Distorting Madonna in Medieval art - James Earle

Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

翻译人员: Minji Seo 校对人员: Yolanda Zhang

Ever see a medieval painting of baby Jesus

你可曾注视过一幅中世纪圣婴图，

sitting or standing on his mother's lap

小耶稣站或坐在他母亲的腿上，

and wonder why she's so large?

并感到好奇，为什么她这么大？

Paintings like Cimabue's enthroned Madonna with angels

绘画如契马布耶的《宝座圣母像》、

or Duccio's Maesta

或是杜奇欧的《宝座上的圣像》，

also appear out of proportion.

同样都不成比例。

If Mary were to stand up, it seems,

如果圣母玛丽亚站起来，看起来

the angels in the picture would be as tall as her shin bone,

图画里的天使只到她的胫骨高，

and her torso would be disproportionately small

而她的上半身与腿相比

when compared to her legs.

则是不成比例的小。

Maybe you thought the artist simply wasn't skilled enough

或许你认为这些艺术家 只是技巧还不够纯属，

to paint realistically

不能写实作画，

or lacked the mathematical skill of perspective.

或是缺乏透视画法的数学基础。

But that's not the full story.

但事实上并不尽然。

To understand why, we need to go back

要了解为什么，我们得回到

to the late fifth century

五世纪末，

when the city of Rome was attacked by the Goths.

当时罗马城被哥德人攻击。

Rome was built in marble and meant to last forever.

罗马以大理石建城，意图永流万世。

It represented, for many years,

很长一段时间，它代表了

the pinnacle of human civilization,

人类文明的尖峰，

so its destruction left a huge void.

所以其毁灭（在人类文明史上） 留下了巨大的空洞。

Theologians, who preached about a world beyond the physical,

神学家，这些宣讲形而上世界的人

began attracting an audience as Rome crumbled,

在罗马崩毁时开始获得人心，

and Christianity started to fill the void left by the Empire.

而基督教开始填满罗马帝国 所留下的空洞。

As a replacement for the physical beauty of Rome,

罗马强调的是人体美， 但取而代之的是，

Christianity offered a metaphysical beauty of virtue

被基督徒提出的形而上美德，

and an eternal heaven

以及不像罗马那样

that could not be destroyed as Rome had.

会被摧毁的永恒天堂。

After the fall of Rome,

罗马帝国没落之后，

early medieval theologians turned away from physical beauty,

中世纪早期的神学家 撇弃了人体美，

rejecting it in favor of inner-beauty.

为了内在美而否定了它。

They maintained that while the physical world was temporary,

他们主张有形的世界只是暂时，

virtue and religion were permanent.

而美德及宗教才是永恒。

Beautiful objects could lead to a misguided worship of the object

美丽的事物可能会 误导我们去崇拜它的实体，

rather than the worship of goodness.

而非其所代表的美德。

It is said that the early sixth century preacher, St. Benedict,

传说六世纪早期的传道人圣本笃，

upon thinking of a beautiful woman,

在想到一位美女后，

threw himself into a thorn patch,

纵身跃入荆棘丛，

and through his suffering,

而他在这苦难中，

regained his focus on spiritual beauty.

得以重新专注于灵魂之美。

He feared his desire for the beautiful woman

他担心自己对美女的欲望

would distract him from his desire to love God.

会分散他渴望去爱神的心。

As European civilization transitioned away from empires

随着欧洲文明逐渐从帝国

and towards religion,

转移到宗教，

monasteries became the gatekeepers of knowledge,

修道院成了知识的守门人，

which meant that classical books

也就是说这些颂赞

that praised physical pleasures

肉体快感的经文古籍

were not copied or protected.

不再被抄录或保存。

Without protection, they became the victims of natural decay,

这些书籍一旦失去了保护， 便成了自然腐败力量的牺牲品：

fire,

火灾、

flooding,

水灾、

or pests.

或虫蛀。

And without the help of monks transcribing new copies,

没有了僧侣的手抄本，

these texts and the philosophies they carried

这些书籍的文字 及所要传达的哲理

disappeared in Western Europe

就在西欧文化中消失了，

and were replaced by the works of people like St. Benedict,

取而代之的，是像圣本笃 这样的人的作品，

which brings us back to these depictions of Jesus and Mary.

这把我们带回之前说的 圣婴及圣母图。

Because Christianity had so fervently rejected physical beauty,

因为基督教是如此强烈的 抗拒人体美，

these medieval artists purposefully avoided

这些中世纪艺术家会刻意避免

aesthetically pleasing forms.

赏心悦目的美丽形体。

At first, decorations for churches or palaces

首先，教堂或宫殿的装饰

were limited to interesting geometric patterns,

限制于有趣的几何图案，

which could be pleasing

这令人心情愉悦，

without inspiring sinful thoughts of physical pleasure.

但不会撩起对肉体的邪念。

As the medieval period progressed,

随着中世纪的演进，

depictions of Jesus and Mary were tolerated,

描绘耶稣及圣母渐渐被默许，

but the artist clearly made an effort to veil Mary

但艺术家非常明显地 努力要遮蔽玛利亚的形体，

and give her disproportionately large legs,

并给了她一双不成比例的长腿，

with those enormous shin bones.

与巨大的胫骨。

The fear remained that a beautiful illustration of Mary

他们仍然害怕 一幅美丽的玛利亚图

might inspire the viewer to love the painting

会导致观画者爱上绘画本身，

or the physical form of Mary,

甚至爱上玛利亚的肉体，

rather than the virtue she's meant to represent.

而不是欣赏她所代表的美德。

So even though it may be fun to think we can paint

所以即使这可能很好玩， 想到我们能

more realistically than Cimabuey or Duccio,

比契马布耶或杜奇欧画的 更栩栩如生，

we need to remember that they had different goals

但我们必须记住当他们提起画笔时，

when picking up a paintbrush.

其实是抱着不同的目的的。