Composing

Florent Schmitt composed the music for "La Tragedie de Salome," famous for its dance of the seven veils. Loie Fuller starred in the title role when the ballet was first performed in 1907. Schmitt revised his score and Nicholas Guerra did the choreography for Natasha Trouhanova in 1912. Ballets Russes staged a version of Salome in 1913, choreographed by Boris Romanov and starring Tamara Karsavina. Russian artist Serge Sudeikin designed the sets and costumes.

  

For a modern version of Salome, follow my link to Youtube where you may view a small portion of the ballet performed at the Marinsky Theater.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYzozPia6nE

 

Flori Van Acker, Affiche voor de Exposition d'Art Ancien in het Gruuthusemuseum, 1905

Collectie Prentenkabinet Musea Brugge

The Washington County Courthouse is the name of a current courthouse and that of a historic one in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County. The historic building, built in 1905, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The historic courthouse is the fifth building to serve Washington County, with the prior buildings located near the Old Post Office on the Historic Square.[2] The building is one of the prominent historic buildings that compose the Fayetteville skyline, in addition to Old Main.

 

A new building was acquired in 1989 to better serve Washington County's county administration needs. The present-day courthouse is located at the intersection of College Avenue and Dickson Street, just north of historic building. Most county offices are located in the new building, with the historic courthouse serving as a repository for county records.

 

Washington County was established on October 17, 1828 by the Arkansas General Assembly.[3] The county seat was established at Washington, which was later renamed Fayetteville after confusion with Washington, Arkansas in South Arkansas.

 

Planning

This historic courthouse first became a reality when County Judge Millard Berry was elected into office in 1900. He was aware of the need for a new courthouse, and when the Courthouse and Jail Committee of the Levying Court deemed the current 1868 brick courthouse "unfitted for the business of the county, unsafe and not worthy of repair", the Judge proposed raising money for a new building. In 1902, the City of Fayetteville passed a resolution giving $5,000 to the Courthouse Sinking Fund in exchange for office space within the new building, a 99-year rental of the Fayetteville Public Square, and an agreement to build the courthouse 1½ blocks away from the Square.[4] The courthouse was eventually built along the former Butterfield Overland Mail route near a former stagecoach stop. The route had been instrumental in growing Fayetteville in the mid–1800s.

 

Judge Berry fell ill with typhoid fever while investigating surrounding Arkansas and Missouri courthouses, and appointed J.H. McIlroy to proceed with the building. In 1904, McIlroy acquired the services of Little Rock architect Charles L. Thompson, who had already worked on many buildings in the Little Rock area. The budget for the courthouse was increased to $100,000, but was contracted for slightly less to George Donaghey of Conway.

  

Courtroom in which circuit court first met in April 1905.

Construction

The cornerstone was laid on October 1, 1904, with over 2,000 people attending the ceremony. A time capsule, containing coins, documents and newspapers was also set.[5] Limestone was brought in from Carroll and Madison Counties, furniture and carpets were purchased from the People's Furniture Store of Fayetteville, a water system was installed by Fayetteville Water Company, and a new septic system was installed by Duggan Brothers.[4] Smoking was prohibited, and spittoons were placed throughout in the interest of preserving the building. A typewriter was used for record keeping. Circuit court first met in the courthouse in April 1905, weeks prior to the official opening on May 4.

 

Early use

The courthouse had many construction problems in its early years, including the closing of the hydraulic elevator, rotting of basement floorboards, birds in the bell tower, and eventually too many occupants. After relations and space grew tighter, the County Judge ordered the sheriff to evict all City of Fayetteville workers from their offices in 1927. The city appealed to the Circuit Judge, who sided with the County. The Fayetteville-occupied offices were emptied by 1928, but structural problems continued to plague the building. After repairing the roof three times in the 1920s, the courthouse's structural problems began to fall out of official record. The 1934 Quorum Court meetings took place in the Arkansas National Guard Armory immediately to the south between the courthouse and the County Jail, possibly due to courthouse structural problems kept quiet by the Great Depression.

  

The clock steeple was removed in 1965 and returned by helicopter in 1974. The clock face is now illuminated.

The Works Progress Administration praised the courthouse during a 1936 audit, mentioning the tidy offices and public access to records. The WPA also warned that record space was dwindling, as the vaults were almost full. This was partially due to heroic actions during the Civil War, when county records were stored in a cave near Black Oak while the second courthouse was burned. As a result, Washington County held more records than most counties in the area.[4] A 1945 proposal to construct a new courthouse was voted down by citizens who pointed out that Washington County still owed money to George Donaghey from the 1904 construction, and felt the current building was not being maximized.

 

County Judge Witt Carter ordered the front steps of the courthouse be moved in 1947 to enable the widening and straightening of College Avenue (U.S. Route 71B). The following year, a grand jury reproached the county for poorly maintaining the structure, including unsanitary bathrooms, fire traps, attic storage, and using the boiler room as storage. The roof was repaired again, and the courthouse again had complaints about too little space.

 

Later use

Parking became scarce in the 1950s and County Judge Arthur Martin attempted to raise support for a new courthouse and jail. The grand jury returned to cite a non-fireproof vault, poor heating/cooling systems, dangerous electrical systems, inadequate office space, and records in hallways, outdoor porches, or missing. The following year, the clock tower "steeple" was deemed dangerous and was removed. Washington County purchased the adjacent National Guard Armory in December 1968. The courthouse began incremental improvements under County Judge Vol Lester, who was instrumental to the National Register of Historic Places listing the property in 1972. The county took advantage of federal programs to build a bomb shelter to store county records in the 1970s, which relieved stress on many of the vaults. Despite these improvements, a grand jury report from the 1970s states "the building now resembles a rabbit-warren" and "the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville is a disgrace".[4]

  

Today, the Washington County Courthouse holds only the county records and a few offices.

The 273rd Aviation Company from Fort Sill, Oklahoma returned the clock tower in 1974, using the largest helicopter in the western world.[4] The fourth floor was renovated into a courtroom, but by 1979, the vaults were again too small. Newly elected County Judge Charles Johnson began large renovations, including brand-new plumbing, and removal of ad hoc offices which had been built in the hallways. An even larger renovation began in 1989 with architecture firm Witsell, Evans & Rosco. On December 12, 1989, the county purchased the First South Centre at 280 North College Avenue for $3.3 million.[4] The First South Centre became the Washington County Courthouse in 1994, and the transition was complete in 1995.

 

The courthouse contains three stories and a basement, a grand staircase, and hydraulic elevator. The basement (first floor) housed the offices promised to the City of Fayetteville, including the mayor. The second floor housed court clerks, the county judge, a vault, and three outdoor porches. The third floor housed a large courtroom with a slanted floor, jury rooms, judge chambers, and a porch. The fourth floor contained a balcony over the courtroom and access to the clock/bell tower. The courthouse features round-top arches over its windows, porches, and grand entrance, round towers with conical roofs, and brickwork, each characteristic of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture. Inside, the building contains glazed brick fireplaces in all offices, and ceramic mosaic floor tiles in all foyers and corridors. There is a mural dedicated to those Washington County persons who died in World War I, completed in 1920 by William Steene. The building also contains the Freedom Shrine, housing replicas of many important freedom documents such as the Mayflower Compact and the Declaration of Independence.

composed with Minolta MD rokkor-X 1.7/50mm @f2.4

Mercredi 6 août 2014. Compiègne. Visite du palais impérial. Salle à manger de l'empereur.

Salle à manger de l'Empereur : À l'origine cette salle était considérée comme une antichambre double desservant de part et d'autre les appartements de la reine Marie Antoinette aujourd'hui appelé Appartement du Roi de Rome et les appartements de Louis XVI devenus les appartements des Empereurs. Les murs sont en faux-marbre et faux-onyx. Les dessus de portes sont surmontées de trompe-l'œil grisaillés réalisés par Sauvage datant de l'époque Louis XV et Louis XVI. Au-dessus de la cheminée se trouve un trompe-l'œil représentant Anacréon, poète grec accompagné d'une jeune femme lui servant du vin dans une coupe. À partir de 1807, Napoléon Ier fait de cette pièce la salle à manger. Le mobilier est en acajou ; la table est une table composée de rallonges et les chaises qui l'entourent sont de style Empire représentant des lyres ; attributs d'Apollon.

 

La ville de Compiègne est située en aval du confluent des rivières Oise et Aisne, dans le département de l'Oise.

Au sud-est s'étend la forêt domaniale de Compiègne.

Les premières traces d'habitat humain sur la commune de Compiègne remontent au début du Ve millénaire avant notre ère et se continuent jusqu'à la conquête romaine. À l'époque gallo-romaine, Compiègne fut un point de passage sur l'Oise (Isara) relié au réseau de voies secondaires à la frontière des territoires des Bellovaques (Beauvais) et des Suessions (Soissons). Un gué se trouvait au lieu-dit le Clos des Roses entre Compiègne et Venette. Dans le quartier du Clos des Roses ont été retrouvés les vestiges d'un bâtiment romain, peut-être un poste de garde militaire du gué. Au centre-ville actuel, les fouilles menées n'ont pas découvert de vestiges gallo-romains. Dans les environs, quelques vestiges de villae furent mises au jour.

Le faubourg de Saint-Germain paraît être le premier établissement de Compiègne. La ville, sur son emplacement actuel, est de formation relativement récente ; elle s'est créée autour du château des rois de France. Compiègne fut associée à la couronne de France dès l'avènement des Mérovingiens. L'acte le plus ancien qui en faisait mention est un diplôme de Childebert Ier en 547. Clotaire Ier y mourut en 561 et les rois des deux premières races y séjournèrent souvent et y tinrent de nombreux plaids et conciles. Ragenfred, maire du Palais sous Dagobert III, bat en 715 les Austrasiens dans la forêt de Cuise, près de Compiègne14. Pépin le Bref en 757, reçoit à Compiègne l'empereur Constantin V Copronyme, qui lui fait présent pour son oratoire des premières orgues connues en France. Il y reçoit aussi le serment de vassalité du duc Tassilon III de Bavière.

Charles II le Chauve (823-877) roi de Francie et empereur d'Occident en fit son séjour habituel. Par le traité de Compiègne, le 1er août16 ou le 25 août 867, il concède le Cotentin, l'Avranchin ainsi que les îles Anglo-Normandes à Salomon, roi de Bretagne.

Le 2 janvier 876, Charles le Chauve ordonne l'édification de la collégiale Sainte-Marie, future abbaye Saint-Corneille, sur le modèle de celle d'Aix-la-Chapelle. Le 5 mai 877 il fait la consacrer par le pape Jean VIII. L'importante abbaye Saint-Corneille riche de reliques insignes (Saint-Suaire, reliques de la Passion, Voile de la Vierge) devient alors le noyau autour duquel commence à se développer la ville et le roi y bâtit un nouveau palais.

Son fils Louis le Bègue fut sacré à Compiègne le 8 décembre 877 dans l'abbaye Saint-Corneille par l'archevêque Hincmar de Reims et il y mourut en 879. En 884 à Compiègne, les grands du royaume au nom de son frère Carloman signent une trêve avec les Vikings. Enfin, Louis V le dernier Carolingien, qui fut sacré à Compiègne le 8 juin 979 et qui mourut le 21 mai 987 fut inhumé dans l'abbaye Saint-Corneille.

Hugues Capet ayant été élu roi des Francs en 987, Compiègne restera un des séjours préférés des premiers Capétiens : c'est à Saint-Corneille que la reine Constance d'Arles, épouse de Robert le Pieux, fit associer au trône son fils aîné Hugues qui sera inhumé dans cette basilique en 1025, avant d'avoir pu régner seul.

C'est Louis VI, avant 1125, qui octroya à la ville sa première charte communale. L'abbaye, par suite des scandales causés par les chanoines, devient une abbaye bénédictine à partir de 1150. Les bourgeois de Compiègne qui ont aidé à l'installation des moines et à l'expulsion des chanoines, obtiennent que leur ville soit instituée en commune par le roi Louis VII en 1153. Une charte communale sera aussi donnée aux habitants de Royallieu par la reine Adélaïde. Philippe Auguste confirme les droits communaux de Compiègne en 1207 et durant tout le XIIIe siècle la ville va accroître ses biens et son autorité avec le soutien du roi, qui sert d'arbitre entre les religieux de l'abbaye et les bourgeois de la commune.

Au milieu du XIIIe siècle, Saint Louis construit le Grand Pont, réparé sous Charles VIII et qui durera jusqu'en 1735. Saint Louis enlève aux moines la juridiction du prieuré et de l'hôpital Saint-Nicolas-au-Pont et va en faire un Hôtel-Dieu. Le roi, aidé par son gendre, roi de Navarre, y porta le premier malade sur un drap de soie en 1259.

Durant le XIVe siècle, la commune de Compiègne en proie à des difficultés financières insurmontables, va devoir renoncer à sa charte communale et le roi va nommer un prévôt pour administrer la ville et rendre la justice, avec le concours d'un maire aussi nommé par le roi et des représentants des bourgeois. La communauté élit tous les quatre ans, plusieurs "gouverneurs-attournés" chargés de la gestion communale. En cas de guerre le roi nomme un capitaine, proposé par la communauté qui se charge de la défense.

Jusqu'à la fin du XIVe siècle les rois réunirent souvent les États-généraux à Compiègne. En 1358, le régent Charles y réunit les États de Langue d'oïl pour rétablir l'autorité royale face aux menées d'Étienne Marcel. En 1374, il commence la construction d'un nouveau château sur l'emplacement actuel du Palais. Compiègne est désormais séjour royal et séjour de la cour, et reçoit la visite de nombreux princes.

Compiègne a vu naître Pierre d'Ailly, cardinal-évêque de Cambrai, chancelier de l'Université de Paris, diplomate qui contribua à mettre fin au Grand Schisme d'Occident, auteur de plusieurs ouvrages d'érudition. L'un de ses ouvrages permit à Christophe Colomb de préparer la découverte de l'Amérique.

Pendant la guerre de Cent Ans, Compiègne fut assiégée et prise plusieurs fois par les Bourguignons. Elle embrassa quelque temps le parti du roi d'Angleterre. Mais à partir du sacre de Charles VII, elle redevient fidèle au roi de France. Le plus mémorable de ces sièges est celui de 1430 où Jeanne d'Arc, accourue dans la ville pour la défendre, tomba le 23 mai aux mains des Bourguignons, lors d'une sortie sur la rive droite de l'Oise et fut vendue aux Anglais. Ce siège s'est traduit par d'importantes destructions par suite des bombardements, une baisse de la population et un appauvrissement des habitants. Les guerres menées par Louis XI se traduisent encore par des charges supplémentaires (fortifications, logement des gens de guerre), des impôts plus lourds et des emprunts forcés, et il faudra attendre le règne de Charles VIII pour entreprendre la reconstruction, relancer l'activité et retrouver la population d'avant la guerre.

