Tea at Trianon: Sixteenth-century Christian Japanese Painting

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Sixteenth-century Christian Japanese Painting

From NHK:

A religious painting believed to have been made by a Japanese Christian about 400 years ago has been discovered near Tokyo. The painting was found at a memorial museum in Oiso Town in Kanagawa Prefecture. The facility is known for its collection of historical items related to Japanese Christians. Officials of a history museum and experts examined the painting. They say it was done with China ink on a hand scroll measuring 22 centimeters wide by 3 meters long and made of Japanese "washi" paper. The work depicts 15 scenes relating to Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, including the Annunciation and the Pentecost. The painting also bears some writing. An analysis shows it is Latin prayers that someone transcribed from a verbal form. The words "the year of 1592" appear at the end of the scroll. Experts say it is highly likely that the painting was made in that year, as their analysis of the paper shows that it was made between the late 16th and the early 17th centuries. Christianity came to Japan 40 years before that year. The experts say they believe that Japanese Christians of the time reproduced Western religious paintings for use in their prayers. The experts say this is the first discovery of a religious painting done in the Japanese traditional style. (Read more.)