卢浮宫的珍宝（2013）

拿破仑为约瑟芬皇后加冕的瞬间
that Napoleon crowned Josephine queen,
而非拿破仑自己的加冕礼
not his own coronation.
她下跪姿态的原型是
Her kneeling figure was copied from
鲁本斯的《玛丽·德·美第奇的加冕礼》
Rubens’ Coronation of Marie de Medici.
顺便一提
By the way,
大卫的妙笔让她的容貌年轻了好几岁
she’s had years taken off her by David’s painterly facelift.
大卫最初所画的教皇
Originally, David had painted the Pope
是双手交叠摆在膝上的
with his hands folded in his lap
直到皇帝说道
until the Emperor explained
他把教皇从梵蒂冈请来
that he hadn’t got the Pontiff all the way from the Vatican
不是为了让他闲坐着的
just to sit and do nothing.
所以大卫将教皇庇护七世
So, David changed this to Pope Pius VII
改成为加冕礼祝福的姿势
blessing the coronation.
这里还有一个恶作剧
And there’s mischief here too.
请看这位狡诈的幸存者塔列朗
Look at the wily survivor Talleyrand
[此人极富政♥治♥手腕 曾效力于路易十六
后平安度过法国大革命 继续效力于拿破仑]
还有他傲慢的神情
and his turned up nose.
拿破仑曾称他为
This is the man that Bonaparte famously called,
“穿着丝♥袜♥的渣滓”
“A piece of shit in a silk stocking.”
楼座上的女性
The female figure on the balcony,
是拿破仑的母亲 与约瑟芬不合
that’s Napoleon’s mother, who couldn’t stand Josephine
且当日并未出席
and actually wasn’t there on the big day.
但根据指示 大卫还是将她放在了画中
But on instruction, David put her in the picture anyway.
那边手拿速写簿的
And there, of course, sketchbook in hand,
就是这位伟大的画师本人
is the great artist himself.
尽管这幅画作很成功
Despite the success of this painting,
大卫与皇帝身边的侍臣们的
there was a prickly relationship between David
关系却很棘手
and the courtiers around the Emperor.
这幅画本该是
This picture was meant to be
庆贺加冕礼四幅画中的一幅
the first of four celebrating the coronation,
但由于金钱上的争执
but the project was never completed
这一项目始终没有完成
after squabbles about money.
所以 1806年 拿破仑对大卫
So it’s perhaps no coincidence that in 1806,
及其助手们下达逐客令 就不足为怪了
the great general gave David and fellow painters their marching orders.
他们只有24小时
They had just 24 hours
将方形庭院工作室中的东西收拾好
to pack up their studios in the Cour Carree
继而离开
and get out.
当拿破仑于1810年再婚时
And when Napoleon married for the second time in 1810,
并没有邀请大卫来记录这场
David wasn’t asked to record the ceremony
在卢浮宫举办的婚礼
when it took place in the Louvre.
大卫与拿破仑间亲密的关系就此终结
The close relationship between painter and despot was over
他们的命运也开始走下坡路
as their fortunes declined,
大卫遇到了对艺术怀有新见解的对手
David to new rivals with new ideas about art,
拿破仑的自傲导致了自己权力的倒台
Napoleon to the hubris that led to his fall from power
以及波旁王朝的复辟
and the return of the Bourbon monarchy.
拿破仑的统治
The rule of Napoleon
终结于1815年的滑铁卢之役
was ended in 1815 with the Battle of Waterloo,
波旁王朝获得了复辟
and the Restoration of the Bourbon dynasty was secured.
卢浮宫被更名为”皇家博物馆”
The Louvre was renamed Le Musee Royal,
相关的视觉宣传也随之改变
and all of the visual propaganda changed too.
代表拿破仑的N
Out went the Napoleonic N
曾为他象征的蜜蜂和鹰被换下
and the bees and the eagles that had been his symbol,
改成了百合花图案
and in came the image of the lily
和代表路易十八的字母组合LL
and the monogram LL for Louis XVIII,
还有件有趣的东西
and there was other interesting stuff.
从这里向上看
If you look up here,
能看到这张是拿破仑的脸
you can see that this is the face of Napoleon.
新国王给拿破仑的头上戴了顶假发
What happened was that the new King had a wig placed on Bonaparte’s head,
将他转换成他著名祖先的样子
transforming him into the image of his illustrious forebear,
即路易十四
Louis XIV.
这次复辟是对卢浮宫的一次挑战
The Restoration was a challenging period for the Louvre,
五千件掠夺而来的艺术品被强制要求归还
forced to concede to demands that 5,000 pieces of plundered art be returned.
凯♥旋♥门顶部的青铜马
The bronze horses on top of the Arc de Triomphe
被送还到威尼斯
went back to Venice,
由这些灰色的仿制品替代
and were replaced by these grey imitations.
一些珍宝仍保留着
Some treasures did remain.