Depuis lors, les rois de France continuèrent à résider souvent à Compiègne et prirent l'habitude de s'y arrêter en revenant de se faire sacrer à Reims, ainsi qu'avait fait Charles VII, accompagné de Jeanne d'Arc, en 1429.

La restauration de Compiègne est marquée par la reconstruction de l'hôtel-de-ville durant le premier tiers du XVIe siècle, symbole de la Ville. Le beffroi est orné des trois Picantins représentant des prisonniers anglais, flamands et bourguignons qui frappent les heures sur les cloches.

Les rois faisaient encore de courts séjours de François Ier à Henri IV. Compiègne était ville royale, ses gouverneurs-attournés étaient nommés avec l'avis du roi, les impôts, taxes et emprunts étaient dus au roi et les régiments de passage étaient logés chez les habitants. Pendant les guerres de religion, Compiègne resta catholique, fidèle à la royauté et bénéficia en retour de quelques avantages de la part des souverains. L'édit de Compiègne de 1547 réservant aux tribunaux laïcs le jugement des protestants dès qu'il y a scandale public, est une des premières étapes de la répression contre les huguenots.

1756 et 1764 : premier et deuxième traités conclus avec la République de Gênes pour le rattachement de la Corse à la France.

1770 : Louis XV et le dauphin y accueillirent au château Marie-Antoinette lors de son arrivée en France.

1790 : création de département de l'Oise et démantèlement de la province d'Île-de-France (voir l'histoire de l'Île-de-France).

1794 : la Révolution française juge et guillotine les seize sœurs carmélites de Compiègne, dont Georges Bernanos s'inspire pour écrire sa pièce Dialogues des Carmélites.

1804 : le château de Compiègne intègre le domaine impérial.

18 juin au 18 septembre 1808 : le roi Charles IV d'Espagne venant d'abdiquer est logé par Napoléon au château de Compiègne.

27 mars 1810 : Napoléon rencontre Marie-Louise d'Autriche au château pour la première fois.

15 mars 1814 : les Prussiens attaquent la ville par la route de Noyon.

9 août 1832 : mariage au château de Louise-Marie d'Orléans (fille du roi Louis-Philippe Ier) au Roi des Belges, Léopold Ier.

1856 à 1869 : Napoléon III séjourne fréquemment au château lors de ses visites en forêt.

Compiègne organise les épreuves de golf des Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900 sur le terrain de la Société des sports de Compiègne.

5 avril 1917 au 25 mars 1918 : le général Pétain installe au château son quartier général où se tiennent plusieurs conférences interalliées.

25 mars 1918 : durant l'offensive du printemps une réunion de crise réunit Georges Clemenceau, Raymond Poincaré, Louis Loucheur, Henri Mordacq, Ferdinand Foch et Philippe Pétain dans la commune, afin d'organiser la défense de la ligne de front avec les britanniques.

11 novembre 1918 : en forêt domaniale de Compiègne, dans un wagon au milieu d'une futaie, à proximité de Rethondes, signature entre la France et l'Allemagne de l'Armistice de 1918 en présence du maréchal Foch et du général Weygand

 

Château de Compiègne:

 

Quatre palais se sont succédé à Compiègne. Le plus ancien remonte au début de la dynastie mérovingienne et datait vraisemblablement du règne de Clovis. Il était probablement construit en bois et son emplacement est malaisé à déterminer.

De nombreux actes officiels sont datés de Compiègne, ce qui semble indiquer que les Mérovingiens y passaient du temps. C'est dans ce « palais royal » de Compiègne que meurt Clotaire Ier en 561, au retour d'une chasse à Saint-Jean-aux-Bois.

C'est à Compiègne que Clotaire II fait la paix avec son neveu Thibert II (ou Théodebert) en 604. Dagobert Ier y réunit en 633 le parlement qui décide de la fondation de la basilique de Saint-Denis et c'est au palais qu'était conservé son trésor, partagé en 639 entre ses successeurs.

Sous les Carolingiens, Compiègne est fréquemment le lieu de réunion des « assemblées générales » d'évêques et de seigneurs et, à partir du règne de Pépin le Bref, devient un lieu important sur le plan diplomatique : c'est là qu'en 757, Pépin accueille, au milieu d'une grande assemblée, une ambassade de l'empereur de Constantinople Constantin V Copronyme et qu'il reçoit l'hommage du duc de Bavière, Tassilon III. C'est là aussi que Louis le Pieux réunit plusieurs assemblées dont deux, en 830 et 833, tentent de le pousser à l'abdication.

Charles le Chauve établit progressivement à Compiègne le siège de son autorité royale puis impériale. En 875, il y reçoit une ambassade de l'émir de Cordoue, Muhammad Ier, qui apporte de riches présents convoyés à dos de chameau. Sacré empereur à Rome à la Noël 875, Charles fonde en 877 l'abbaye Notre-Dame de Compiègne4 qu'il établit à l'emplacement de l'ancien palais mérovingien, tandis que lui-même se fait construire un nouveau palais situé vers l'Oise, auquel l'abbaye sert de chapelle impériale, sur le modèle du palais que son grand-père Charlemagne avait créé à Aix-la-Chapelle.

Le fils de Charles le Chauve, Louis II le Bègue, est intronisé et sacré à Compiègne en 877, dans la chapelle palatine, où il est enterré deux ans plus tard, en 879. C'est là qu'est sacré Eudes, duc de France, fils de Robert le Fort, proclamé roi en 888 par l'assemblée des grands de préférence à Charles le Simple, trop jeune. Devenu roi à son tour, ce dernier séjourne fréquemment à Compiègne qui reste la principale résidence des souverains de la deuxième dynastie. C'est là que meurt le dernier des Carolingiens, Louis V, en 987.

Les Capétiens continuent à fréquenter Compiègne, mais le palais perd progressivement son rôle politique. Le développement de la ville de Compiègne les conduit à aliéner peu à peu l'ancien domaine royal au profit de la population. Philippe Auguste renforce les murailles de la ville et fortifie le vieux palais carolingien en érigeant un donjon pour mieux contrôler l'Oise.

Le processus d'aliénation du domaine royal s'achève sous Saint Louis; seules la grande salle et la tour de l'ancien palais sont conservées comme siège et symbole de l'administration militaire et féodale, mais les grandes assemblées doivent désormais se tenir à l'abbaye Saint-Corneille. Le roi ne conserve à Compiègne qu'une modeste résidence en lisière de la forêt, au lieu-dit Royallieu.

Charles V édifie vers 1374 un château à l'origine du palais actuel. En 1358, alors qu'il n'est encore que régent du royaume, il a réuni à Compiègne, dans l'ancien palais carolingien, les états généraux et éprouvé le manque de sécurité du logis de Royallieu, en lisière de forêt.

 

Il décide alors de bâtir un nouveau château sur un terrain qu'il rachète en 1374 aux religieux de Saint-Corneille, à qui Charles le Chauve l'avait vendu. Il faut faire abattre les maisons qui s'y trouvent et les travaux ne sont pas terminés lorsque Charles V meurt en 1380.

 

C'est ce château qui, agrandi au fil des siècles, va donner naissance au palais actuel; n'en subsistent que quelques vestiges noyés dans la maçonnerie du bâtiment.

 

C'est dans ce château que Charles VI réunit les états généraux de 1382. Les rois séjournent fréquemment à Compiègne avec une interruption au XVe siècle, la ville tombant aux mains des Bourguignons entre 1414 et 1429. Charles VII, qui vient de se faire sacrer à Reims, y fait son entrée solennelle le 18 août 1429 et y séjourne pendant douze jours, inaugurant la tradition du séjour du roi à Compiègne au retour du sacre, qui sera observée par presque tous les monarques jusqu'à Charles X inclus.

 

Il ne revient à Compiègne, accompagné du dauphin, le futur Louis XI, qu'en 1441, pour trouver un château très endommagé au cours de différents sièges, qu'il fait remettre en état et agrandir en 1451, à l'occasion d'un séjour prolongé.

Charles VIII et Louis XII font plusieurs séjours à Compiègne. François Ier, qui y vient fréquemment, fait améliorer les bâtiments et se préoccupe de l'aménagement de la forêt.

Son fils, Henri II, qui y séjourne pour des durées généralement plus longues, fait décorer la Porte-Chapelle, percée dans le rempart de la ville pour donner accès à la cour de la chapelle du château.

Charles IX est à l'origine de la création d'un « jardin du Roi » d'environ six hectares, qui constitue l'amorce du futur parc. Les troubles des guerres de Religion sont peu propices à de longs séjours royaux à Compiègne. Henri III doit renoncer à tenir à Compiègne les états généraux de 1576, mais c'est en l'église de l'abbaye Saint-Corneille que son corps est transporté pour y être inhumé après son assassinat en 1589, Compiègne étant alors la seule ville royale à être encore « au roi ».

Le château de Compiègne, inoccupé et mal entretenu durant les guerres de Religion, est devenu inhabitable. Lorsque Henri IV vient à Compiègne, il préfère loger en ville, tandis que l'atelier des monnaies est installé dans le château en 1594. Toutefois, à partir de 1598, les travaux de réparation commencent.

Quand Louis XIII vient pour la première fois à Compiègne, en 1619, il trouve le séjour si agréable qu'il y revient trois fois dans l'année. En 1624, il s'y installe d'avril à juillet et reçoit au château une ambassade du roi d'Angleterre Jacques Ier ainsi que les délégués des Provinces-Unies. Lors de son dernier séjour, en 1635, Louis XIII ordonne la réfection totale des appartements du Roi et de la Reine, réalisée sous la régence d'Anne d'Autriche.

Sous Louis XIV l'exiguïté du château amène à construire en ville des bâtiments pour les grandes et petite chancelleries, les écuries du Roi et de Monsieur, des hôtels pour les ministres et leurs bureaux, car Compiègne est, avec Versailles et Fontainebleau la seule demeure royale où le Roi réunisse le Conseil. Pour autant, le roi considère avant tout Compiègne comme un séjour de repos et de détente; il aime à y chasser et fait tracer le Grand Octogone, 54 routes nouvelles et construire des ponts de pierre sur les ruisseaux.

En 1666 a lieu le premier "camp de Compiègne", premier d'une série de seize grandes manœuvres militaires, dont le dernier se tiendra en 1847, destinées à la formation des troupes et de leurs chefs, à l'éducation des princes et au divertissement de la Cour et du peuple. Le plus important de ces camps est celui de 1698 où, selon Saint-Simon, « l'orgueil du Roi voulut étonner l'Europe par la montre de sa puissance [...] et l'étonna en effet ».

 

Après 1698 Louis XIV ne revient plus à Compiègne et le château reste inoccupé pendant dix ans.

 

D'octobre 1708 à mars 1715, il accueille l'Électeur de Bavière Maximilien II Emmanuel, mis au ban de l'Empire et à qui son allié Louis XIV offre asile et protection à Compiègne.

Louis XV arrive pour la première fois à Compiègne le 4 juin 1728. Le jeune roi a choisi de s'établir au château pendant qu'est réuni à Soissons le congrès qui discute de la paix avec l'Espagne. Prenant un grand plaisir à chasser dans la forêt, il va chaque été y passer un à deux mois.

 

L'incommodité du château, ensemble de bâtiments sans unité, sans plan d'ensemble, mal reliés entre eux et trop petits devient manifeste. Après une campagne d'aménagements intérieurs (1733), des travaux d'agrandissement sont réalisés sous la direction de Jacques V Gabriel de 1736 à 1740.

 

Le château devint rapidement la résidence préférée de Louis XV, qui envisagea un temps d'y déplacer sa résidence permanente.

 

Entre 1740 et 1751, plusieurs projets de reconstruction totale sont présentés. Tous sont éclipsés par celui qu'Ange-Jacques Gabriel présente en 1751 : immédiatement agréé, il est aussitôt mis à exécution. Malgré les travaux, Louis XV continue de venir souvent à Compiègne, où il aime à chasser. C'est là qu'il choisit d'organiser, le 14 mai 1770, une réception en l'honneur de l'archiduchesse Marie-Antoinette d'Autriche, venue épouser le dauphin, futur Louis XVI, et accueillie en forêt de Compiègne quelques heures auparavant.

 

Sa mort n'interrompt pas les travaux, qui sont poursuivis à partir de 1776 sous la direction de Louis Le Dreux de La Châtre, élève d'Ange-Jacques Gabriel avant de devenir son collaborateur; il achève la reconstruction du château en respectant scrupuleusement les plans de son maître. L'ensemble – gros œuvre et décors – est achevé en 1788.

 

Louis XVI vient très peu à Compiègne; il y séjourne une première fois en 1774, peu après son accession au trône, et, conformément à la tradition, s'y arrête en 1775 trois jours en allant à Reims et trois jours en en revenant. Par la suite, il n'y fait que quelques brefs séjours de chasse. L'accélération des travaux, à la suite de décisions prises par le Roi et la Reine en 1782, rendait au demeurant le château difficilement habitable. le couple royal ne vit pas ses appartements terminés.

 

L'assemblée des notables de 1787 juge les dépenses effectuées à Compiègne excessives. Sous la Révolution, le mobilier est vendu, comme celui des autres résidences royales (mai-septembre 1795).

 

En 1799, une première section du Prytanée militaire est installée au château, avec d'autres éléments, elle forme l'École des Arts et Métiers, qui occupe le bâtiment jusqu'en 1806.

Le 12 avril 1807, par un décret daté de Finckenstein, Napoléon Ier ordonne la remise en état du château. L'architecte Louis-Martin Berthault est chargé de la direction des travaux. Ceux-ci consistent en la mise hors d'eau du bâtiment et en de considérables travaux de réaménagement intérieur et de décoration. Une grande galerie (galerie de Bal) est notamment créée dans une aile de la cour des Cuisines à partir de 1809.

 

Le jardin est entièrement replanté et une continuité est créée avec la forêt, le mur d'enceinte étant remplacé par une grille.

 

Dans l'ancienne aile de la Reine, Berthault commence par aménager sommairement un appartement destiné au logement d'un roi étranger, qui ne tarde pas à recevoir Charles IV d'Espagne, qui arrive à Compiègne le 18 juin 1808, après avoir été contraint d'abdiquer. Il y reste jusqu'en septembre avant d'être transféré à Marseille.

 

Napoléon accueille à Compiègne l'archiduchesse Marie-Louise d'Autriche, future impératrice, le 27 mars 1810 pour leur première rencontre. La Cour revient à Compiègne après le mariage, célébré à Paris. Elle y retourne l'été suivant, le couple impérial étant accompagné, cette fois-ci, du roi de Rome. En 1813, le château abrite provisoirement le roi de Westphalie Jérôme Bonaparte et la reine Catherine.

