Salvator Rosa
The Spirit of Samuel Called up before Saul by the Witch of Endor, 1668 .
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Today’s required reading . Among other labyrinthian connections, Charlie is my godson.
Salvator Rosa
The Spirit of Samuel Called up before Saul by the Witch of Endor, 1668 .
View larger image
Today’s required reading . Among other labyrinthian connections, Charlie is my godson.
gallery crawler
Samuel looks mighty cranky. A compilation of eons of it’s-too-damn-early-on-a-conceptually-Monday-morning-where’s-my-coffee-you-hag? Not sure who’s more fearsome — the howling winged skeletal thingie surrounded by skulls and owls and other afterlife cliches, or the I’ve-got-time, way-pissed-off Samuel. The hag seems pleased with herself, but Saul and the two unnameds look like they’re pretty sure this was a bad idea………….. I concur.
Cool painting, though, thanks.
michael
But were they “afterlife cliches” in 1668?
fond of cliches
I think they were afterlife cliches in A.D. 1219. So what? Owls are portentious even today, and we genetically shiver at skeletons (especially when they have wings and howl). Even Harryhausen’s stop-motion baddies pestering the Argonauts were pretty creepy, even in 1963.
michael
Hard to see the world in other than todayÃs terms, but pre everything we know, including something as basic as incandescent light, and when most people lived to the ripe old age of thirty-eight primarily because of uncontrollable infectious diseases, IÃm not sure anything associated with death was thought to be a clichÈ. But wtf do I know, IÃm just glad I live now, although Mike of 2105 will say heÃs glad he wasnÃt born in 1947 (can you tell IÃm on hold trying to track a part for a Home Depot product?). I do, however, get your point. I have a very hard time looking at the skeleton thingee without thinking, couldnÃt the artist have come up with something more original?