美国国家公共电台 NPR A Lesser-Known Venus Visits The U.S. In New Botticelli Exhibit

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The famous Renaissance¹ painting "Birth Of Venus" has truly proven itself to be timeless. The image of the nude² goddess on a clamshell has been appropriated and satirized⁴ countless⁵ times since the original was painted 500 years ago. The artist was Sandro Botticelli. Now a major traveling exhibition tells the artist's story. It's a collaboration⁶ between the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, Va., and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Andrea Shea of member station WBUR reports the show features a number of works rarely seen outside Italy.

ANDREA SHEA, BYLINE⁷: Botticelli's best-known work, that image of Venus on a giant clamshell, has been riffed on by everyone from Andy Warhol to Lady Gaga to "The Simpsons."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE SIMPSONS")

HARRY⁸ SHEARER⁹: (As Lenny Leonard) Homer, what's the matter?

HANK AZARIA: (As Carl Carlson) Ain't you'd ever seen a naked chick riding a clam³ before?

DAVID MIRKIN: You steal from the masters. I'm not going to pretend that we did anything less than that.

SHEA: David Mirkin produced that episode of "The Simpsons." "The Last Temptation Of Homer" has the character fantasizing about his ideal woman, and his imagination goes to Botticelli's "Venus."

MIRKIN: Her hair's blowing in the wind. It's exactly the way you would set up a film shot of a gorgeous woman.

SHEA: Mirkin pokes¹⁰ fun at the iconic image but says he truly loves it.

MIRKIN: I think it's incredibly effective in terms of what it's actually trying to do. Its sensuality is amazing. I don't know where he came up with the idea of her riding on a clam. I mean, that's the funniest part (laughter).

SHEA: Few people know much about Boticelli, say the curators of the new exhibition. They're trying to change that with help from another "Venus" that's a focal point of the show.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: OK.

SHEA: Two handlers in white gloves carefully hang the life-size painting.

FREDERICK ILCHMAN: Bellissima, bravo, looks great.

SHEA: That's Museum of Fine Arts curator Frederick Ilchman.

ILCHMAN: She sums up so much about Boticelli's attitude, his yearning¹² to express ideals of beauty in human form.

SHEA: The exhibition is called "Botticelli And The Search For The Divine." The artist painted this solitary¹³ Venus in the 1480s after the more famous "Birth Of Venus." She's similar in pose, but her torso's strong contours and pale skin are covered with a sheer top. Her hair is red and tightly braided, not blown by the breath of angels, making her more Earthly than godlike.

ILCHMAN: It's not just he's doing a kind of new subject matter, the life-size human nude, but that he's painting it with a new level of subtlety¹⁴.

SHEA: Ilchman says this "Venus" helps us understand Botticelli's quest for divine beauty. He walks to another of the two dozen paintings in the exhibition, one that shows the influence of the Renaissance and its search for knowledge, a portrait of the Virgin¹⁵ Mary and Christ child reading a book.

ILCHMAN: In the second half of the 15th century in Florence, there was a new appreciation¹⁶ of ancient art. That is, Greek and Roman statues. And what I think is so remarkable¹⁷ is just how consistent his ideal of female beauty is.

SHEA: Botticelli's pursuit of realistic-looking divine beauty came to a halt after France invaded Florence. A Dominican friar named Savonarola took over the city. Muscarelle Museum of Art chief curator John Spike¹⁸ conceived of this exhibition and says Savonarola's followers¹⁹ collected and burned books and paintings deemed indecent in the 1497 Bonfires of the Vanities.

JOHN SPIKE: We know that Boticelli was considered the best painter of beautiful nude women in the city of Florence. So everyone supposes that his works were burned in this way.

SHEA: Somehow, the "Venuses" survived, but the deeply pious²⁰ Botticelli believed Savonarola's teachings and the artist was traumatized when the fanatic²¹ himself was burned on a pyre. Boticelli became reclusive, inward, more devout²².

SPIKE: His last works become neo-medieval, flat, no details, no attempt to represent the human figure under the drapery.

SHEA: The mood becomes somber²³. The warmer colors disappear. And, says the MFA's Frederick Ilchman, the eyes of the figures don't make contact with the viewer.