 

Le 1er avril 1814, le château est vaillamment défendu par le major Otenin.

Peu après, Louis XVIII, sur le chemin de Paris, choisit de s'y arrêter quelques jours pour analyser la situation avant de faire son entrée dans la capitale (29 avril - 2 mai 1814).

 

Dans les années suivantes les princes et les princesses de la famille royale viennent fréquemment à Compiègne, mais toujours pour de brefs séjours d'un à deux jours, parfois même une nuit ou quelques heures, à l'occasion d'une chasse, avec une très petite suite.

 

Charles X fait son premier séjour à Compiègne comme roi de France du 8 au 10 novembre 1824, accompagné d'une suite nombreuse. Du 24 au 27 mai 1825, il s'y arrête sur le chemin de Reims et, au retour, séjourne au château, selon l'usage, du 1er au 13 juin. Il y vient ensuite fréquemment pour de brefs séjours de chasse, en dernier lieu du 24 au 29 mai 1830. Le château est sous le majorat de Mathieu de Montmorency et Arnouph Deshayes de Cambronne.

Louis-Philippe vient pour la première fois à Compiègne en 1832 pour préparer le mariage de sa fille aînée Louise avec le roi des Belges Léopold Ier, qui est célébré au château le 9 août 1832.

 

Après la Révolution de 1848, Compiègne devient domaine national. Le Prince-Président, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, s'y rend en février 1849 à l'occasion de l'inauguration de la ligne de chemin de fer Compiègne-Noyon.

Devenu empereur, il revient y passer une dizaine de jours du 18 au 28 décembre 1852, avec une suite d'une centaine de personnes. Au cours de l'automne 1852, il y fait une cour assidue à Eugénie de Montijo. S'étant émerveillée lors d'une promenade dans le parc de l'effet produit par les gouttes de rosée sur un trèfle, elle se voit offrir dès le lendemain par l'Empereur une broche d'émeraudes et de diamants en forme de « trèfle de Compiègne ». La Cour revient à Compiègne en 1853 et 1855, mais ce n'est qu'en 1856 que commence la série des « Compiègne », c'est-à-dire un séjour d'un mois à un mois et demi chaque automne, pour les chasses en forêt, avec organisation des invités en « séries » d'une centaine d'invités chacune. Il y avait généralement quatre séries. L'étiquette est réduite à son minimum, les invités jouissant d'une large indépendance.

En 1870 et 1871, le château est occupé par les Prussiens.

 

Il accueille en 1901 le tsar Nicolas II de Russie, dernier souverain à résider à Compiègne. Pendant la Première Guerre mondiale, les Anglais s'y installent, puis l'état-major allemand en 1914. Le château est transformé en hôpital en 1915 avant d'abriter le Grand Quartier général de mars 1917 à avril 1918.

 

Après la Guerre, le service des Régions libérés s'installe au château et occasionne des dégâts importants : en 1919, un incendie dévaste la Chambre de l'Empereur et le Cabinet du Conseil. En 1939, avec la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le château est vidé de son mobilier, qui retrouvera sa place en 1945.

 

Antonio Sant'Elia

Architect

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Sant%27Elia

A very quick initialized photo shooting, retouch and composing idea using a canon 6D, a custom windoof workstation, a wacom intuos4 tablet and adobe photoshop CC.

 

Very special awesome thanks to Roxy for your patience.

 

Photography: Oliver Gross

Body Paint: Oliver Gross

 

Model: Roxy

 

Many composing materials by rawexchange

 

Trooper Cosplays by Daniel Dornhöfer

 

Space Ships Models by schwaighofer-art

Romerillo

 

Baccharis aliena (Spreng.) Joch.Müll. (tiges avec feuilles et inflorescences)

Bord de chemin de campagne (alt. 1680 m)

La Carolina (département de Coronel Pringles, province de San Luis, Argentine)

 

Indigène (Nord de l'Argentine, Uruguay, Sud du Brésil)

Olympus digital camera

Metal chase with sample type set and furniture fixed in place by quoins. Sample example to show the layout of a double case.

 

Accession Number: SH.2009.374

 

A chase is a metal frame into which type, blocks etc are fixed before printing

 

Edinburgh City of Print is a joint project between City of Edinburgh Museums and the Scottish Archive of Print and Publishing History Records (SAPPHIRE). The project aims to catalogue and make accessible the wealth of printing collections held by City of Edinburgh Museums. For more information about the project please visit www.edinburghcityofprint.org

HDR composed from 2 separate pictures of the same scene with different exposure.

The layered PhotoShop work left a hard shadow line on top of the trees at the border to the sky...

I've struggled for some time to create a place to compose music in my tiny home; limited space and budget have made it a challenge. I think the result is quite nice, however. The key thought was to prioritize activities and do the simplest possible thing to achieve activity level. Here were my top musical priorities:

 

1. Just make music. This meant connecting speakers (Yamaha) to the keyboard (Roland SD-700SX). 2 1/4" patch cables, 3 ordinary power cables, and a small plug multiplier. Easy.

 

2. Record MIDI. This meant adding a computer to the mix (Thinkpad X41 Tablet P-M 1.5GHz 1.5G RAM named "Quirky") , installing software (Ableton Live 7), and attaching the keyboard to the computer (via USB). Worked great.. However once I plugged the laptop into wall power the speakers got very noisy. This was because of a cheaply constructed third-party power supply - by replacing it with the official Thinkpad power supply the noise disappeared. (This would have been difficult to diagnose if I had put everything together all at once, I think.) One small innovation: flipping the screen around but keeping it at an angle, to serve as a kind of touchscreen music stand; reminds me of the Korg OASYS.

 

3. Record audio. This took some experimentation to get right. I felt compelled to test the tablet's native sound abilities even though I was pretty sure it wouldn't sound good. The tablet has a "mic in" which, sure enough, testing showed it to be of very poor quality for accepting audio from the keyboard (primarily a strange warble). So I purchased an MBox (M-Audio Fast Track Pro) and attached it to the computer (USB), and connected the keyboard (2 XLR cables). Now it sounds very good. I was glad to see that a modest computer can do well at audio. I thought it would.

 

4. Playing virtual instruments. Now I was getting frisky - it was straightforward to get this working (just have to setup MIDI correctly and remember to 'arm' recording in Live). However at this stage I decided to "break" the solution to #2 by removing the direct keyboard USB/MIDI and using the MBox for MIDI. Required 2 MIDI cables and eliminated 1 USB cable. The benefit is that the tablet has fewer cables going into it.

 

5. Applying virtual effects. Again, works well and sounds great. Surprisingly low latency (I can just barely hear it).

 

6. Monitoring PC audio. Headphones in the MBox work great. Using speakers turned out to be surprisingly complicated. First, I was loath to abandon the simple solution to #1. I realized that if I plugged the speakers into the MBox I wouldn't be able to "just play" without a computer attached, which from experience I know I don't like being tethered to a PC to make music. Luckily the MBox can be powered separately, although it required the purchase of a wall wart. I also needed a couple of extra cables (XLR) - easily fixed (I do wish the MBox had 1/4" inputs as well as XLR inputs, though). One other annoyance: the MBox pops, badly, when it's turned off with speakers still attached. This is not as much of an issue when the MBox is seperately powered, as unplugging the computer no longer causes the MBox to power down. (Essentially it turns out the MBox is serving as a simple line mixer for keyboard and pc audio.)

 

For a finishing touch, I draped the (semi soft) travel case over and behind the keyboard. This is not only a great place to store a very bulky item, but it also serves to cushion the tablet and protect the keyboard. I also plugged everything into a power strip so the whole shebang can be turned on and off with one switch (which saves power and avoids pops). I sort of miss using the Roland's power switch, though - it's a really nice switch. Very wide and solid and with a pleasant curve to it.

 

I actually believe there is a market for a simple standalone MIDI sequencer, even if this solution works for me. To have a small hand-held device that I could attach to the keyboard, play into, then take to a computer for editing might be quite nice, especially if you are prone to long solo jamming, like I am.

A National Historic Landmark

Featured in the We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement Travel Itinerary

Fulton County, GA

Listed: 05/02/1974

Designated an NHL: 05/05/1977

 

The area is composed of the following structures, many of which retain most of their original appearances. Together they comprise an identifiable and definable historic district: Ebenezer Baptist Church, Grave Site, Birthplace and Boyhood Home, Shot-gun Houses, Victorian Houses, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Colored Mission, and Fire Station No. 6.

 

There are few figures of any race, nationality, or creed who have risen in so short a life span to a position of international prominence, especially for espousing the cause of peace and brotherhood, as has the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. Born in his grandfather's house at 501 Auburn Avenue, raised in that community, educated at Morehouse College, Crozer Theological Seminary and Boston University, Dr. King, through an occurrence of fate, became the symbol of the Afro-American's quest for equal rights and a beacon of love to all peoples. Dr. King, as leader of the MIA, SCLC and as pastor of the Dexter Avenue and Ebenezer Baptist Churches, stood in the forefront of the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s. He was an outspoken proponent of international peace and was one of the first Americans to speak out against the Vietnam War. He was the organizer of the greatest marches in the history of the Nation, unifying persons of every background. He was the organizer of many activities of the civil rights protest and at all times the exponent of non-violence. Of his many awards and achievements, he was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize of 1964. He at many times, with his wife, Coretta, at his side, placed himself in mortal danger to stand undaunted for the cause to which he had dedicated his life. Dr. King was slain by an assassin in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

 

For years Atlanta had been the scene of an industrious black community- a center of racial pride and economic prowess. In particular, the corridor along Auburn Avenue on Atlanta's east side was, at the turn of the century, a focal point to which many blacks throughout the Nation could look for inspiration. It was these benefits that caused Martin Luther King, Sr. to make this his home, after leaving his fathers, John Albert King, sharecroppers farm. After many years of hard struggle, earning his high school diploma and attending Morehouse College, M. L. King, Sr. met, court, and married Alberta Williams, daughter of Rev. A.D. Williams, pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church.

 

Ebenezer Baptist Church was founded in 1886 by Rev. John Parker who served as pastor until his death in 1894. Rev. Adam D. Williams succeeded and it was under his pastorship that the present structure was completed in 1922. Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr., Williams' son-in-law, assumed the duties of pastor in 1932 and still serves. In 1960 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church and served in that capacity until his death in 1968.

 

The grave site of Dr. King, Jr., is located on property adjacent to the Church. With its now familiar inscription, "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I'm free at last" the crypt is a popular site for city visitors and followers of the Civil Rights movement.

 

The birthplace of Dr. King was built in 1895 in the Queen Anne style. The original occupant and probable owner was a white family named Holbrook. The first Black owner and occupant was the Rev. Adam D. Williams, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church. Williams acquired the property by purchase in 1909. Dr. King was born in an upstairs middle room January 15, 1929, and lived there until 1941.

Some passing weather and the dock by the restaurant.

Composing

I cut this composing stick holder from an old piece of cherry, using a printer's saw. It measures 8 1/4" wide x 2 3/4" deep x 3/4" high. By keeping the stick at a slight angle it helps to keep the type from falling over during breaks.

Public Garden, Boston, MA

Jason set: www.flickr.com/photos/marmai/sets/72157622545532610/

A vermicomposting bucket is mixed with food waste and worms. Several different species of worms such as Canadian nightcrawlers, red wigglers or earthworms are excellent at decomposing organic waste products and turn those throwaway food scraps, paper or yard waste into compost as beneficial soil amendments. Compost is the key to organic farming and researchers at MU's Bradford Research Center in Columbia are looking at ways to make this style of food production more efficient and affordable.

 

Photo by Kyle Spradley | © 2014 - Curators of the University of Missouri

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A vermicomposting bucket is mixed with food waste and worms. Several different species of worms such as Canadian nightcrawlers, red wigglers or earthworms are excellent at decomposing organic waste products and turn those throwaway food scraps, paper or yard waste into compost as beneficial soil amendments. Compost is the key to organic farming and researchers at MU's Bradford Research Center in Columbia are looking at ways to make this style of food production more efficient and affordable.

 

Photo by Kyle Spradley | © 2014 - Curators of the University of Missouri

Clicked this last sunday at the 11th Chennai Photowalk. Guess who's hands these are? :P If you're the first one to guess right and comment here, i have something for you :)

 

P.S. The owner of the hands may remain silent, you already were introduced to Cone Ice at Balaji Ice Cream shop at the photowalk. :) No More goodies for you in the waiting ;-)

 

Canon EOS 400D with the Canon EF 50MM F/1.4 USM. Aperture Priority, F/5.6 at 1/200th of a Second, ISO100.

 

All Rights Reserved. Owner and Usage Rights belongs to Dilip Muralidaran. Any use of this work in hard or soft copy or transfer must be done with the expressed consent of Dilip Muralidaran in written. Failing to do so will result in violation as per Section 63 of the Indian Copyrights Act, 1957 & Forgery, Fruad, Misrepresentation and Misinformation as per the Indian Penal Code Section 420 leading to severe legal consequences.

from Trois Primitifs

by J.-K. Huysmans

Translated by Robert Baldick

Phaidon Press Ltd., 1958

 

MATTHIAS GRÜNEWALD, the painter of the Cassel Crucifixion which I described in Là-bas and which is now in the Karlsruhe Museum, has fascinated me for many years. Whence did he come, what was his life, where and how did he die? Nobody knows for certain; his very name has been disputed, and the relevant documents are lacking; the pictures now accepted as his work were formerly attributed in turn to Albrecht Dürer, Martin Schongauer and Hans Baldung Grien, while others which he never painted are conceded to him by countless handbooks and museum catalogues...

 

It is not to Mainz, Aschaffenburg, Eisenach, or even to Isenheim, whose monastery is dead, that we must go to find Grünewald's works, but to Colmar, where the master displays his genius in a magnificent ensemble, a polyptych composed of nine pieces.

 

There, in the old Unterlinden convent, he seizes on you the moment you go in and promptly strikes you dumb with the fearsome nightmare of a Calvary. It is as if a typhoon of art had been let loose and was sweeping you away, and you need a few minutes to recover from the impact, to surmount the impression of awful horror made by the huge crucified Christ dominating the nave of this museum, which is installed in the old disaffected chapel of the convent.

