Chiron
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
(Difference between revisions)
| Revision as of 09:16, 22 November 2009 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Current revision Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| - | + | In [[Greek mythology]], '''Chiron''' or '''Cheiron''' or '''Kheiron''' ("hand") was held as the superlative [[centaur]] among his brethren. Like the [[satyrs]], centaurs were notorious for being overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents, each Centaur was also wild and lusty. Chiron, by contrast, was intelligent, civilized and kind. | |
| - | + | ||
| - | '''''Pallas and the Centaur''''' is a painting by the [[Italy|Italian]] [[Renaissance]] painter [[Sandro Botticelli]], circa 1482. It is housed in the [[Uffizi]] of [[Florence]]. The painting was discovered in 1895. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | An inventory dating from 1499, which was not discovered until 1975, lists the property of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco and his brother Giovanni and states that in the 15th century the ''[[Primavera (Botticelli)|Primavera]]'' had been displayed in Florence's city palace, and that the painting of "[[Athena|Pallas]] and the [[Centaur]]" (though the title is conventional) was hung above a door in the same room as the former. The [[Medici]] commission is showed by the presence of three rings interwoven on the dress of Pallas. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | The painting's bare landscape focuses one's gaze on the two figures. A centaur has trespassed on forbidden territory. This lusty being, half horse and half man, is being brought under control by a guard-nymph armed with a shield and halberd, and she has grabbed him by the hair. The woman has been identified both as the goddess Pallas Athena and the [[Amazons|Amazon]] Camilla, chaste heroine of [[Virgil|Virgil's]] ''[[Aeneid]]''. What is undisputed is the moral content of the painting, in which virtue is victorious over sensuality through the use of reason. The two parts of the human soul, reason and instinct fighting one another, are represented by the double nature of the centaur. The latter, whose classical epithet is [[Chiron]] was maybe inspired by some classic relief, though the pathetic expression is wholly by Botticelli. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | This painting marks the end of Botticelli's Medicean period, from this point onwards the subject-matter of his paintings changes and becomes increasingly religious. | + | |
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Current revision
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
In Greek mythology, Chiron or Cheiron or Kheiron ("hand") was held as the superlative centaur among his brethren. Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents, each Centaur was also wild and lusty. Chiron, by contrast, was intelligent, civilized and kind.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Chiron" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