ILCHMAN: The sort of come hither or the welcome you see with the "Venus," these later paintings by Botticelli seem to be more hermetically sealed. They're not expressive²⁴ in the same way but full of powerful emotion.

SHEA: When the exhibition debuted²⁵ in Virginia, John Spike says two people fainted.

SPIKE: Great works of art yearn¹¹ to be understood. There's a wonderful word for yearning in Italian - it's bramare - yearn to be understood, and we the spectators yearn to understand.

SHEA: And if visitors to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston yearn to understand more, they can buy one of the exhibition's thick catalogues in the gift shop or maybe a pair of "Venus" socks. For NPR News, I'm Andrea Shea in Boston.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOSTER THE PEOPLE SONG, "DON'T STOP")

1 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

2 nude   

adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品

参考例句：

• It's a painting of the Duchess of Alba in the nude.这是一幅阿尔巴公爵夫人的裸体肖像画。
• She doesn't like nude swimming.她不喜欢裸泳。

3 clam   

n.蛤，蛤肉

参考例句：

• Yup!I also like clam soup and sea cucumbers.对呀！我还喜欢蛤仔汤和海参。
• The barnacle and the clam are two examples of filter feeders.藤壶和蛤类是滤过觅食者的两种例子。

4 satirized   

v.讽刺，讥讽( satirize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• How could he stand being satirized by you like this? 你这么讽刺他，他怎么能搁得住。 来自互联网
• The essay bitterly satirized some unhealthy tendencies in society. 这篇杂文辛辣地讽刺了社会上的一些不良现象。 来自互联网

5 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

6 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

9 shearer   

n.剪羊毛的人；剪切机

参考例句：

• A bad shearer never had a good sickle. 拙匠无利器。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Eventually, Shearer lost faith, dropping him to the bench. 最终，希勒不再信任他，把他换下场。 来自互联网

10 pokes   

v.伸出( poke的第三人称单数 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• He pokes his nose into everything. 他这人好管闲事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Only the tip of an iceberg pokes up above water. 只有冰山的尖端突出于水面。 来自辞典例句

11 yearn   

v.想念；怀念；渴望

参考例句：

• We yearn to surrender our entire being.我们渴望着放纵我们整个的生命。
• Many people living in big cities yearn for an idyllic country life.现在的很多都市人向往那种田园化的生活。

12 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

13 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

14 subtlety   

n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别

参考例句：

• He has shown enormous strength,great intelligence and great subtlety.他表现出充沛的精力、极大的智慧和高度的灵活性。
• The subtlety of his remarks was unnoticed by most of his audience.大多数听众都没有觉察到他讲话的微妙之处。

15 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

16 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

17 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

18 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

19 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

20 pious   

adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的

参考例句：

• Alexander is a pious follower of the faith.亚历山大是个虔诚的信徒。
• Her mother was a pious Christian.她母亲是一个虔诚的基督教徒。

21 fanatic   

n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的

参考例句：

• Alexander is a football fanatic.亚历山大是个足球迷。
• I am not a religious fanatic but I am a Christian.我不是宗教狂热分子，但我是基督徒。

22 devout   

adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness)

参考例句：

• His devout Catholicism appeals to ordinary people.他对天主教的虔诚信仰感染了普通民众。
• The devout man prayed daily.那位虔诚的男士每天都祈祷。

23 somber   

adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• He had a somber expression on his face.他面容忧郁。
• His coat was a somber brown.他的衣服是暗棕色的。

24 expressive   

adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的

参考例句：

• Black English can be more expressive than standard English.黑人所使用的英语可能比正式英语更有表现力。
• He had a mobile,expressive,animated face.他有一张多变的，富于表情的，生动活泼的脸。

25 debuted   

初次表演，初次登台（debut的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• In late 2003 a full-size SUV, the Pathfinder Armada, debuted. 2003年末，全尺寸SUV的探路者无敌舰队，推出。
• The album debuted at number two and quickly went platinum. 专辑一亮相就荣登排行榜第二名，很快就取得了白金销量。