 

The scene is arranged as follows:

 

In the centre of the picture a gigantic Christ, of disproportionate size if compared with the figures grouped around him, is nailed to a cross which has been roughly trimmed so that patches of bare wood are exposed here and there; the transverse branch, dragged down by the hands, is bent as in the Karlsruhe Crucifixion into the shape of a bow. The body looks much the same in the two works: pale and shiny, dotted with spots of blood, and bristling like a chestnut-burr with splinters that the rods have left in the wounds; at the ends of the unnaturally long arms the hands twist convulsively and claw the air; the knees are turned in so that the bulbous knee-caps almost touch; while the feet, nailed one on top of the other, are just a jumbled heap of muscles underneath rotting, discoloured flesh and blue toe-nails; as for the head, it lolls on the bulging, sack-like chest patterned with stripes by the cage of the ribs. This crucified Christ would be a faithful replica of the one at Karlsruhe if the facial expression were not entirely different. Here, in fact, Jesus no longer wears the fearful rictus of tetanus; the jaw is no longer contracted, but hangs loosely, with open mouth and slavering lips.

 

Christ is less frightening here, but more humanly vulgar, more obviously dead. In the Karlsruhe panel the terrifying effect of the trismus, of the strident laugh, served to conceal the brutishness of the features, now accentuated by this imbecile slackness of the mouth. The Man-God of Colmar is nothing but a common thief who has met his end on the gallows.

 

That is not the only difference to be noted between the two works, for here the grouping of the figures is also dissimilar. At Karlsruhe the Virgin stands, as usual, on one side of the cross and St. John on the other; at Colmar the traditional arrangement is flouted, and the astonishing visionary that was Grünewald asserts himself, at once ingenious and ingenuous, a barbarian and a theologian, unique among religious painters.

 

On the right of the cross there are three figures: the Virgin, St. John and Magdalen. St. John, looking rather like an old German student with his peaky, clean-shaven face and his fair hair falling in long, dry wisps over a red robe, is holding in his arms a quite extraordinary Virgin, clad and coifed in white, who has fallen into a swoon, her face white as a sheet, her eyes shut, her lips parted to reveal her teeth. Her features are fine and delicate, and entirely modern; if it were not for the dark green dress which can be glimpsed close to the tighdy clenched hands, you might take her for a dead nun; she is pitiable and charming, young and beautiful. Kneeling in front of her is a little woman who is leaning back with her hands clasped together and raised towards Christ. This oldish, fair-haired creature, wearing a pink dress with a myrtle-green lining, her face cut in half below the eyes by a veil on a level with the nose, is Magdalen. She is ugly and ungainly, but so obviously inconsolable that she grips your heart and moves it to compassion.

 

On the other side of the picture, to the left of the cross, there stands a tall, strange figure with a shock of sandy hair cut straight across the forehead, limpid eyes, a shaggy beard, and bare arms, legs and feet, holding an open book in one hand and pointing to Christ with the other.

 

This tough old soldier from Franconia, with his camel-hair fleece showing under a loosely draped cloak and a belt tied in a big knot, is St. John the Baptist. He has risen from the dead, and in order to explain the emphatic, dogmatic gesture of the long, curling forefinger pointed at the Redeemer, the following inscription has been set beside his arm: Illum oportet crescere, me autem minui. 'He must increase, but I must decrease.'

 

He who decreased to make way for the Messiah, who in turn died to ensure the predominance of the Word in the world, is alive here, while He who was alive when he was defunct, is dead. It seems as if, in coming to life again, he is foreshadowing the triumph of the Resurrection, and that after proclaiming the Nativity before Jesus was born on earth, he is now proclaiming that Christ is born in Heaven, and heralding Easter. He has come back to bear witness to the accomplishment of the prophecies, to reveal the truth of the Scriptures; he has come back to ratify, as it were, the exactness of those words of his which will later be recorded in the Gospel of that other St. John whose place he has taken on the left of Calvary--St. John the Apostle, who does not listen to him now, who does not even see him, so engrossed is he with the Mother of Christ, as if numbed and paralysed by the manchineel of sorrow that is the cross.

 

So, alone in the midst of the sobbing and the awful spasms of the sacrifice, this witness of the past and the future, standing stolidly upright, neither weeps nor laments: he certifies and promulgates, impassive and resolute. And at his feet is the Lamb of the World that he baptized, carrying a cross, with a stream of blood pouring into a chalice from its wounded breast.

 

Thus arranged, the figures stand out against a background of gathering darkness. Behind the gibbet, which is planted on a river bank, there flows a stream of sadness, swift-moving yet the colour of stagnant water; and the somewhat theatrical presentation of the drama seems justified, so completely does it harmonize with this dismal setting, this gloom which is more than twilight but not yet night. Repelled by the sombre hues of the background, the eye inevitably turns from the glossy fleshtints of the Redeemer, whose enormous proportions no longer hold the attention, and fastens instead upon the dazzling whiteness of the Virgin's cloak, which, seconded by the vermilion of the apostle's clothes, attracts notice at the expense of the other parts, and almost makes Mary the principal figure in the work.

 

That would spoil the whole picture, but the balance, about to be upset in favour of the group on the right, is maintained by the unexpected gesture of the Precursor, who in his turn seizes your attention, only to direct it towards the Son.

 

One might almost say that, coming to this Calvary, one goes from right to left before arriving at the centre.

 

This is undoubtedly what the artist intended, as is the effect produced by the disproportion between the various figures, for Grünewald is a master of pictorial equilibrium and in his other works keeps everything in proportion. When he exaggerated the stature of his Christ he was trying to create a striking impression of profound suffering and great strength; similarly he made this figure more than usually remarkable in order to keep it in the foreground and prevent it from being completely eclipsed by the great patch of white that is the Virgin.

 

As for her, it is easy to see why he gave her such prominence, easy to understand his predilection for her--because never before had he succeeded in painting a Madonna of such divine loveliness, such super-human sorrow. Indeed, it is astonishing that she should appear at all in the rebarbative work of this artist, so completely does she differ from the type of individual he has chosen to represent God and his saints.

 

His Jesus is a thief, his St. John a social outcast, his Precursor a common soldier. Even assuming that they are nothing more than German peasants, she is obviously of very different extraction; she is a queen who has taken the veil, a marvellous orchid growing among weeds.

 

Anyone who has seen both pictures--the one at Karlsruhe and the one at Colmar--will agree that there is a clear distinction between them. The Karlsruhe Calvary is better balanced and there is no danger of one's attention wandering from the principal subject. It is also less trivial, more awe-inspiring. You have only to compare the hideous rictus of its Christ and the possibly more plebeian but certainly less degraded face of its St. John with the coma of the Colmar Christ and the world-weary grimace of the disciple for the Karlsruhe panel to appear less conjectural, more penetrating, more effective, and, in its apparent simplicity, more powerful; on the other hand, it lacks the exquisite white Virgin and it is more conventional, less novel and unexpected. The Colmar Crucifixion introduces a new element into a scene treated in the same stereotyped fashion by every other painter; it dispenses with the old moulds and discards the traditional patterns. On reflexion, it seems to be the more imposing and profound of the two works, but it must be admitted that introducing the Precursor into the tragedy of Golgotha is more the idea of a theologian and a mystic than of an artist; here it is quite likely that there was some sort of collaboration between the painter and the purchaser, a commission described in the minutest detail by Guido Guersi, the Abbot of Isenheim, in whose chapel this picture was placed.

 

That, incidentally, was still the normal procedure long after the Middle Ages. All the archives of the period show that when contracting with image-carvers and painters--who regarded themselves as nothing more than craftsmen--the bishops or monks used to draw a plan of the proposed work, often even indicating the number of figures to be included and explaining their significance; there was accordingly only limited scope for the artist's own initiative, as he had to work to order within strictly defined bounds.

 

But to return to the picture, it takes up the whole of two wood panels which, in closing, cut one of Christ's arms in two, and, when closed, bring the two groups together. The back of the picture (for it has two faces on either side) has a separate scene on each panel: a Resurrection on one and an Annunciation on the other. Let me say straight away that the latter is bad, so that we can have done with it.

 

The scene is an oratory, where a book painted with deceptive realism lies open to reveal the prophecy of Isaiah, whose distorted figure, topped with a turban, is floating about in a corner of the picture, near the ceiling; on her knees in front of the book we see a fair-haired, puffy-faced woman, with a complexion reddened by the cooking-stove, pouting somewhat peevishly at a great lout with a no less ruddy complexion who is pointing two extremely long fingers at her in a truly comical attitude of reproach. It must be admitted that the Precursor's solemn gesture in the Crucifixion is utterly ridiculous in this unhappy imitation, where the two fingers are extended in what looks like insolent derision. As for the curly-wigged fellow himself, with that coarse, fat, red face you would take him for a grocer rather than an angel, if it were not for the sceptre he is holding in one hand and the green-and-red wings stuck to his back. And one can but wonder how the artist who created the little white Virgin could possibly represent Our Lord's Mother in the guise of this disagreeable slut with a smirk on her swollen lips, all rigged up in her Sunday best, a rich green dress set off by a bright vermilion lining.

 

But if this wing leaves you with a rather painful impression, the other one sends you into raptures, for it is a truly magnificent work--unique, I would say, among the world's paintings. In it Grünewald shows himself to be the boldest painter who has ever lived, the first artist who has tried to convey, through the wretched colours of this earth, a vision of the Godhead in abeyance on the cross and then renewed, visible to the naked eye, on rising from the tomb. With him we are, mystically speaking, in at the death, contemplating an art with its back to the wall and forced further into the beyond, this time, than any theologian could have instructed the artist to go. The scene is as follows:

 

As the sepulchre opens, some drunks in helmet and armour are knocked head over heels to lie sprawling in the foreground, sword in hand; one of them turns a somersault further off, behind the tomb, and lands on his head, while Christ surges upwards, stretching out his arms and displaying the bloody commas on his hands.

 

This is a strong and handsome Christ, fair-haired and brown-eyed, with nothing in common with the Goliath whom we watched decomposing a moment ago, fastened by nails to the still green wood of a gibbet. All round this soaring body are rays emanating from it which have begun to blur its outline; already the contours of the face are fluctuating, the features hazing over, the hair dissolving into a halo of melting gold. The light spreads out in immense curves ranging from bright yellow to purple, and finally shading off little by little into a pale blue which in turn merges with the dark blue of the night.

 

We witness here the revival of a Godhead ablaze with life: the formation of a glorified body gradually escaping from the carnal shell, which is disappearing in an apotheosis of flames of which it is itself the source and seat.

 

Christ, completely transfigured, rises aloft in smiling majesty; and one is tempted to regard the enormous halo which encircles him, shining brilliantly in the starry night like that star of the Magi in whose smaller orb Grünewald's contemporaries used to place the infant Jesus when painting the Bethlehem story--one is tempted to regard this halo as the morning star returning, like the Precursor in the Crucifixion, at night: as the Christmas star grown larger since its birth in the sky, like the Messiah's body since his Nativity on earth.

 

Having dared to attempt this tour de force, Grünewald has carried it out with wonderful skill. In clothing the Saviour he has tried to render the changing colours of the fabrics as they are volatilized with Christ. Thus the scarlet robe turns a bright yellow, the closer it gets to the light--source of the head and neck, while the material grows lighter, becoming almost diaphanous in this river of gold. As for the white shroud which Jesus is carrying off with him, it reminds one of those Japanese fabrics which by subtle gradations change from one colour to another, for as it rises it takes on a lilac tint first of all, then becomes pure violet, and finally, like the last blue circle of the nimbus, merges into the indigo-black of the night.

 

The triumphant nature of this ascension is admirably conveyed. For once the apparently meaningless phrase 'the contemplative life of painting' takes on a meaning, for with Grünewald we enter into the domain of the most exalted mysticism and glimpse, through the simulacra of colour and line, the well-nigh tangible emergence of the Godhead from its physical shell.

 

It is here, rather than in his horrific Calvaries, that the undeniable originality of this prodigious artist is to be seen.

 

This Crucifixion and this Resurrection are obviously the Colmar Museum's brightest jewels, but the amazing colourist that was Grünewald did not exhaust the resources of his art with these two pictures; we shall find more of his work, this time stranger yet less exalted, in another double-faced diptych which also stands in the middle of the old nave.

 

It depicts, on one side the Nativity and a concert of angels, on the other a visit from the Patriarch of the Cenobites to St. Paul the Hermit, and the temptation of St. Anthony.

 

In point of fact, this Nativity, which is rather an exaltation of the divine Motherhood, is one with the concert of angels, as is shown by the utensils, which overlap from one wing to the other and are cut in two when the panels are brought together.

 

The subject of this dual painting is admittedly obscure. In the left-hand wing the Virgin is seen against a distant, bluish landscape dominated by a monastery on a hill--doubtless Isenheim Abbey; on her left, beside a crib, a tub and a pot, a fig-tree is growing, and a rose-tree on her right. Fair-haired, with a florid complexion, thick lips, a high, bare brow and a straight nose, she is wearing a blue cloak over a carmine-coloured dress. She is not the servant-girl type, and has not come straight from the sheep-pen like her sister in the Annunciation, but for all that she is still just an honest German woman bred on beer and sausages: a farmer's wife, if you like, with servant-girls under her who look like the Mary of that other picture, but nothing more. As for the Child, who is very lifelike and very skilfully portrayed, he is a sturdy little Swabian peasant, with a snub nose, sharp eyes, and a pink, smiling face. And finally, in the sky above Jesus and Mary and below God the Father, who is smothered in clouds of orange and gold, swarms of angels are whirling about like scattered petals caught in a shower of saffron sunbeams.

 

All these figures are completely earthbound, and the artist seems to have realized this, for there is a radiance emanating from the Child's head and lighting up the Mother's fingers and face. Grünewald obviously wanted to convey the idea of divinity by means of these gleams of light filtering through the flesh, but this time he was not bold enough to achieve the desired effect: the luminous glow fails to conceal either the vulgarity of the face or the coarseness of the features.

 

So far, in any event, the subject is clear enough, but the same cannot be said of the complementary scene on the right-hand wing.

 

Here, in an ultra-Gothic chapel, with gold-scumbled pinnacles bristling with sinuous statues of prophets nestling among chicory, hop, knapweed and holly leaves, on top of slender pillars entwined by plants with singularly jagged leaves and twisted stems, are angels of every description, some in human form and others appearing simply as heads fitted into haloes shaped like funeral wreaths or collarettes: angels with pink or blue faces, angels with multicoloured or monochrome wings, angels playing the angelot or the theorbo or the viola d'amore, and all of them, like the pasty-faced, unhealthy-looking one in the foreground, gazing in adoration at the great Virgin in the other wing.

 

The effect is decidedly odd, but even odder is the appearance, beside these pure spirits and between two of the slender columns in the chapel, of another, smaller Virgin, this time crowned with a diadem of red-hot iron, who, her face suffused with a golden halo, her eyes cast down and her hands joined in prayer, is kneeling before the other Virgin and the Child.

