Click for full size, text translations in the comments. The 3rd image is a surviving fragment of the original wall, featuring the Duchess. Hess could have done a much better job with the dress, and he left out those amazing braids!
Click for full size. As you can see, all effort was put into making Joanna Southcott as awful as possible. Ms. Southcott was a self-styled prophetess, and claimed to be pregnant at 64 years of age, and died shortly afterward. It would seem she was held to be nothing more than a con by the medical establishment, with little consideration that she might actually believe all the nonsense she preached. The depiction of her is certainly nothing at all like her actual appearance (there’s a photo at the link.)
A Medical Inspection. Or Miracles Will Never Cease. Thomas Rowlandson, Etching coloured, 1814. Subject: Obstetrics, Prophesy, Pregnancy, Anecdotes, Religious Mania, Joanna Southcott (1750-1814).
Yesterday evening found me distracted again, chasing one tangent after another until I landed on Cornelis van Haarlem (1562-1638), a most talented painter. He was a Northern Mannerist, and given all the foibles of that particular style, he made his characters luminous and achingly beautiful, even when they were misbehaving. Click all images for full size. The first painting which caught my eye was A Monk With A Beguine, painted in 1591:
Een monnik en een begijn, A monk with a beguine, by Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem.
The detail and light are wonderful, it’s all so…lustrous. And reluctantly lusty. You can almost feel their consciences attempting to get the better of them, and failing. The story of the Beguines is an interesting one. I think there’s a lot to be said for such structures as the beguines, just sans religion. At the time, this was a good option for a lot of women, when they had few choices in life.
What grabbed my attention next was Venus and Adonis:
Venus and Adonis, by Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem.
You can see in Adonis’s face there’s some problem, one which has him quite emotional, while Venus has the solid air of confidence and casual comfort. Again, the details are astonishing in their beauty and light; the pearls are translucent.
I’ll add just one more here, The Fall of the Titans, which leads me to the conclusion that all men should have a dragonfly for their dick. Yep. Here’s a detail first, then the full painting:
Detail from The Fall of the Titans by Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem.
The Fall of the Titans by Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem.
Look at the faces, those expressions. Incredibly poignant, once you can stop looking at the dragonflied and butterflied* genitals. Also, dragonfly dick and the character at the bottom right are same person.
*Not meant in that way!
Click for full size. Text translation in the comments.
Cardinal.
Bishop.
These are my recollections of a life behind the iron curtain. I do not aim to give perfect and objective evaluation of anything, but to share my personal experiences and memories. It will explain why I just cannot get misty eyed over some ideas on the political left and why I loathe many ideas on the right.
This is another one of the issues where the current US divide between left and right amuses me greatly. If you ever saw the movie “Red Heat” you will probably remember Arnold Schwarzenegger in his role as a Soviet agent turning on TV in a cheap American hotel and upon seeing porn uttering the word “Capitalism!” with utmost sneer in his voice. That scene rings so true to me.
The regime’s attitude to sex and sex education was abysmal. You see, sex is pleasurable to the individual, and as such informing the populace about how it is supposed to work could not be easily spun into a way to advance the greater good. Pornography was illegal and erotica very strictly regulated. And sex education almost non-existent.
Well, that is not entirely true. Sex ed was compulsory. But non-existent at the same time.
In the seventh class of elementary school, the biology classes were focused on human anatomy. Towards the end of the year part of the curriculum was about sexual and reproductive organs and some sex education thrown in.
The sex education part was gender segregated. Girls were shown some educational video whose details I do not know. Some boys tried to listen at the windows and from them I know that it probably consisted mostly of information about expected changes in body chemistry and shape during puberty, and nothing more.
Boys had even less informative session, which I missed completely due to illness. All I know from highly bemused accounts from my schoolmates is that instead of the rather good diagrams in books the whole issue was explained on a picture of a tulip. Really. Bees and flowers. At school. In 1980s.