博物馆称《迦拿的婚礼》
The Wedding at Cana was kept,
因为太大 不宜搬动
simply too big to be moved again,
于是被保留了下来
the museum argued.
年迈的大卫和他曾经的资助人拿破仑一样
An elderly David was now in exile
遭到流放
like his former patron Bonaparte,
但新一代画家逐渐崭露头角
but a new generation of painters was emerging
创造出精妙绝伦的艺术作品
and producing stunning works of art.
其中一件位于红厅
One is to be found in the Salle Rouge.
这幅杰利柯的《梅杜萨之筏》
This painting, Le Radeau de la Meduse, The Raft of the Medusa by Gericault,
是卢浮宫的伟大珍宝之一
is one of the great treasures of the Louvre.
它于1819年首次展出时
It was the talk of the Salon
一度成为沙龙的热门话题
when it was first exhibited in 1819,
随即被当时的卢浮宫馆长弗邦伯爵
and it was very quickly acquired by the then-director of the Louvre,
迅速买♥♥下
the Comte de Forbin.
我认为这是幅非凡且复杂的画作
I think it’s an extraordinary, complex painting.
它是写实的 但并不完全真实
It’s realistic but it’s not quite real,
画中人物的身躯构成一种金字塔式结构
you’ve got these human bodies constructed as a kind of pyramid.
很有浪漫主义情怀
It’s very romantic,
其主题是人类的苦难
it’s about human suffering
也表现出希望的渺茫
but also about the impossibility of hope.
但观者的感受是自己也身处画中
But what you really feel is that you’re in the painting,
在那座人类苦难的金字塔里
you’re in that pyramid of human suffering.
从杰利柯的作品中 可以看出他对人体的了解
And you can see the kind of forensic nature of Gericault’s work.
他曾长时间地在停尸间与医院中
He was the kind of man who spent hours in mortuaries and hospitals
为死尸画素描
sketching out dead bodies
也丝毫不害怕将残肢带回家
and he wasn’t even afraid to take home the limbs
来研究微妙的细节
to work out the tricky bits,
这使得他的画作十分鲜明而有力
and that’s what makes this painting so stark, so powerful.
梅杜萨护卫舰在西非海岸失事
There was no bigger scandal than the shipwreck of the frigate Meduse
是当时的重大事件
off the West African coast,
船长是倒霉的肖马雷子爵
captained by the hapless Viscount Chaumareys.
147名船员中只有13名生还
Of the 147 crew, only 13 survived.
这是头条新闻
This was headline news,
坊间传播着同类相食与精神狂乱的可怕传言
and the public lapped up lurid tales of cannibalism and madness.
将这样的事放到画布上
Such a juicy story translated to canvas
则有益于这位二十岁画家的职业生涯
could only be good for the career of the 20-year-old artist.
我从管♥理♥员♥ 塞巴斯蒂安·阿♥拉♥尔那里
I asked curator Sebastien Allard
了解了这幅画
about the painting.
这已被作为一种寓言形式
It was, and has been taken as a form of allegory,
因为在杰利柯的笔下
since Gericault’s depicting a ship that was wrecked
这艘船是由于船长的失职而沉没的
‘as a direct result of the incompetence of its captain.
幸存者站在救生筏上
‘Survivors were stranded on a raft
无粮无水 希望渺茫
without food, water or hope,
人们认为这影射了
‘and people took all this as an allusion
法兰西帝国陷落后 法国的现状
‘to the French State after the fall of the Empire,
由无能的统治者领导着
governed by incompetence.’
这幅作品更富细腻的感情
There are more intense, romantic sensibilities at work here.
在这里我们可以看到
‘We can see here
带有黑暗和邪恶味道的画作
a taste for rather dark and sinister painting
和大卫清晰明亮的画风形成了鲜明的对比
‘that’s in stark contrast to the relatively clear and bright paintings of David,
当然 这种风格凸显了画面的戏剧性
‘and which, of course, ‘acts as a tool towards the dramatic effect of the painting.
这是种令人毛骨悚然的风格
‘And it’s a rather macabre style,
有大量关于死亡和尸体的描绘
‘with a penchant for death and corpses.’
卢浮宫中不仅有当时最棒的作品
As well as bringing the best of contemporary art into the Louvre,
数十年的修复工作还使得
these decades of the Restoration saw the arrival
来自古埃及的展品焕发了新生
from Egypt of mysterious and magical objects that were old yet very new.
1836年10月25日
On the 25th of October 1836,
我身后这座宏伟的方尖碑亮相
the great obelisk behind me here was unveiled.
它来自卢克索的一座神庙
It came from a temple in Luxor
是埃及总督赫迪夫送的礼物
and was the gift of the Khedive of Egypt.
它的原始底座上装饰着猴子
Its original base featured monkeys
私处呈勃起状态
who had suspiciously large erections,
显然
and obviously
要把这些猴子换成某种更庄严的东西
this had to be replaced by something much more austere,