 

What is the significance of this strange creature, who evokes the same weird impression as the girl with the cock and the money-pouch in Rembrandt's Night Watch--a girl likewise nimbed with a gentle radiance? Is this phantom queen a diminutive St. Anne or some other saint? She looks just like a Madonna, and a Madonna is what she must be. In painting her Grünewald has clearly tried to reproduce the light effect which blurs the features of Christ in his Resurrection, but it is difficult to see why he should do so here. It may be, of course, that he wanted to represent the Virgin, crowned after her Assumption, returning to earth with her angelic retinue to pay homage to that Motherhood which was her supreme glory; or, on the other hand, she may still be in this world, foreseeing the celebration of her triumph after her painful life among us. But this last hypothesis is promptly demolished by Mary's unheeding attitude, for she appears to be completely unaware of the presence of the winged musicians, and intent only on amusing the Child. In fact, these are all unsupported theories, and it would be simpler to admit that we just do not understand. I need only add that these two pictures are painted in loud colours which are sometimes positively shrill to make it clear that this faery spectacle presented in a crazy Gothic setting leaves one feeling vaguely uncomfortable.

 

As a refreshing contrast, however, one can always linger in front of the panel showing St. Anthony talking with St. Paul; it is the only restful picture in the whole series, and one is already so accustomed to the vehemence of the others that one is almost tempted to find it too unexciting, to consider it too anodyne.

 

In a rural setting that is all bright blue and moss green, the two recluses are sitting face to face: St. Anthony curiously attired, for a man who has just crossed the desert, in a pearl-grey cloak, a blue robe and a pink cap; St. Paul dressed in his famous robe of palms, which has here become a mere robe of rushes, with a doe at his feet and the traditional raven flying through the trees to bring him the usual hermit's meal of a loaf of bread.

 

In this picture the colouring is quiet and delicate, the composition superb: the subject may have put a certain restraint upon Grünewald, but he has lost none of the qualities which make him a great painter. To anyone who prefers the cordial, expected welcome of a pleasing picture to the uncertainties of a visit to some more turbulent work of art, this wing will undoubtedly seem the nicest, soundest and sanest of them all. It constitutes a halt in the man's mad gallop--but only a brief halt, for he sets off again almost at once, and in the next wing we find him giving free rein to his fancy, caracolling along dangerous paths, and sounding a full fanfare of colours--as violent and tempestuous as he was in his other works.

 

The Temptation of St. Anthony must have given him enormous pleasure, for this picture of a demons' sabbath waging war on the good monk called for the most convulsive attitudes, the most extravagant forms and the most vehement colours. Nor was he slow to grasp this opportunity of exploiting the droller side of the supernatural. But if there is extraordinary life and colour in the Temptation, there is also utter confusion. Indeed, the picture is in such a tangle that it is impossible to distinguish between the limbs of the various devils, and one would be hard put to it to say which paw or wing beating or scratching the Saint belonged to which animal or bird.

 

The frantic hurly-burly in which these creatures are taking part is none the less captivating for that. It is true that Grünewald cannot match the ingenious variety and the very orderly disorder of a Bruegel or a Hieronymus Bosch, and that there is nothing here to compare with the diversity of clearly delineated and discreetly insane larvae which you find in the Fall of the Angels in the Brussels Museum: our painter has a more restricted fancy, a more limited imagination. He gives us a few demons' heads stuck with stags' antlers or straight horns, a shark's maw, and what appears to be the muzzle of a walrus or a calf; the rest of his superall belong to the bird family, and with arms in place of feet look like the offspring of empuses that have been covered by angry cocks.

 

All these escapees from an infernal aviary are clustered excitedly around the anchorite, who has been thrown on his back and is being dragged along by his hair. Looking rather like a Dutch version of Father Becker with his flowing beard, St. Anthony is screaming with fear, trying to protect his face with one hand, and in the other clutching his stick and his rosary, which are being pecked at furiously by a hen wearing a carapace in lieu of feathers. The monstrous creatures are all closing in for the kill; a sort of giant parrot, with a green head, crimson arms, yellow claws and grey-gold plumage, is on the point of clubbing the monk, while another demon is pulling off his grey cloak and chewing it up, and yet others are joining in, swinging rib-bones and frantically tearing his clothes to get at him.

 

Considered simply as a man, St. Anthony is wonderfully lifelike in gesture and expression; and once you have taken your fill of the whole dizzy scramble, you may notice two thought-provoking details which you overlooked at first, hidden as they seem to be in the bottom corners. One, in the right-hand corner, is a sheet of paper on which a few lines are written; the other is a weird, hooded creature, sitting quite naked beside the Saint, and writhing in agony.

 

The paper bears this inscription: Ubi eras Jhesu bone, ubi eras, quare non affuisti ut sanares vulnera mea?--which can be translated as: 'Where were you, good Jesus, where were you? And why did you not come and dress my wounds?'

 

This plaint, doubtless uttered by the hermit in his distress, is heard and answered, for if you look right at the top of the picture you will see a legion of angels coming down to release the captive and overpower the demons.

 

It may be asked whether this desperate appeal is not also being made by the monster lying in the opposite corner of the picture and raising his weary head heavenwards. And is this creature a larva or a man? Whatever it may be, one thing is certain: no painter has ever gone so far in the representation of putrefaction, nor does any medical textbook contain a more frightening illustration of skin disease. This bloated body, moulded in greasy white soap mottled with blue, and mamillated with boils and carbuncles, is the hosanna of gangrene, the song of triumph of decay!

 

Was Grünewald's intention to depict a demon in its most despicable form? I think not. On careful examination the figure in question is seen to be a decomposing, suffering human being. And if it is recalled that this picture, like the others, comes from the Anthonite Abbey of Isenheim, everything becomes clear. A brief account of the aims of this Order will, I think, suffice to explain the riddle. The Anthonite or Anthonine Order was founded in the Dauphiné in 1093 by a nobleman called Gaston whose son was cured of the burning sickness through the intercession of St. Anthony; its raison d'être was the care of people suffering from this type of disease. Placed under the Rule of St. Augustine, the Order spread rapidly across France and Germany, and became so popular in the latter country that during Grünewald's lifetime, in 1502, the Emperor Maximilian I granted it, as a mark of esteem, the right to bear the Imperial arms on its escutcheon, together with the blue tau which the monks themselves were to wear on their black habit.

 

Now there was at that time an Anthonite abbey at Isenheim which had already stood there for over a century. The burning sickness was still rife, so that the monastery was in fact a hospital. We know too that it was the Abbot of Isenheim, or rather, to use the terminology of this Order, the Preceptor, Guido Guersi, who commissioned this polyptych from Grünewald.

 

It is now easy to understand the inclusion of St. Anthony in this series of paintings. It is also easy to understand the terrifying realism and meticulous accuracy of Grünewald's Christ-figures, which he obviously modelled on the corpses in the hospital mortuary; the proof is that Dr. Richet, examining his Crucifixions from the medical point of view, states that 'attention to detail is carried to the point of indicating the inflammatory halo which develops around minor wounds'. Above all, it is easy to understand the picture--painted from life in the hospital ward--of that hideous, agonized figure in the Temptation, which is neither a larva nor a demon, but simply a poor wretch suffering from the burning sickness.

 

It should be added that the written descriptions of this scourge which have come down to us correspond in every respect with Grünewald's pictorial description, so that any doctor who wants to know what form this happily extinct disease took can go and study the sores and the affected tissues shown in the painting at Colmar.

 

Two doctors have given their attention to this figure: Charcot and Richet. The former, in Les Syphilitiques dans l'art, sees it above all as a picture of the so--called 'Neapolitan disease'; the latter, in L'Art et la Médecine, hesitates between a disease of that type and leprosy.

 

The burning sickness, also known as holy fire, hell fire and St. Anthony's fire, first appeared in Europe in the tenth century, and swept the whole continent. It partook of both gangrenous ergotism and the plague, showing itself in the form of apostems and abscesses, gradually spreading to the arms and legs, and after burning them up, detaching them little by little from the torso. That at least is how it was described in the fifteenth century by the biographers of St. Lydwine, who was afflicted with the disease. Dom Félibien likewise mentions it in his History of Paris, where he says of the epidemic which ravaged France in the twelfth century: 'The victims' blood was affected by a poisonous inflammation which consumed the whole body, producing tumours which developed into incurable ulcers and caused thousands of deaths.'

 

What is certain is that not a single remedy proved successful in checking the disease, and that often it was cured only by the intercession of the Virgin and the saints.

 

The Virgin's intervention is still commemorated by the shrine of Notre-Dame des Ardents in Picardy, and there is a well-known cult of the holy candle of Arras. As for the saints, apart from St. Anthony, people invoked St. Martin, who had saved the lives of a number of victims gathered together in a church dedicated to him; prayers were also said to St. Israel, Canon of Le Dorat, to St. Gilbert, Bishop of Meaux, and finally to Geneviève. This was because, one day in the reign of Louis the Fat when her shrine was being carried in solemn procession around the Cathedral of Paris, she cured a crowd of people afflicted with the disease who had taken refuge in the basilica, and this miracle caused such a stir that, in order to preserve the memory of it, a church was built in the same city under the invocation of Sainte-Geneviève des Ardents; it no longer exists, but the Parisian Breviary still celebrates the Saint's feast-day under that name.

 

But to return to Grünewald, who, I repeat, has clearly left us a truthful picture of a victim of this type of gangrene, the Colmar Museum also contains a predella Entombment, with a livid Christ speckled with flecks of blood, a hard-faced St. John with pale ochre-coloured hair, a heavily veiled Virgin and a Magdalen disfigured by tears. However, this predella is merely a feeble echo of Grünewald's great Crucifixions: it would be astounding, seen on its own in a collection of canvases by other painters, but here it is not even astonishing.

 

Mention must be made as well of two rectangular wings: one depicting a little bandy-legged St. Sebastian larded with arrows; the other--a panel cited by Sandrart--St. Anthony holding the Tau, the crozier of his Order--a St. Anthony so solemn and so thoughtful that he can even ignore the demon busily breaking window-panes behind him. And that brings us to the end of our review of this master-painter's works. You take leave of him spellbound for ever. And if you look for his origins you will look in vain, for none of the painters who preceded him or who were his contemporaries resembles him.

 

One can perhaps discern a certain foreign influence in Grünewald's work; as Goutzwiller points out in his booklet on the Colmar Museum, it is possible to see a reminiscence or a vague imitation of the contemporary Italian landscape manner in the way in which he plans his settings and sprinkles his skies with blue. Had he travelled in Italy, or had he seen pictures by Italian masters in Germany--perhaps at Isenheim itself, since the Preceptor Guido Guersi, to judge by his name, hailed from beyond the Alps? No one knows; but in any event, the very existence of this influence is open to question. It is, in fact, by no means certain that this man who anticipates modern painting, reminding one sometimes of Renoir with his acid colours and of the Japanese with his skilful nuances, did not arrange his landscapes without benefit of memories or copies, painting them from nature as he found them in the countryside of Thuringia or Swabia; for he could easily have seen the bright bluish backcloth of his Nativity in those parts. Nor do I share Goutzwiller's opinion that there is an unmistakable 'Italian touch' in the inclusion of a cluster of palm-trees in the picture of the two anchorites. The introduction of this type of tree into an Oriental landscape is so natural and so clearly called for by the subject that it does not imply any outside suggestion or influence. In any event, if Grünewald did know the work of foreign artists, it is surprising that he should have confined himself to borrowing their method of arranging and depicting skies and woods, while refraining from copying their technique of composition and their way of painting Jesus and the Virgin, the angels and the saints.

 

His landscapes, I repeat, are definitely German, as is proved by certain details. These may strike many people as having been invented to create an effect, to add a note of pathos to the drama of Calvary, yet in fact they are strictly accurate. This is certainly true of the bloody soil in which the Karlsruhe cross is planted, and which is no product of the imagination. Grünewald did much of his painting in Thuringia, where the earth, saturated with iron oxide, is red; I myself have seen it sodden with rain and looking like the mud of a slaughter-house, a swamp of blood.

 

As for his human figures, they are all typically German, and he owes just as little to Italian art when it comes to the arrangement of dress fabrics. These he has really woven himself, and they are so distinctive that they would be sufficient in themselves to identify his pictures among those of all other painters. With him we are far removed from the little puffs, the sharp elbows and the short frills of the Primitives; he drapes his clothes magnificently in flowing movements and long folds, using materials that are closely woven and deeply dyed. In the Karlsruhe Crucifixion they have something about them suggestive of bark ripped from a tree: the same harsh quality as the picture itself. At Colmar this impression is not so pronounced, but they still reveal the multiplicity of layers, the slight stiffness of texture, the ridges and the hollows which are the hallmark of Grünewald's work; this is particularly true of Christ's loincloth and St. John the Baptist's cloak.

 

Here again he is nobody's pupil, and we have no alternative but to put him down in the history of painting as an exceptional artist, a barbarian of genius who bawls out coloured prayers in an original dialect, an outlandish tongue.

 

His tempestuous soul goes from one extreme to another, restless and storm-tossed even during moments of deliberate repose; but just as it is deeply moving when meditating on the episodes of the Passion, so it is erratic and well-nigh baroque when reflecting on the joys of the Nativity. The truth is that it simpers and stammers when there is no torturing to be done, for Gruenwald is the painter of tombs rather than cribs, and he can only depict the Virgin successfully when he makes her suffer. Otherwise he sees her as red-faced and vulgar, and there is such a difference between his Madonnas of the sorrowful mysteries and his Madonnas of the joyful mysteries that one wonders whether he was not following an aesthetic system, a scheme of intentional antitheses.

 

It is, indeed, quite likely that he decided that the quality of divine Motherhood would only come out clearly under the stress of the suffering endured at the foot of the cross. This theory would certainly fit in with the one he adopted whenever he wished to glorify the divine nature of the Son, for he always painted the living Christ as the Psalmist and Isaiah pictured him--as the poorest and ugliest of men--and only restored his divine appearance to him after his Passion and death. In other words, Grünewald made the ugliness of the crucified Messiah the symbol of all the sins of the world which Christ took upon himself, thus illustrating a doctrine which was expounded by Tertullian, St. Cyprian, St. Cyril, St. Justin and countless others, and which was current for a good part of the Middle Ages.

 

He may also have been the victim of a technique which Rembrandt was to use after him: the technique of suggesting the idea of divinity by means of the light emanating from the very face that is supposed to represent it. Admirable in his Resurrection of Christ, this secretion of light is less convincing when he applies it to the little Virgin in the Angelic Concert and completely ineffective when he uses it to portray the fundamentally vulgar Child in the Nativity.