At no point whatsoever were the “technicalities” of sex mentioned. No mention of consent and how it is supposed to work, no mention about how condoms are used and what other options of contraception there are, no mention of how the body parts actually fit into each other. So all of this info had to be learned from surroundings, either from family members or from peers. Which has of course led to great variation between individuals.
Info about consent came mostly from media and from peers, with all the masculine garbage that is the stupid “yes means yes, no means try harder”.
Use of condoms had everybody to gleam from rare articles that might be written in some magazine for adults or to figure out for themselves. Oh, and the stupid “it’s woman’s responsibility to not get pregnant” was part of the package too.
How the sex itself is supposed to work everybody learned from pornographic magazines smuggled in from west. People who did not get lucky to see porn or grow up in the country might end up completely unable to actually perform sexual act properly, as was attested in the book Lidská sexualita (Human sexuality) by sexuologist Ivo Pondělíček and his wife Jaroslava Pondělíčková-Mašlová, who bemoaned that in the 1970’s multiple adult pairs came through his office who were unable to conceive child and during the courses he learned that they did not even know that for a woman to conceive the penis must enter the vagina. At least one such pair were people with university diplomas.
All in all it is no wonder that in my relatively small social circle I knew two girls who became pregnant shortly after the age of consent (15 years) and that it was all too common that girls got pregnant and married quite young. There are no precise statistics, because the regime did not keep tabs on things that reflected on it unfavourably, but I would not be suprised if today’s Texas came out better in this regard.
Click for full size. There are five of these, so most below the fold.
Singular Effects Of The Universal Vegetable Pills… Charles Jameson Grant, Lithograph coloured. Subject: Proprietary Medicines, James Morison, Morison’s Pills, Vegetable compounds.
Click for full size. I like the way Death addresses them as Mr. King and Mrs. Queen.
Todt zum König:
Herr König Ewr G’walt hat ein End,
Ich führ euch hie bey meiner Hend,
An diesen dürren Brüder-Tantz,
Da gibt man euch deß Todes-Krantz.
Death to The king:
Mr. King, your power has an end,
I lead you here by my hand
to this dance with dry brothers.
There they’ll give you the death-garland.
Der König:
Ich hab gewaltiglich gelebt,
Und in hohen Ehren geschwebt:
Nun bin ich in deß Todtes Banden,
Verstricket sehr in seinen Handen.
The king:
I have lived powerfully
and hovered in high honour.
Now I’m in Death’s bond,
caught in his hands.
Todt zur Königin:
Fraw Königin Euwr Frewd ist auß,
Springen mit mir ins Todten-Hauß,
Euch hilfft kein Schöne, Gold noch Gelt,
Ich spring mit euch in jene Welt.
Death to The Queen:
Mrs. Queen, your joy has ended,
dance with me into the death-house.
Neither beauty, gold nor money will help you.
I’m dancing with you into the next world.
Die Königin:
O Weh vnd Ach, O weh vnd jmmer,
Wo ist jetzund mein Frawenzimmer,
Mit denen ich hatt Frewden viel:
O Todt thu g’mach, mit mir nicht eyl.
The queen:
Oh woe and alas, oh woe for ever.
Where is now my band of maids
with whom I had many pleasures?
Oh Death, take it easy, don’t hurry with me.
This is the oil which birthed Antimacassars. My great-grandmothers and grandmother had antimacassars on everything. Click for full size!
Macassar Oil, An oily Puff for Soft Heads. Thomas Rowlandson, Etching coloured, 1814. Subject: Macassar Oil, Rowland’s Oil,Alexander Rowland,baldness,hair Tonic, Hair Oil,Proprietary Medicines.
If you missed the beginning, it’s here. Click for full size. ETA: I’ve found translations, but I’m not sure as to their reliability.
Emperor.
Todt zum Keyser:
HErr Keyser mit dem grawen Bart,
Euwr Reuw habt ihr zu lang gespart,
Drumb sperrt euch nicht, Ihr müßt darvon,
Und tantz’n nach meiner Pfeiffen thon.
