Showing posts with label Arts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arts. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The Last Supper: Not the Work of a Devout Catholic

Beloved by Catholics for centuries, and found on the walls in the homes of Catholic senior citizens everywhere, Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" is not what people think it is.

There is a certain amount of evidence that Leonardo da Vinci was something we see all the time today in our modern culture -- a homosexual angry at the Catholic Church for its theology on homosexuality. Leonardo was twice accused of homosexual behavior in the courts of his time. He famously condemned heterosexual intercourse in one of his notebooks. In another, Codex Atlanticus, on Folios 132 and 133, there are men’s-bathroom-toilet-stall-level drawings, by a hand not intent on being artful, showing a dog in the shape of male genitals rushing toward the hindquarters of Leonardo's servant Salai. Most commentators assume that the crude drawings could not be by Leonardo, and that Leonardo would not have kept the notes had the pictures been added before his death.

(Why make those assumptions? For instance, perhaps the drawings were a humorous invitation or love-note by Salai, himself, which Leonardo kept BECAUSE they were by his beloved male servant.)

In any event, here we show the Last Supper fresco as it was restored, as well as a Sixteenth Century copy clearly delineating salient features.



Immediately we notice two anomalies...

(1) The second apostle from the left is clearly a carbon copy of Jesus. Leonardo's notes reflect that he used the same model for that Apostle that he used for Christ.

Leonardo clearly could have changed the facial features or clothing, to avoid the anomaly, but he did not. The faces are identical. He even gave both the same red tunic.

Under such circumstances, it is simply not possible that Leonardo was not aware that he was inferring that the second Apostle from the left was Jesus' identical twin brother.

In his notes planning the Last Supper Leonardo indicates that he intended to make the second Apostle from the left James the Lesser -- the younger Apostle James. Whether or not he was inferring that James was Jesus' identical twin or that Thomas the Twin was Jesus' identical twin, it is fairly clear that Leonardo was boldly inserting heresy into his fresco.

(2) To the right of Jesus, a stern-looking Apostle whispers into his ear while he, the Apostle, points skyward with his index finger.

In Renaissance and post-Renaissance art, a pointed index finger says, "There is God." We see Da Vinci himself using this symbol in the Virgin of the Rocks painting, where an angel is seen pointing at Jesus with the angel's index finger.



In his 1650's painting of the Annunciation, Poussin has his angel pointing at the womb of Mary carrying divine Jesus, and at the Holy Spirit (or, more precisely, just above the Holy Spirit, where the descending Holy Spirit had been a moment before).



In accord with this usage, that stern looking Apostle would be telling Jesus, "You're NOT God!"






Wednesday, March 10, 2010

"I went down to the lake and caught a ghoti !!!"

A "ghoti"? What in Heaven's Holy Name is a "ghoti"?

Here's a picture of one, just after after it was caught with a ghotiing rod.

Be careful to pronounce the name of that animal very carefully...

"gh" as in "tough."

"o" as in "women."

"ti" as in "premonition."

Ghoti!

Friday, February 19, 2010

Two Things on William Shakespeare


I am one of those people who thinks that Shakespeare was a committee, named after the man who was a member of the committee.
The coolest thing about Shakespeare is that we Dawson's and Eitelman's are his cousin, like so...
William Shakespeare is my 6th cousin, 8 times removed (and the 6th cousin, 8 times removed of all of my siblings and Eitelman 1st cousins).
This is because...
William SHAKESPEARE was the son of
John SHAKESPEAR who was the son of
Abigail WEBB who was the daughter of
John Alexander WEBB, Jr. who was the son of
John Alexander WEBB, Sr. who was the son of
William WEBB who was the son of
John WEBB who was the son of
Geoffrey WEBB, our great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather.
Time to go down the line, now, to us...
That same Geoffrey WEBB was father to
Alice WEBB who was mother to
William II RICHMOND who was father to
William III RICHMOND who was father to
Henry RICHMOND who was father to
John RICHMOND who was father to
Sarah RICHMOND who was mother to
Elnathan WALKER who was father to
Phebe WALKER who was mother to
Edward SEARS who was mother to
Philo SEARS who was father to
Susan E. SEARS who was mother to
May Katherine PITMAN who was mother to
Edward Decatur PITMAN who was father to
ELEANORE ANNE EITELMAN who was mother to
myself.
So, there it is.
Next, It is said by some that the King James Bible is "very Shakespearean" in its language, and that Shakespeare must have actually participated in the articulation of the English language translation of the King James Bible.
Lo and behold, for 2 years Shakespeare's organization was shut down by order of the crown as a measure to reduce exposure to plague in theatres -- in the 2 years prior to publication of the King James Bible!
So, he had time to do it.
Now, look at this coincidence...
When the King James Bible was published by the crown in 1611, William Shakespeare (the man -- not the committee) was 46 years of age.
So, go to Psalm 46 in the KJV, and count in 46 words from the beginning, and 46 words from the end (excluding "Selah," a procedural instruction to bow).
This is what we get...
Pss.46[1] God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.[2] Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;[3] Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.[4] There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.[5] God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.[6] The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.[7] The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.[8] Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.[9] He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.[10] Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.[11] The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Shakespeare jokingly encoded his name into the Bible's text!