 

He probably placed too much reliance on these devices, crediting them with an efficacy they could not possess. It should, indeed, be noted that, if the light spinning like an artificial sun around the risen Christ suggests to us a vision of a divine world, it is because Christ's face lends itself to that idea by its gentle beauty. It strengthens rather than weakens the significance and effect of that huge halo, which in turn softens and enhances the features, veiling them in a mist of gold.

 

Such is the complete Grünewald polyptych in the Colmar Museum. I do not intend to deal here with those paintings attributed to him which are scattered among other art-galleries and churches, and which for the most part are not his work. I shall also pass over the Munich St. Erasmus and St. Maurice, which, if it must be accepted as his work, is cold and uncharacteristic; I shall even set aside the Fall of Jesus, which like the famous Crucifixion has been transferred from Cassel to Karlsruhe, and which is undoubtedly genuine. It shows a blue-clad Christ on his knees, dragging his cross, in the midst of a group of soldiers dressed in red and executioners dressed in white with pistachio stripes. He is gritting his teeth and digging his fingernails into the wood, but his expression is less of suffering than of anger, and he looks like a damned soul. This, in short, is a bad Grünewald.

 

Confining myself therefore to the brilliant, awe-inspiring flower of his art, the Karlsruhe Crucifixion and the nine pieces at Colmar, I find that his work can only be defined by coupling together contradictory terms.

 

The man is, in fact, a mass of paradoxes and contrasts. This Orlando furioso of painting is forever leaping from one extravagance to another, but when necessary the frenzied demoniac turns into a highly skilled artist who is up to every trick of the trade. Though he loves nothing better than a startling clash of colours, he can also display, when in good form, an extremely delicate sense of light and shade--his Resurrection is proof of that--and he knows how to combine the most hostile hues by gently coaxing them together with adroit chromatic diplomacy.

 

He is at once naturalistic and mystical, savage and sophisticated, ingenuous and deceitful. One might say that he personifies the fierce and pettifogging spirit of the Germany of his time, a Germany excited by the ideas of the Reformation. Was he involved, like Cranach and Dürer, in that emotional religious movement which was to end in the most austere coldness of the heart, once the Protestant swamp had frozen over? I cannot say-- though he certainly lacks nothing of the harsh fervour and vulgar faith which characterized the illusory springtide of the early sixteenth century. For me, however, he personifies still more the religious piety of the sick and the poor. That awful Christ who hung dying over the altar of the Isenheim hospital would seem to have been made in the image of the ergotics who prayed to him; they must surely have found consolation in the thought that this God they invoked had suffered the same torments as themselves, and had become flesh in a form as repulsive as their own; and they must have felt less forsaken, less contemptible. It is easy to see why Grünewald's name, unlike the names of Holbein, Cranach and Dürer, is not to be found in the account-books or the records of commissions left by emperors and princes. His pestiferous Christ would have offended the taste of the courts; he could only be understood by the sick, the unhappy and the monks, by the suffering members of Christ.

   

...of hosiery, undies, and a scarf

When a page of type was set, the printer would then hammer the type level by hitting a wooden block "planer" with a mallet across the top of the type. This would ensure that all type was type height and ensure an even print.

 

Edinburgh City of Print is a joint project between City of Edinburgh Museums and the Scottish Archive of Print and Publishing History Records (SAPPHIRE). The project aims to catalogue and make accessible the wealth of printing collections held by City of Edinburgh Museums. For more information about the project please visit www.edinburghcityofprint.org

Interactive Audiovisual Installation

Visualisation of a group of particles who live inside an audio-reactive simulated physics system.

The system is composed by several gravitational fields that react to sound. The attract/repel forces of each gravitational field are related to the sound frequencies (analysed in real-time). The forces make the particles move around the system, creating this way a visual relation between the sound and the particles' motion.

The audience, through a gamepad, can interact with the system changing parameters and manipulating extra forces.

 

video here: vimeo.com/84192067

 

By Rodrigo Carvalho.

Track: Most People Have Been Trained to Be Bored " Tools that are no good" (Gustavo Costa).

 

Exhibited in January at Axa Building Porto.

 

* Done in Processing.

Using Toxic physics library (toxiclibs.org/) and Procontroll lib (creativecomputing.cc/p5libs/procontroll/)

 

** This visualization is a derivation/evolution from this vimeo.com/81705600 / visiophone-lab.com/wp/?p=384and this vimeo.com/75788989

My friend and professional photographer Ed is looking for images to catch in the church San Bernardino delle Ossa. ( Milan, Italy)

 

www.beeldvanger.nl

 

San Bernardino alle Ossa is a church in Milan, best known for its ossuary, a small side chapel decorated with numerous human skulls and bones. In 1210, when an adjacent cemetery ran out of space, a room was built to hold bones. A church was attached in 1269.

    

Started drawing some icons for our compose button. My faves are the pencil/paper one, and the keyboard (even though I know the keyboard isn't too clear, I think it's pretty fun).

 

Votes and suggestions welcome! Icons are fun.

FR Astérolide maritime - EN Mediterranean beach-daisy - ES Estrellada de mar

 

Pallenis maritima (L.) Greuter (feuillage)

Rochers côtiers (alt. 20 m)

La Fabriquilla (province d'Alméria, Andalousie, Espagne)

 

Indigène (Ouest du Bassin méditerranéen)

Jeudi 10 septembre 2015. J'aboutis à Brookfield Place, un complexe de bureaux entre Yonge Str, Wellington Str, Bay Str,et Front Str. Composée de 2 tours jumelles reliées par 1 magnifique galerie de verre de 5 étages et 115m long (1992)

 

Toronto est la plus grande ville du Canada et la capitale de la province de l'Ontario. Elle se situe dans le sud-est du Canada, sur la rive nord-ouest du lac Ontario. Selon le recensement de 2011, Toronto compte 2 615 060 habitants, faisant d'elle la cinquième ville la plus peuplée en Amérique du Nord, et l'une des plus importantes de la région des Grands Lacs. Son aire métropolitaine quant à elle compte 6 054 191 habitants et est située au cœur de la mégalopole du Golden Horseshoe (fer à cheval doré), région extrêmement urbanisée abritant plus de 8 759 312 habitants en 2011.

 

Toronto est une des plus importantes places financières dans le monde. Bay Street est le foyer de la Bourse de Toronto, la septième plus grande au monde sur le plan de la capitalisation boursière, et abrite les cinq plus grandes banques canadiennes. La majorité des entreprises canadiennes ont leur siège social dans la ville. Les secteurs économiques les plus importants sont la finance, les télécommunications, l'aérospatial, les transports, les médias, les arts, le cinéma, la production de séries télévisées, la publication, l'informatique, la recherche médicale, l'éducation, le tourisme et les sports.

 

Toronto est une des villes les plus visitées d'Amérique et constitue le troisième centre de l'industrie cinématographique et télévisuelle d'Amérique du Nord. Elle abrite de nombreux établissements d'enseignement supérieur réputés, dont l'université de Toronto, qui figure dans le classement des meilleures universités dans le monde. Toronto est une des villes les plus cosmopolites au monde, 49 % des résidents sont nés en dehors du Canada, faisant de la ville une des plus importantes destinations au monde en termes d'immigration. Toronto est classée comme une des meilleures villes en termes de qualité de vie par l'Economist Intelligence Unit et Mercer. De plus, elle est considérée comme la ville du Canada la plus chère pour y vivre. Ses habitants s'appellent les Torontois.

Toronto est d'abord un ancien fort français du nom de fort Rouillé fondé en 1750, dont le site fut abandonné en 1759. Au cours de la Révolution américaine, la région de Toronto a été le refuge de nombreux colons britanniques loyalistes en provenance des provinces instables. L'arrivée des loyalistes, réfugiés américains, poussa les autorités britanniques à diviser cette province en deux parties avec l'Acte constitutionnel de 1791. La colonie du Haut-Canada fut ainsi établie sous le gouverneur John Graves Simcoe (1752-1806).

Simcoe s'établit à Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake), mais en 1793 Guy Carleton, premier baron Dorchester, le gouverneur général du Canada accepta le second choix de Simcoe, un site sur le lac Ontario qu'il nomma York d'après Frederick, duc d'York et Albany, le second fils du roi George III. York a été le nom de la ville de Toronto de 1793 à 1834. Cette appellation reste en partie inscrite dans la cartographie du Toronto actuel par l'existence de quartiers comme York, East York et North York. Le 1er février 1796, Simcoe choisit York comme capitale du Haut-Canada en remplacement de Newark en pensant que la nouvelle ville était moins vulnérable aux attaques américaines. Il y installa le gouvernement et l'Assemblée législative du Haut-Canada en 1796. Fort York fut construit à l'entrée du port naturel de la ville, abrité par un long banc de sable en forme de péninsule.

Durant la guerre de 1812, la ville capitule lors de la bataille de York en 1813 et est pillée par les forces américaines.

La reddition de la ville fut négociée par John Strachan. Au cours des cinq jours d'occupation, les soldats américains détruisirent une grande partie de Fort York et mirent le feu aux bâtiments abritant le parlement. Le sac d'York fut la motivation première de l'incendie de Washington par les troupes britanniques en 1814.

Le 6 mars 1834, l'agglomération de York devient Toronto, l'année de son incorporation comme ville. Elle retrouve ainsi son nom original. À cette époque Toronto comptait environ 9 000 habitants dont les esclaves afro-américains qui avaient fui les Black Codes qui avaient été instaurés dans certains États. L'esclavage fut aboli dans tout le Haut-Canada en 1834. Le politicien réformiste William Lyon Mackenzie devint le premier maire de la ville de Toronto. C'est lui qui dirigea la rébellion infructueuse du Haut-Canada en 1837 contre le gouvernement colonial britannique.

Le nom Toronto était autrefois celui d'un lac d'assez bonnes dimensions (mais qui n'est pas un des Grands Lacs) se trouvant à environ 120 kilomètres au nord de l'agglomération et qui se nomme aujourd'hui lac Simcoe (du nom du premier gouverneur du Haut-Canada qui fit de York / Toronto sa capitale). Puis, par une de ces dérives toponymiques assez typiques en Amérique du Nord, ce fut le nom d'une petite rivière qui arrose le site actuel de la ville et qui s'appelle aujourd'hui la rivière Humber. C'est d'après le nom de cette Rivière Toronto que fut dénommée initialement la ville, sans doute sur le modèle de Chicago qui avait été nommée d'après une des baies du lac Michigan. Le mot Toronto signifie « l'endroit où les racines des arbres trempent dans l'eau » dans un dialecte mohawk de l'est du Canada. La périphrase française usuelle pour Toronto est la Ville-Reine.

Toronto était la principale destination des immigrants au Canada et la croissance de la ville fut particulièrement rapide au cours du XIXe siècle. Le premier important afflux de population eut lieu au cours de la Grande famine en Irlande. En 1851, la population d'origine irlandaise était le groupe ethnique le plus important de la ville.

Au cours de son histoire, Toronto a été choisie à deux reprises comme capitale de la province du Canada : une première fois entre 1849 et 1852 à cause de troubles à Montréal puis une deuxième fois entre 1856 et 1858. Lors de la création de la province de l'Ontario en 1867, Toronto en fut choisie comme capitale. Le siège de l'Assemblée Législative et du gouvernement de l'Ontario furent situés dans Queen's Park. La ville de Toronto accueille également du fait de son statut de capitale provinciale la résidence du lieutenant-gouverneur, représentant de la Couronne.

Au XIXe siècle, un important système de traitement des déchets a été construit et les rues ont été éclairées par un éclairage au gaz. Des lignes de chemin de fer longues distances furent construites. La compagnie de chemin de fer du Grand Tronc du Canada et la Northern Railway of Canada se réunirent dans la construction de la première Gare Union au centre-ville où l'on retrouvait Toronto Belt Line Railway.

En 1891, les tramways à traction hippomobile furent remplacés par des véhicules électriques quand la ville de Toronto accorda une franchise de trente ans à la Toronto Railway Company. En 1921, les transports publics passèrent sous le contrôle de la municipalité avec la création de la Toronto Transportation Commission, renommée plus tard en Toronto Transit Commission.

En 1904, le grand incendie de Toronto détruisit une partie importante du centre de Toronto. Si la ville fut cependant rapidement reconstruite, les dégâts ont coûté plus de dix millions de dollars. Cet événement a entraîné un durcissement de la législation en matière de sécurité incendie et le développement des services de pompiers de la ville.

Au cours de la fin du XIXe siècle et du début du XXe, la ville de Toronto accueillit à nouveau de nombreux immigrants, principalement des Allemands, des Français, des Italiens et des Juifs venus de différents pays d'Europe de l'Est. Ils furent bientôt suivis par les Chinois, les Russes, les Polonais et les immigrants d'autres pays d'Europe de l'Est. Ceux-ci vivent principalement dans des baraques surpeuplées situées dans des quartiers pauvres comme The Ward qui était situé autour de Bay street. Malgré sa croissance importante, Toronto reste dans les années 1920 la seconde ville du Canada sur le plan économique et sur celui de la population, derrière la ville plus ancienne de Montréal. Néanmoins, en 1934, la bourse de Toronto devient la plus importante du pays.

En 1951, la population de Toronto dépassa le million d'habitants avec le commencement d'une grande suburbanisation. En 1953 la Municipality of Metropolitian Toronto fut créée par le gouvernement de l'Ontario pour regrouper plusieurs municipalités de l'ancien comté de York (notamment North York, Scarborough et Etobicoke).

En 1954, la ville fut frappée par l'ouragan Hazel. 81 personnes furent tuées dans la région de Toronto, près de 1 900 familles se retrouvèrent sans logement et l'ensemble des dégâts fut estimé à plus de 25 millions de dollars. À cette époque, plusieurs entreprises d'importance nationale et multinationale ont déménagé leur siège social de Montréal à Toronto et dans d'autres villes de l'Ouest canadien en partie en raison de l'incertitude politique qui régnait à cause de la résurgence des mouvements souverainistes au Québec.

Dès les années 1960, de grands projets immobiliers sont entrepris comme la construction de la First Canadian Place, haute tour (72 étages) blanche du centre-ville qui sera le premier grand projet du futur milliardaire Paul Reichmann.

En 1971, Toronto comptait plus de deux millions d'habitants et dans les années 1980, elle devint la ville la plus peuplée et le principal centre économique du Canada, dépassant Montréal.

En 1998, la municipalité régionale disparaît au profit d'une seule ville, Toronto, le nouveau maire étant Mel Lastman, l'ancien maire de North York (devenu un quartier du nord du nouveau Toronto).