Death to The Emperor:
Mr. Emperor with the gray beard,
You have long saved your repentance.
Therefore, do not struggle, you must from here
and dance after my fife’s tone.
Der Keyser.
Ich kundte das Reich gar wol mehren
Mit Streitten, Fechten, Unrecht wehren:
Nun hat der Todt uberwunden mich,
Daß ich bin keinem Keyser gleich.
The Emperor.
I was able to increase the kingdom considerably,
with war and fight prevented injustice.
Now Death has won over me,
so that I’m not [any longer] like an emperor.
Empress.
Todt zur Keyserin:
ICh tantz euch vor Fraw Keyserin,
Springen hernach, der tantz ist mein:
Euwr Hofleut sind von Euch gewichen,
Der Todt hat euch hie auch erschlichen.
Death to The Empress:
I dance beforeyou, Mrs. Empress,
Dance after, the dance is mine.
Your courtiers have left you,
Death has here sneaked up on you too.
Die Keyserin:
VIel Wollüst hat mein stoltzer Leib,
Ich lebt alß eines Keysers Weib:
Nun muß ich an diesen Tantz kommen,
Mir ist all Muth und Frewd genommen.
The empress:
My proud body had much pleasure.
I lived as an emperor’s wife.
Now I must come to this dance.
All spirits and joy have been taken from me.
Click for full size.
The Winding Up of the Medical Report of the Walcheren Expedition. Thomas Rowlandson, Etching coloured, 1810. Subject: Lucas Pepys (1742-1830), Robert Jackson (1750-1827), Thomas Keate (1745-1821), Dr. James’ Fever Powder, Chelsea Hospital, Walcheren Campaign, Military Medicine, Medical Boards, Drugs.
The Walcheren Campaign involved little fighting, but heavy losses from the sickness popularly dubbed “Walcheren Fever”. Although more than 4,000 British troops died during the expedition, only 106 died in combat; the survivors withdrew on 9 December. […] Along with the 4,000 men that had died during the campaign, almost 12,000 were still ill by February 1810 and many others remained permanently weakened. Those sent to the Peninsular War to join Wellington’s army caused a permanent doubling of the sick lists there.
As for ‘Look Ass Peeps’ (Lucas Pepys):
In 1794 Pepys was made physician-general to the army, and was president of an army medical board, on which it was his duty to nominate all the army physicians. When so many soldiers fell ill of fever at Walcheren, he was ordered to go there and report. As a consequence the board was abolished; but Pepys was granted a pension.
Click for full size.
A Cure for Lying and a Bad Memory. Thomas Rowlandson, Etching coloured, 1807. Subject: Pharmacy, Medicine.
Hugger-MuggerNoun.
1: secrecy
2: confusion, muddle
[Origin: one of a number of similar-sounding reduplicated words in use around this time and meaning much the same thing, including hucker-mucker, which may be the original of the bunch if the root is, as some think, Middle English mukre “to hoard up, conceal.”]
(1529)
Adjective:
1: secret
2: of a confused or disorderly nature: jumbled.
-hugger-mugger adverb.
“No, her book would hold a dark mirror to such conceits. Since Mother Eve’s day, women had whispered of herb lore and crafty potions, the wise woman’s weapons against the injustices of life; a life of ill treatment, the life of a dog. If women were to be kicked into the kitchen they might play it to their advantage, for what was a kitchen but a witch’s brewhouse? Men had no notion of what women whispered to each other, hugger-mugger by the chimney corner; of treaclish syrups and bitter pods, of fat black berries and bulbous roots. – A Taste for Nightshade, Martine Bailey.
Click for full size.
Poisoning the Sick at Jaffa. George Cruikshank, Aquatint coloured, 1814. Subject: Napoleon, Jaffa, Poison, Hospitals, Military Hospitals.