to fair Ursula and her modesty and beauty and begs for forgiveness<\/p>\n
He asks her to marry him but she refuses and like any savage he kills her<\/p>\n
What I love about the work is the look of mild astonishment on Ursula face as she looks at the shaft sticking out of her chest<\/p>\n
Caravaggio captures this so well<\/p>\n
In a way it reminds me of a scene from Aguirre Wrath of God when Aguirre’s daughter is wounded by an arrow<\/p>\n
She denies that the arrow has mortally wounded her<\/p>\n
She denies its existence as she dies<\/p>\n
She knows that this is the beginning and not the end<\/p>\n
This scene always brings tears to my eyes<\/p>\n
I would say that along with Kaos this one of the most dreamlike movies ever made<\/p>\n
It is an absolute masterpiece<\/p>\n
Aguirre always reminds me of the line from Shakespeare’s Richard the Third<\/p>\n
No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n But I know none and therefore am no beast<\/em><\/p>\n Anna do you realise that there is only one church dedicated to Saint Ursula in the UK<\/p>\n It is located in Wales at Llangwyryfon<\/p>\n The name of the village is derived from the tale<\/p>\n Llan is Welsh for church and the gwyrddon are the eleven thousand virgins who were slaughtered alongside Ursula<\/p>\n How did you know this<\/p>\n My father was born in the village<\/p>\n He told me the story when I was very young<\/p>\n And what of Caravaggio<\/p>\n Well as I told you he is reported to have died of fever and had probably been weakened by the savage beating he received as in the July of 1610 he set off by boat to receive a pardon from the Pope as he had been involved in the death of a young man in a duel<\/p>\n But he never received that pardon as he died at Porto Ercole on the coast north of Rome<\/p>\n How do you know all of this Anna<\/p>\n That’s easy<\/p>\n Explain<\/p>\n It is all here in the book<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What are you reading Anna It is a book about Caravaggio Do you like his work or does the man fascinate you Both He was a complex artist and man and I believe he once killed someone Rather like Outlaw Outlaw has never killed anyone I agree but he tells me that he kills people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10358"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10362,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10358\/revisions\/10362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}