La ville de Toronto a une superficie de 630 km² avec une distance nord-sud maximale de 21 km et une distance est-ouest maximale de 43 km. La ville de Toronto possède une côte de 46 km de long sur la partie nord-ouest du lac Ontario. Les Toronto Islands et la partie portuaire de la ville, qui s'étendent vers l'intérieur du lac, offrent une protection à la partie de la côte qui se situe directement au sud de la partie centrale de la ville. Les limites de la ville sont constituées par le lac Ontario au sud, par le ruisseau Etobicoke et l'autoroute 427 à l'ouest, par l'avenue Steeles au nord et par la rivière rouge à l'est.

Il n'existe pas de style architectural prédominant dans la ville de Toronto. Les bâtiments de la ville sont d'âges et de conceptions extrêmement variés : de nombreuses constructions datent du milieu du XIXe siècle tandis que les grands immeubles furent érigés au cours de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle.

La tour CN est certainement le symbole de la ville de Toronto et la signature de son panorama urbain. Haute de 553,33 mètres, elle était la structure autoportante la plus haute du monde jusqu'en 2007, année durant laquelle elle a été dépassée par le Burj Khalifa. Elle est un important hub de télécommunication et l'une des principales attractions touristiques de la ville.

Toronto est l'une des villes du monde qui possède le plus de gratte-ciel ; elle possède en effet plus de 1 700 bâtiments de plus de 90 mètres de hauteur, ou plus de 25 tours d'une hauteur d'au moins 50 étages. La majorité de ces gratte-ciel sont des immeubles résidentiels ; les tours à vocation commerciale se regroupent principalement dans le centre-ville de Toronto, North York, Scarborough et dans la ville de banlieue de Mississauga. La tour First Canadian (Banque de Montréal) est le plus haut gratte-ciel de la ville avec 72 étages. Dernièrement, la façade blanche de la tour a été ravalée.

Au cours du début du XXIe siècle, de nombreux bâtiments culturels ont été profondément restaurés et modifiés : par exemple, le musée royal de l'Ontario, le Gardiner Museum, le musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario ou le Ontario College of Art & Design, désormais devenu Ontario College of Art & Design University.

Le quartier historique, nommé Distillery District et situé dans le coin sud-est du centre-ville, est l'exemple de zone industrielle d'architecture victorienne le plus important et le mieux conservée d'Amérique du Nord. Ce quartier piétonnier est maintenant orienté vers les arts, la culture et le divertissement.

La forte demande du marché immobilier a entrainé une multiplication des immeubles modernes dans le centre-ville et de nombreux gratte-ciels, principalement résidentiels et hôteliers, sont encore en construction : par exemple le Trump International Hotel and Tower, le Ritz-Carlton Toronto, le Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts le Shangri-La Toronto, ou la tour L (L pour Libeskind) de 57 étages conçue par Daniel Libeskind (achevée), et enfin l’agglomération de CityPlace avec plus de 22 tours résidentielles, la tour 1 Bloor de 75 étages (en construction), et l'agglomération de ParkPlace avec une vingtaine de nouvelles tours (en construction). D'autres projets résidentiels importants sont actuellement en cours de développement tels que l’agrandissement du quartier Regents Park et le tout nouveau projet West Donlands qui verra la venue de milliers de nouveaux habitants dans un quartier jadis industriel, et le nouveau quartier East Bayfront où sera construit un autre campus pour le collège George Brown (en construction).

A molecule composed of one triangle twist surrounded by 3 rhombus twists forming the spiral.

 

This is the first of several variations. In this one, 6 molecules join in the middle from pleats coming from each rhombus. 6 double size triangle twists complete the center.

 

EH paper and 80 divisions grid.

 

Una molécula compuesta por un giro triangular rodeado de 3 giros rómbicos que forman la espiral.

 

Esta es la primera de diversas variaciones. En ésta, 6 moléculas se unen en el centro, partiendo de pliegues que salen de cada rombo. Y 6 giros triangulares dobles completan el centro.

 

Papel EH y trama de 80 divisiones.

 

Schweiz / Wallis - Aletschgletscher

 

The Aletsch Glacier (German: Aletschgletscher, German pronunciation: [ˈalɛtʃˌɡlɛtʃɐ]) or Great Aletsch Glacier (Grosser Aletschgletscher) is the largest glacier in the Alps. It has a length of about 23 km (14 mi) (2014), has about a volume of 15.4 km3 (3.7 cu mi) (2011), and covers about 81.7 km2 (31.5 square miles) (2011) in the eastern Bernese Alps in the Swiss canton of Valais. The Aletsch Glacier is composed of four smaller glaciers converging at Konkordiaplatz, where its thickness was measured by the ETH to be still near 1 km (3,300 ft). It then continues towards the Rhône valley before giving birth to the Massa. The Aletsch Glacier is – like most glaciers in the world today – a retreating glacier. As of 2016, since 1980 it lost 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi) of its length, since 1870 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi), and lost also more than 300 metres (980 ft) of its thickness.

 

The whole area, including other glaciers is part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

 

Geography

 

The Aletsch Glacier is one of the many glaciers located between the cantons of Bern and Valais on the Bernese Alps located east of the Gemmi Pass. The whole area is considered to be the largest glaciated area in western Eurasia. The Fiescher and Aar Glaciers lying on the east have similar extensions.

 

Except the Finsteraarhorn, all the highest summits of the Bernese Alps are located within the drainage basin of the glacier. The Jungfrau and Mönch constitute the northern boundary; the Gross Fiescherhorn and Gross Wannenhorn lie on its east side; finally the culminating point, the Aletschhorn (4,193 m (13,757 ft)) is located on the west side.

 

Before reaching the maximum flow, four smaller glaciers converge at Konkordiaplatz:

 

From the western mouth flows the Grosser Aletschfirn, which runs along the northern foot of the Aletschhorn and Dreieckhorn. The Grosser Aletschfirn is supplied from the north by three notable firns: the Äbeni Flue-Firn, the Gletscherhornfirn, and the Kranzbergfirn. All of these firns have their starting points at around 3,800 m (12,500 ft). From the Äbeni Flue-Firn to the Konkordiaplatz, the Grosser Aletschfirn is 9 km (5.6 mi) long and is on average about 1.5 km (0.93 mi) wide. On the west, the Grosser Aletschfirn connects with the Langgletscher over the 3,158 m (10,361 ft) high glacier pass, the Lötschenlücke, into the Lötschental.

 

From the northwestern mouth flows the Jungfraufirn. This firn in fact represents the straight continuation of the Aletsch Glacier, yet is the shortest of the four tributary glaciers. It has its origin on the southern flank of the Mönch and at the eastern flank of the Jungfrau with the Jungfraujoch in-between. Up to the Konkordiaplatz, the Jungfraufirn is a scarce 7 km (4.3 mi) long, and returns to flank the Kranzberg in the west and the Trugberg in the east. At its highest point, it is 2 km (1.2 mi) wide, and further down it is still a good 1 km (0.62 mi) wide.

From the northern mouth flows the Ewigschneefäld ("Eternal snow field"), where its starting point takes the east flank of the Mönch. In an elbow, it flanks from Trugberg in the west and the Gross Fiescherhorn and Grünhorn in the east, flowing on to the Konkordiaplatz. Up to here, it is about 8 km (5.0 mi) long and averages about 1.2 km (0.75 mi) wide.

 

The mouth at the Konkordiaplatz it follows over a rise with a descent from 25 to 30 percent; here, the glacier is sharply split. Against the north is the Ewigschneefäld over the snow-covered pass of the Unners Mönchsjoch (3,518 m (11,542 ft)), connected with the catchment area of the Ischmeer (Wallis German for "Ice Sea"). Through the Obere Mönchsjoch (3,624 m (11,890 ft)) between the Mönch and the Trugberg stands a connection to the Jungfraufirn.

 

From the east, the smallest firn arrives at the Konkordiaplatz: the Grüneggfirn. Its northern arm begins below the Grünegghorn (3,860 m (12,660 ft)). The southern arm collects its snow and ice in the pot flanked by the Wyssnollen, Fiescher Gabelhorn (3,866 m (12,684 ft)), and the Chamm. Between the peaks Wyssnollen and Grünhörnli another glacier pass, the Grünhornlücke (3,279 m (10,758 ft)), connects to the Fieschergletscher. The Grüneggfirn enters the Konkordiaplatz in a gap between the mountainsides Grünegg to the north and the Fülberg to the south. On the western side of the Fülberg the Konkordia hut (mountain hut) overlooks the whole Konkordiaplatz at an altitude of 2,850 m (9,350 ft).

 

South of Konkordiaplatz, the glacier runs towards the valley of the Oberwallis (Upper Valais); on the east side, near Bettmeralp, lies a small glacier lake, Märjelensee (2,301 m (7,549 feet)); from the western side used to enter the Mittelaletschgletscher, but since the end of the 20th century the connection with the Aletsch Glacier has been lost. Further down, until about 1880, the Oberaletschgletscher did also enter the Aletsch Glacier at its mouth. But since then both glaciers have been retreating so far that they do not connect anymore (the Upper Aletsch Glacier did retreat about 1.3 km (0.81 mi) from its connecting point with the Aletsch Glacier), but both serve now only as the source of the river Massa. The river flows through the Lake Gibidum (a reservoir, and coincidentally representing the glacier's mouth region in the 19th century, which is a retreat of more than 4 km (2.5 mi)) and a gorge of the same name before reaching the Rhône near Brig.

 

Tourism

 

The area of the Aletsch Glacier and some surrounding valleys is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, thus it is protected and the facilities are mostly restricted to the external zones. The region between Belalp, Riederalp and Bettmeralp (which is called Aletsch Region) in Valais gives access to the lower part of the glacier. The Bettmerhorn and Eggishorn are popular view points and are accessible by cable car. The Massa river can be crossed since 2008 by a suspension bridge, thus allowing hikes between the left and the right part of the glacier.

 

The Jungfraujoch railway station (3,450 m) gives a direct access to the upper Aletsch Glacier as well as the normal route to the Jungfrau. It can be reached only from Interlaken in the canton Bern. Hiking paths pass the Konkordia Hut or the Hollandia Hut, eventually reaching other glaciers in the massif.

 

On the Riederfurka, at 2,065 metres between Riederalp and the glacier, is located the historic Villa Cassel, former summer residence of many famous and influential guests from the worlds of politics and finance. The house is now one of the centers of the environmental organization Pro Natura, which hosts a permanent exhibition about the site.

 

Panorama

 

Also at the mouth of the Konkordiaplatz from the east is the small but important Grüneggfirn (3 km long and averaging 600 m wide). This firn is connected in the over the glacier pass Grünhornlücke (3280 m high) to the Fiescher Glacier in the east.

 

From the Konkordiaplatz, the Aletsch Glacier has a width of approximately 1.5 km and moves at a rate of 180 m per year to the southeast on course with the Rhône valley, bordering the Dreieckhorn in the west and the great Wannenhorn in the east. It then takes a great right turn and bends ever closer to the southwest, running through the edge of the Eggishorn and Bettmerhorn of the Rhône valley. The lowest part of the great Aletsch Glacier is largely covered with detritus of the lateral and medial moraines. The glacier's toe currently lies about 1560 m high, far beneath the local tree line. From it springs the Massa stream, which flows through the Massa Canyon and is used to generate hydroelectric power. It continues through the upper half of the Brig, eventually entering into the Rhône.

 

The great Aletsch Glacier shows considerable ice cover. At the Konkordiaplatz, it has an ice cover of more than 900 m, but as it moves to the south, the greater part of the ice melts, gradually decreasing the cover to around 150 m.

 

The characteristically dark medial moraine, situated almost in the middle of the glacier, runs protracted in two bands from the Konkordiaplatz along the whole length to the glacier's toe-zone. This medial moraine is collected from the ice of three large ice fields, which all run together. The westernmost medial moraine has been named the Kranzbergmoräne, and the easternmost carries the name Trugbergmoräne.

 

Formation and evolution

 

The Aletsch Glacier resulted from the accumulation and compaction of snow. Glaciers generally form where snow and ice accumulation exceed snow and ice melt. As the snow and ice thicken it reaches a point where it begins to move due to a combination of gravity and pressure of the overlying snow and ice.

 

During the last glacial periods, the Aletsch Glacier was much larger than now. 18,000 years ago the lower part of the ridge, between Riederalp and the glacier, was completely covered by ice. Only the summits of the Bettmerhorn, Eggishorn and the Fusshörner were above the glacier. After an important retreat, the glacier again advanced 11,000 years ago during the last glacial period. The glacier reached the Rhône valley, and its ice the Riederfurka. Remaining moraines are still visible in the Aletsch Forest.

 

Since the last glaciation, the glacier generally retreated. However slight climatic changes happened and, in 1860, the glacier was 3 km longer and the ice level 200 m higher.

 

As for many other glaciers, records show a major longer-term retreat trend. The Aletsch Glacier receded by 3.2 km (2.0 mi) since 1870, including 1.3 km (0.81 mi) since 1980.[6] A record retreat of 114.6 metres (376 ft) happened in 2006 alone.

 

Since the end of the Little Ice Age in 1850 the glacier has lost 20 percent of its ice mass, considerably less than other glaciers in Switzerland, which have lost up to 50 percent. This is explained with the large size of the Aletsch Glacier, which reacts much slower to climate change than smaller glaciers. It is however estimated that, by 2100, the glacier will have only one tenth of its 2018 ice mass.

 

Photo opportunity

 

On August 18, 2007, photographer Spencer Tunick used hundreds of naked people in a "living sculpture" on the Aletsch Glacier in a photo shoot which he said was intended to draw attention to global warming and the shrinking of the world's glaciers. The temperature was about 10 °C (50 °F) at the time of the photo shoot. The 600 participants on the shrinking glacier said that they had volunteered for Tunick (a collaboration with Greenpeace) to let the world know about the effects of global warming on the melting Swiss glaciers.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Grosse Aletschgletscher ist der flächenmässig grösste und längste Gletscher der Alpen. Er befindet sich auf der Südabdachung der Berner Alpen im Schweizer Kanton Wallis. Die Länge des Gletschers beträgt 22,6 km, die Fläche wird mit 78,49 km² angegeben. Der Aletschgletscher entwässert über die Massa in die Rhone. Die Fläche des gesamten Einzugsgebiets der Massa beträgt 195 km², wovon 1973 etwa zwei Drittel vergletschert waren. Oft werden bei der Flächenangabe der Ober- und Mittelaletschgletscher einbezogen, da diese früher mit dem Grossen Aletschgletscher verbunden waren. Die gesamte vergletscherte Fläche einschliesslich dieser Gletscher betrug 1973 etwa 128 km², für das Jahr 1863 wird eine Fläche von 163 km² angenommen.

