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本帖最后由 ngsunyu 于 2020-2-15 01:57 编辑
扬·哈菲克松·斯特恩(荷蘭語:Jan Havickszoon Steen,约1626年 – 1679年2月3日下葬)是17世纪(即荷兰黄金时代)荷兰风俗画油画家。他的作品以心理洞察力、幽默感以及丰富的色彩为特点。
日常生活是斯特恩的主要绘画题材。他画的许多风俗场面,比如《圣尼古拉斯节的盛宴》(荷蘭語:Het Sint-Nicolaasfeest)。(zh.wikipedia.org/扬·斯特恩)
The feast of St Nicholas takes place in December. In the Netherlands, it has been celebrated in the same way for centuries. Good children receive gifts from the saint. The little girl in the foreground, for instance, has a bucket full of treats. Naughty children, like the wailing boy at the left, get only a switch (a bundle of twigs) in their shoe. Jan Steen was a born storyteller. He succeeded in incorporating all of the elements of the popular feast in this picture. (Rijksmuseum.nl)
The Feast of Saint Nicholas (Dutch: Het Sint-Nicolaasfeest, c. 1665–1668), is a painting by Dutch master Jan Steen, which can now be found in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It measures 82 x 70.5 cm. The picture, painted in the chaotic Jan Steen "style," depicts a family at home on December 5, the night celebrated in the Netherlands as the Feast of Saint Nicholas, or Sinterklaas.
The focal point of the painting is the youngest daughter of the family, a golden-child, painted, in fact, in a golden smock and showing golden locks. She has behaved all year, and Saint Nicholas has rewarded her by stuffing her shoe with a doll and other treats, which she carries in her bucket. The "doll" is a representation of John the Baptist. The figure wears what appears to be a camel hair shirt and holds a long cross, both symbols tied to John the Baptist. Being the patron saint of epilepsy, the little girl's insistence on holding on to the figure may suggest she suffers from childhood convulsions or epilepsy. She is in stark contrast to her elder brother, standing to her right, who is sobbing, while another brother looks on, laughing. Apparently, the elder brother has been naughty, and his shoe, held up by an elder sister behind him, was left empty. Still there is hope for the sobbing boy. Hidden in the background, almost obscured by the draperies, his grandmother seems to beckon to him—perhaps she is hiding a gift for him too, behind the heavy curtains.
In the background, a boy holds a young child and points out to the youngster the chimney through which Saint Nicholas brought the gifts. His other brother is already singing a gleeful song of thanksgiving in appreciation of the gifts he has received.
The lower right hand corner of the painting actually reveals another popular style of painting. A basket of assorted traditional Christmas sweetmeats like honey cake, gingerbread, waffles, nuts, and apples is actually a miniature still life within the greater painting. Even more examples of the specially celebratory feasts of Christmastime appear on the left side of the foreground. The apple and the coin are references to the old tradition of giving hidden apples and coins to friends as presents. A special diamond shaped caked called a duivekater, leans up against the table and marks the special occasion. In another painting by Steen, the Leiden baker, this same pastry also appears.
The Child near the chimney is holding a symbol of the struggle between Catholics and Protestants, a gingerbread man in the shape of St. Nicholas. The delicacy, still enjoyed around the fifth of December, was seen as an example of Catholic worship of saints and was not approved of by Protestant authorities. In the seventeenth century, the baking of such figures of saints (especially St. Nicholas) was banned. In 1655 in the city of Ultrecht an ordinance was passed which forbade “the baking of likenesses in bread or cake”. (en.wikipedia.org/The Feast of Saint Nicholas) |
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