So I don't like to vent on my blog, however I think this just has to be said...
Today in my Northern Baroque class, we discussed this painting.
The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus, by Peter Paul Rubens.
Yes, this piece is exactly what the title sounds like. Rape.
The piece was likely commissioned and certainly purchased by Marie De Medici as a wedding gift for her son Louis the XIII. The painting was placed above the bed of the 14 year old newly wed and his Spanish child bride in order to aid him in the process of producing an heir.
So, as we begin the discussion of this piece, my teacher (who also happens to be brilliant and the head of our art history department) asks if any one in the class has a problem with this work, followed by if any one was OK with it. One boy, who we will call the Italian Stallion (*note: he is neither Italian nor a Stallion, he simply thinks he knows everything ever to come out of Italy), says he is totally fine with this piece. After a drawn out argument by the Stallion as to why there is morally nothing wrong with a glorified rape scene because it is of a mythological background, he still sounds like a total idiot. Twenty minutes of solid justification by the Italian Stallion later, he says this,
"There's nothing wrong with it just because it's a rape scene. Rape is a type of sex."
In the conclusion of the discussion of this work, my teacher commented that there are far more troubling works which we could be looking at in the class. Under his breath, the Italian Stallion then says, "Like Judith Slaying Holofernes". I mean really? Really?
Today in my Northern Baroque class, we discussed this painting.
The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus, by Peter Paul Rubens.
Yes, this piece is exactly what the title sounds like. Rape.
The piece was likely commissioned and certainly purchased by Marie De Medici as a wedding gift for her son Louis the XIII. The painting was placed above the bed of the 14 year old newly wed and his Spanish child bride in order to aid him in the process of producing an heir.
So, as we begin the discussion of this piece, my teacher (who also happens to be brilliant and the head of our art history department) asks if any one in the class has a problem with this work, followed by if any one was OK with it. One boy, who we will call the Italian Stallion (*note: he is neither Italian nor a Stallion, he simply thinks he knows everything ever to come out of Italy), says he is totally fine with this piece. After a drawn out argument by the Stallion as to why there is morally nothing wrong with a glorified rape scene because it is of a mythological background, he still sounds like a total idiot. Twenty minutes of solid justification by the Italian Stallion later, he says this,
"There's nothing wrong with it just because it's a rape scene. Rape is a type of sex."
In the conclusion of the discussion of this work, my teacher commented that there are far more troubling works which we could be looking at in the class. Under his breath, the Italian Stallion then says, "Like Judith Slaying Holofernes". I mean really? Really?
4 comments:
That is outrageous. Good luck for him ever getting married.
do you think we should warn his prospective wife? I mean- I feel like it's the only moral thing to do- regardless of how much he will not understand it...
I literally had to restrain myself about five times.
oh.
my.
goodness.
i wish i was there. i already have a speech formulated in my head.
p.s. i saw caravaggio's " "judith slaying holofernes" in rome. way cool.
What a retard.
Post a Comment