 

Ursprung am Konkordiaplatz

 

Der Ursprung des Grossen Aletschgletschers liegt in der rund 3800 m hoch gelegenen Jungfrau-Region. Am Konkordiaplatz (♁645905 / 150101), einer 6 km² grossen und nur wenig geneigten Eisfläche, fliessen drei mächtige Firnströme zusammen:

 

Von Westen mündet der Grosse Aletschfirn, der entlang dem Nordfuss von Aletschhorn und Dreieckhorn fliesst. Der Grosse Aletschfirn wird von Norden her durch drei weitere bedeutende Firne gespeist, nämlich durch den Ebnefluhfirn, den Gletscherhornfirn und den Kranzbergfirn. Alle diese Firne nehmen ihren Ausgangspunkt auf rund 3800 m ü. M. Einschliesslich des Ebnefluhfirns hat der Grosse Aletschfirn bis zum Konkordiaplatz eine Länge von 9 km und ist durchschnittlich fast 1,5 km breit. Gegen Westen ist der Grosse Aletschfirn über den 3173 m ü. M. hohen Gletscherpass der Lötschenlücke mit dem Langgletscher verbunden, der ins Lötschental abfliesst.

 

Von Nordwesten mündet der Jungfraufirn, der zwar die gerade Fortsetzung des Aletschgletschers darstellt, jedoch der kürzeste der drei Tributärgletscher ist. Er hat seinen Ursprung an der Südflanke des Mönchs, am Jungfraujoch und an der Ostflanke der Jungfrau. Bis zum Konkordiaplatz legt der Jungfraufirn eine Wegstrecke von knapp 7 km zurück und wird dabei im Westen vom Kranzberg, im Osten vom Trugberg flankiert. Er ist in seinem oberen Teil 2 km, weiter unten noch gut 1 km breit.

 

Von Norden mündet das Ewigschneefeld, das seinen Ausgangspunkt an der Ostflanke des Mönchs nimmt und in einem Bogen, flankiert vom Trugberg im Westen sowie dem Gross Fiescherhorn und dem Grünhorn im Osten, zum Konkordiaplatz fliesst. Bis hierher ist es ungefähr 8 km lang und durchschnittlich 1,2 km breit. Die Mündung in den Konkordiaplatz erfolgt über einen Steilhang mit einem Gefälle von 25 bis 30 %; der Gletscher ist hier stark zerklüftet. Gegen Norden ist das Ewigschneefeld über den firnbedeckten Pass des Unteren Mönchsjochs (3529 m ü. M.) mit dem Einzugsgebiet des Unteren Grindelwaldgletschers verbunden. Durch das Obere Mönchsjoch (3627 m ü. M.) zwischen dem Mönch und dem Trugberg besteht eine Verbindung zum Jungfraufirn. Ferner mündet am Konkordiaplatz von Osten noch der wesentlich kleinere Grüneggfirn (3 km lang und durchschnittlich 600 m breit). Dieser ist nach Osten über den Gletscherpass der Grünhornlücke (3280 m ü. M.) mit dem Fieschergletscher verbunden.

 

Weiterer Verlauf

 

Vom Konkordiaplatz aus bewegt sich der Eisstrom mit einer Breite von ungefähr 1,5 km und mit einer Geschwindigkeit von bis zu 180 Metern pro Jahr nach Südosten in Richtung Rhonetal, gesäumt vom Dreieckhorn im Westen und dem Gross Wannenhorn im Osten. Er zeichnet dann eine grosse Rechtskurve und biegt immer mehr nach Südwesten ab, nun durch den Grat des Eggishorns und Bettmerhorns vom Rhonetal getrennt. Der unterste Teil des Grossen Aletschgletschers ist weitgehend durch das Geschiebematerial von Seiten- und Mittelmoränen bedeckt. Die Gletscherzunge liegt derzeit auf rund 1'560 Meter Höhe, weit unterhalb der lokalen Waldgrenze. Aus ihr entspringt der Bach Massa, welcher nach der Massaschlucht und einer Nutzung in einem Wasserkraftwerk, in Bitsch, oberhalb von Naters, in die Rhone (Rotten) fliesst.

 

Der Grosse Aletschgletscher weist beachtliche Eisdicken auf. Am Konkordiaplatz hat der Gletscher eine Eisdicke von mehr als 900 Metern, gegen Süden nimmt die Mächtigkeit des Eises allmählich auf rund 150 m ab. Charakteristisch sind die beiden dunklen, fast in der Mitte des Aletschgletschers gelegenen Moränenspuren, welche sich ab dem Konkordiaplatz auf der gesamten Länge bis in den Zungenbereich hinziehen. Es sind die Mittelmoränen, die das Eis der drei Hauptfirne voneinander trennen. Die westliche Mittelmoräne wird auch Kranzbergmoräne genannt, die östliche trägt den Namen Trugbergmoräne.

 

Gletscherschwankungen

 

In seinem Hochstadium während der Kleinen Eiszeit um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts erstreckte sich der Grosse Aletschgletscher noch rund 2,5 km weiter talabwärts. Aufgrund der allgemeinen Erwärmung seit etwa 1870 hat er besonders unterhalb des Konkordiaplatzes massiv an Volumen eingebüsst und sowohl an den Seiten als auch im Zungenbereich Flächen von mehreren Quadratkilometern freigegeben. Der einstmalige, in der Neuzeit höchste Gletscherstand kann gut an den noch fast vegetationslosen Seitenmoränen abgeschätzt werden. Seit 1850 hat die Eisdicke um teilweise über 100 m abgenommen. Früher waren auch die Eisströme des Oberaletschgletschers und des Mittelaletschgletschers direkt mit dem Grossen Aletschgletscher verbunden.

 

In der Senke zwischen dem Strahlhorn und dem Eggishorn liegt der Märjelensee, der im 19. Jahrhundert beim Gletscherhochstand zu einem Gletscherrandsee aufgestaut wurde. Seine wiederholten plötzlichen Ausbrüche durch Gletscherspalten verursachten immer wieder starke Schadenshochwasser der Massa hin zum Rhonetal.

 

Gegen kurzfristige Klimaschwankungen ist der Gletscher aufgrund seiner grossen Masse relativ immun. Während viele andere Gletscher Ende der 1970er Jahre bis Anfang der 1980er Jahre vorstiessen, reagierte der Aletschgletscher auf die vorübergehende Abkühlung kaum – ebenso wenig wie auf die warmen Jahre seit 1983. Aufgrund der zunehmend extremen Hitze der letzten Jahre zieht er sich aber nun doch – wie alle übrigen Alpengletscher – deutlich verstärkt zurück.

 

Die relative Trägheit in seinen Reaktionen auf Klimaschwankungen macht den Aletschgletscher auch zu einem idealen Untersuchungsobjekt zur Erforschung der Klimaentwicklung im Alpenraum. Die Längenschwankungen des Aletschgletschers in der Vergangenheit dürften sogar eine Rekonstruktion aller grösseren Klimaveränderungen der letzten 3200 Jahre erlauben. Die Bestimmung der verschiedenen Längenstadien des Aletschgletschers in der Vergangenheit erfolgt durch die Radiokohlenstoffdatierung fossiler Baumstämme, die der Gletscher bei einem früheren Vorstoss einmal überfahren haben muss und nun während seines aktuellen Rückzuges wieder freigibt. Der Befund fossiler Böden und von Wurzelwerk garantiert dabei, dass es sich bei dem Fundort auch um den Wuchsstandort des fossilen Baumes handelt. Durch Zählung der Jahresringe der geborgenen Stämme kann sogar der Zeitraum bestimmt werden, während dessen der Aletschgletscher den Fundort nicht erreicht hat. Mit dieser Methode wurde festgestellt, dass der Aletschgletscher bis etwa 1200 v. Chr. um einiges kleiner gewesen sein muss als gegen Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts. Für die Jahre etwa von 1200 bis 1110 v. Chr., 850 bis 750 v. Chr. und 350 bis 250 v. Chr. sind Vorstösse festgestellt worden. Dabei ist der Aletschgletscher von 900 bis 400 v. Chr. jedoch kleiner gewesen als am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts, genauso wie von etwa 100 v. Chr. bis ins Jahr 250. Um das Jahr 300 ist eine Gletscherlänge vergleichbar der des Höchststandes im 19. Jahrhundert festzustellen.

 

Laut der letzten Studie der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (Juni 2020) schmolz die Oberfläche des Grossen Aletschgletscher zwischen den Jahren 2001 und 2014 um mehr als fünf Meter pro Jahr in den unteren Lagen.

 

Tourismus

 

Der Aletschgletscher galt schon früh als besondere Sehenswürdigkeit für Reisende und als willkommenes Untersuchungsobjekt für Forschende. Forschungsstationen gibt es seit 1937 auf dem Jungfraujoch und seit 1976 auf der Riederfurka oberhalb der Riederalp. Durch zahlreiche Luftseilbahnen besonders gut erschlossen ist der Berggrat zwischen dem Riederhorn und dem Eggishorn, der sehr schöne Einblicke in den Zungenbereich und den unteren Teil des Gletschers gewährt. Mit dem Bau der Jungfraubahn auf das Jungfraujoch (auf der Sphinx 3571 m ü. M.) wurde 1912 auch für nicht berggewohnte Leute ein Blick in den oberen Teil des Gletschers ermöglicht.

 

Am Felshang des Faulbergs östlich des Konkordiaplatzes stehen auf 2850 m ü. M. die Konkordiahütten des Schweizer Alpen-Clubs SAC. Sie dienen als wichtiger Etappenort auf der hochalpinen Gletscherroute vom Jungfraujoch oder vom Lötschental in das Gebiet des Grimselpasses.

 

UNESCO-Weltnaturerbe

 

Das Gebiet des Grossen Aletschgletschers ist zusammen mit dem einzigartigen Aletschwald und den umliegenden Regionen seit dem 13. Dezember 2001 Bestandteil des UNESCO-Weltnaturerbes Schweizer Alpen Jungfrau-Aletsch.

 

(Wikipedia)

The Church of Saint Christopher in Milan, on the Naviglio Grande canal.

The complex is composed by two churches. The left one is the most ancient, which is known to be a Romanesque reconstruction of a far more ancient edifice (probably in turn located on the site of a Roman temple). The Romanesque edifice was again rebuilt in the 13th century, when the Naviglio Grande was excavated. In the mid-14th century it received the Gothic portal and rose window.

The more recent church, which currently is united to the other and gives the appearance of a single edifice, was constructed along the Naviglio bank in the 15th century, called Ducal Chapel. It was commissioned by Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti in order to provide a holy edifice entitled to the protector of ill people, after a plague, that had killed some 20,000 Milanese in 1399, ceased suddenly for the alleged intercession of St. Christopher. The Chapel was also dedicated to the Saints John the Baptist and James, Blessed Christina, all protectors of the House of Visconti. The façade has in fact the Visconti coat of arms; the older church has instead that of Cardinal Pietro Filargo, then bishop of Milan and later pope as Alexander V.

In 1405 the counterfaçade of the Ducal Chapel was decorated with a Madonna Enthroned and Saints and a Crucifixion inspired by that in San Marco of Milan.

The Romanesque church is a small hall ending with a small semicircular apse. The façade has a richly decorated brickwork portal with a Gothic rose window. The façade of the Ducal Chapel has a simple portal flanked by Gothic mullioned windows, according to a model established by Guiniforte Solari, and traces of frescoes of Saints from the 15th century.

The current bell tower is a 15th century enlargement of the original one, with conical cusp and mullioned windows.

The interior, turned into two naves in 1625 with the demolition of the wall separating the two churches, has a wooden ceiling in the left nave with fragments of frescoes by Bergognone on the wall. The apse houses frescoes of Bernardino Luini's school, portraying the Father with Angels and the symbols of the Evangelists, and Saints. The right nave has two spans with Gothic frescoes on the walls. There are also a notable wooden statue (14th century) representing St. Christopher and the Child. (from Wikipedia)

 

Thiene is a city and comune in the province of Vicenza, in northern Italy, located approximately 75 km west of Venice and 200 km east of Milan.

The city has an active and lively industrial sector, composed mainly of small-to-medium sized companies. It also has one the top ranked Italian boardwalks (listed as number 3 of the top 10). Thiene also has a tradition every 24 December to unite its community to sing a song indigenous only to this town.

The "Centro Europeo per i Mestieri del Patrimonio" is located at Villa Fabris.

 

Thiene is a lively busy town of more than 21,000 inhabitants, and dates back to Roman times. It was developed around a "castrum" and in Medieval times was transformed into a castle to defend the village and protect the local church: "Pieve di S. Maria".

In 1281 the “Thiene Irrigation Ditch” was dug, and numerous craft workshops and craftsmen’s homes opened along its banks. A castrum, a castle and its parish church, a road and an irrigation ditch are those vital factors that gave life to Thiene. Its lucky geographic position and important road network for traffic from the Veneto Region, the Tyrol and beyond have all helped its growing prosperity.

Thiene became part of the Veneto Republic in 1404, which gave it the security and peace it needed to develop its economy and spread the arts and cultures. Markets, rural in medieval times and Free in 1492, then weekly every Monday, Festivals (St. John Baptist and the third Monday in October), workshops and stores all became the nerve centre for business for the town and larger territory.

Members of noble Vicenza families, middleclass merchants, artisans and professionals all invested money into buying, reclaiming and irrigating the land, trade, building work which would all change and enrich the appearance of streets, squares and corners of the town.

The old St. Mary’s Parish Church became the town Church, beautiful villas and palazzos were built with their own private chapels (Villa Porto-Colleoni-Thiene and Palazzo Cornaggia) smart noble homes, important factories and farms.

Thiene gradually grew over the years, showing its genuine spirit and cultural, artistic and social soul in the dynamic and busy area that surrounds the town.

Still today Thiene is a valid example of the Veneto model, being a reference centre for the social and economic fabric of the northern part of the province of Vicenza.

 

Thiene è un comune di 23.171 abitanti della provincia di Vicenza.

La città di Thiene è situata al centro dell'ampia pianura nord vicentina, nella cosiddetta zona della Pedemontana, vicino allo sbocco della Val d'Astico, antica via per la Germania. Dista in linea d'aria 10 km da Schio, 20 da Vicenza e 22 da Bassano del Grappa. Fanno da corona: a est le colline pedemontane di Sarcedo e Fara Vicentino; a sud la pianura che scende con dolce inclinazione verso il capoluogo di Vicenza e i suoi colli Berici; a sud-ovest le prime propaggini dei monti Lessini, la zona collinare di Monte di Malo e Monteviale digradante dolcemente fino a Sovizzo; a nord-ovest il cono del Monte Summano e a nord l'Altopiano dei sette comuni.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIMk1EL95Wc

Portraits using a Rolleiflex 3.5E Type 2 TLR