欧美人文风情第52篇:卡拉瓦乔的《莎乐美接收施洗者约翰的头》

 We're standing¹ in front of two paintings by Caravaggio that represent the same moment in the story of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist. 我们正站在两幅卡拉瓦乔描绘出施洗者圣约翰殉难故事中相同瞬间的画作前。

This is the moment when Salome, whose beautiful dance enticed² King Herod into her mother's desire to have John the Baptist killed, 这是当莎乐美，她的优美舞姿诱惑了Herod国王完成她母亲想让施洗者约翰丧命的渴望，

appears with the head of John the Baptist on a plate. 当她带着盘上的施洗者约翰头颅出现的那一刻。

And what Caravaggio has done in these two paintings is develop his idea of how sex can lead to death. 卡拉瓦乔在这两幅画中做的是发展出他对于性可以如何带来死亡的概念。

In the painting, we can see the young maid, and behind her is the old...the young maid, Salome, 在这幅画中，我们可以看到年轻的女仆，在她后面是年长...年轻的女仆，莎乐美，

behind her is the old maid with this wrinkled face. 在她后方是拥有这张布满皱纹脸孔的年长女仆。

This is the executioner (this is the painting from London) who's holding the head of the Baptist by the hair. 这是刽子手（这是伦敦的那幅画）他正抓住头发提着施洗者约翰的头。

And he has done that—Caravaggio—as though this one woman's body has two heads, beauty that led to death. 当他画出那个－－卡拉瓦乔－－好似这一位女性的身体有两颗头、有带来死亡的美丽。

This is his first version of the story. 这是关于那故事他的第一种版本。

Then in the picture in Madrid, he refined it, so that this hand here is ambiguous now as to whether it could be this woman's hand 接着在马德里的画作中，他修饰了它，所以这里这只手现在有不同的解释，关于它可以是这位女性的手

—Salome who looks at us directly to engage our attention －－直接注视着我们以得到我们注意的莎乐美

—or the older woman's because the hand seems older. They're both looking down. －－或是这年长女性的手，因为那手看似较老。她们两位都向下看。

It's a janus figure, two-headed sexual allure³, the death that followed sin. 这是个双头像，有两颗头的性诱惑、接续罪孽的死亡。

This young man and these women are paired because Caravaggio appreciated male beauty as much as he appreciated female beauty. 这位年轻人以及这些女性配在一起，是因为卡拉瓦乔欣赏男性的美就如同他欣赏女性的美一样。

So this is a whole universe of this sweaty, Sicilian summer in which he painted this at the end of his life. 所以这是这个热到冒汗的西西里岛夏日的整个地区，在此时他在他的迟暮之年画出这幅画。

We're interested in the other one from London. The other version is more aggressive. 我们对于另一幅伦敦的画很有兴趣。另一个版本更为激进。

That's a very good observation. It is very aggressive the earlier one. 那是个非常好的观察点。稍早的那一幅非常激进。

He's thinking about the force and terrible tragedy, drama of the beheaded. 他正想着那力量以及遭斩首那人的恐怖悲剧、戏剧性。

This is a moment when they're lost in a kind of a deep mood of reflection on the terrible thing that has happened. 这是当他们都迷失在一种反映出已经发生的悲惨事件中那深沉情绪的时刻。

It is generally thought that modern painting begins with Caravaggio, 普遍认为现代画作是从卡拉瓦乔开始的，

because Caravaggio is the first artist in the history of art about whom we feel, looking at these paintings, 因为卡拉瓦乔是历史上首位艺术家，在看着这些作品时我们会感受到

that all of his paintings are about himself. 他所有的画作都是关于他自己。

Caravaggio's paintings are about his own life, his own moods. 卡拉瓦乔的画作都是关于他自己的生活、他自己的心情。

And we don't feel that with the great earlier artist like Titian. 而我们在早期更伟大的艺术家，像是提香身上并不能感受到那样。

We don't wonder about the life of Titian or the life of Raffaello as we look at his paintings, 我们在看他的画作时不会想知道提香的人生、或是拉斐尔的人生，

but with Caravaggio we always think about his own life. 但在卡拉瓦乔身上我们总是想到他自己的人生。

In this case, as they stand in this moment of the aftermath of a terrible act, 在这种情况下，当他们站在一个恶行的后果的这个时刻，

the great Italian critic Roberto Longhi said, "This looks like a scene from a play by Shakespeare." 伟大的义大利艺评家Roberto Longhi说：“这看起来像莎士比亚剧中的情节。”

The king and the queen and they have commanded this terrible act. 那国王及皇后，且他们下令了这个恶行。

 

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 enticed   

诱惑，怂恿( entice的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He enticed his former employer into another dice game. 他挑逗他原来的老板再赌一次掷骰子。
• Consumers are courted, enticed, and implored by sellers of goods and services. 消费者受到商品和劳务出售者奉承，劝诱和央求。

3 allure   

n.诱惑力，魅力；vt.诱惑，引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• The window displays allure customers to buy goods.橱窗陈列品吸引顾客购买货物。
• The book has a certain allure for which it is hard to find a reason.这本书有一种难以解释的魅力。