Distorting Madonna in Medieval art - James Earle

中世紀藝術中失真的聖母 —— 詹姆士‧厄爾

Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

譯者: Regina Chu 審譯者: Jephian Lin

Ever see a medieval painting of baby Jesus

你可曾注視過一幅中世紀聖嬰圖，

sitting or standing on his mother's lap

小耶穌站或坐在他母親的腿上，

and wonder why she's so large?

然後想著，為什麼她這麼大？

Paintings like Cimabue's enthroned Madonna with angels

繪畫如契馬布耶的《寶座聖母像》、

or Duccio's Maesta

或是杜奇歐的《寶座上的聖像》，

also appear out of proportion.

同樣都不成比例。

If Mary were to stand up, it seems,

如果聖母瑪麗亞站起來，看起來

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

圖畫裡的天使只到她的脛骨高，

and her torso would be disproportionately small

而她的身軀與腿相比

when compared to her legs.

則是不成比例的小。

Maybe you thought the artist simply wasn't skilled enough

或許你認為這些藝術家 就是技巧還不夠熟練

to paint realistically

到能寫實作畫

or lacked the mathematical skill of perspective.

或是缺乏透視畫法的數學根據。

But that's not the full story.

但事實並不盡然。

To understand why, we need to go back

要瞭解為什麼，我們得回到

to the late fifth century

第五世紀末，

when the city of Rome was attacked by the Goths.

當時羅馬城被哥德人攻擊。

Rome was built in marble and meant to last forever.

羅馬以大理石建城，意圖永流萬世。

It represented, for many years,

很長一段時間，它代表了

the pinnacle of human civilization,

人類文明的尖峰，

so its destruction left a huge void.

所以其毀滅（在人類文明史上） 留下了巨大的空洞。

Theologians, who preached about a world beyond the physical,

神學家，這些宣講形而上世界的人

began attracting an audience as Rome crumbled,

在羅馬崩毀時開始獲得人心，

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

而基督教開始填滿羅馬帝國 所留下的空洞。

As a replacement for the physical beauty of Rome,

羅馬強調的人體美， 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

及不像羅馬會被摧毀的

that could not be destroyed as Rome had.

永恆天堂。

After the fall of Rome,

羅馬帝國沒落之後，

early medieval theologians turned away from physical beauty,

中世紀早期的神學家 撇棄了人體美，

rejecting it in favor of inner-beauty.

為了內在美而否定了它。

They maintained that while the physical world was temporary,

他們主張有形的世界只是暫時，

virtue and religion were permanent.

而美德及宗教才是永遠。

Beautiful objects could lead to a misguided worship of the object

美麗的事物可能會 誤導我們去崇拜它，

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,

傳說六世紀早期的傳道人聖本篤，

upon thinking of a beautiful woman,

在想到一位美女後，

threw himself into a thorn patch,

投身入荊棘叢，

and through his suffering,

而他在這苦難中，

regained his focus on spiritual beauty.

得以重新專注在靈裡的美。

He feared his desire for the beautiful woman

他怕他對美女的慾望

would distract him from his desire to love God.

會分散他渴望去愛神的心。

As European civilization transitioned away from empires

隨著歐洲文化逐漸從帝國

and towards religion,

轉移到宗教，

monasteries became the gatekeepers of knowledge,

修道院成了知識的守門人，

which meant that classical books

也就是說這些頌讚肉體快感的

that praised physical pleasures

經文古籍

were not copied or protected.

不再被抄錄或保存。

Without protection, they became the victims of natural decay,

這些書籍一旦失去了保護， 便成了自然腐敗力量的犧牲：

fire,

火災、

flooding,

水災、

or pests.

或蟲蛀。

And without the help of monks transcribing new copies,

沒有了僧侶的手抄本，

these texts and the philosophies they carried

這些書籍的文字 及所要傳達的哲理

disappeared in Western Europe

就在西歐文化中消失了，

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

取而代之的，是像聖本篤 這樣的人的作品，

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

這把我們帶回之前說的 聖嬰及聖母圖。

Because Christianity had so fervently rejected physical beauty,

因為基督教是如此強烈的 抗拒人體美，

these medieval artists purposefully avoided

這些中世紀藝術家刻意避免

aesthetically pleasing forms.

悅人眼目的美形。

At first, decorations for churches or palaces

首先，教堂或宮殿的裝飾

were limited to interesting geometric patterns,

限制在有趣的幾何圖案，

which could be pleasing

這令人心情愉悅

without inspiring sinful thoughts of physical pleasure.

但不會撩起對肉體的邪念。

As the medieval period progressed,

隨著中世紀演進，

depictions of Jesus and Mary were tolerated,

描繪耶穌及聖母漸漸被默許，

but the artist clearly made an effort to veil Mary

但藝術家非常明顯地 努力要遮蔽瑪利亞

and give her disproportionately large legs,

並給了她一雙不成比例的長腿，

with those enormous shin bones.

與巨大的脛骨。

The fear remained that a beautiful illustration of Mary

他們仍然害怕 一幅美麗的瑪利亞圖

might inspire the viewer to love the painting

會引發觀畫者愛上繪畫本身

or the physical form of Mary,

甚或愛上瑪利亞的肉體，

rather than the virtue she's meant to represent.

而不是欣賞她所代表的美德。

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

所以即使這可能很好玩， 想到我們能

more realistically than Cimabuey or Duccio,

比契馬布耶或杜奇歐畫的 更栩栩如生，

we need to remember that they had different goals

我們必須記住當他們提起畫筆時，

when picking up a paintbrush.

其實是抱著不同的目的。