Alex + Heph + Tol

[Latimer]

My partner and I finished up Alexander the Great: The Making of a God on Netflix yesterday evening. I recommend it not for its historical veracity (dubious in many cases) but because it's fun. More fun than a lot of the Netflix suspense thrillers we watch.

So far, the first 20 minutes or so are the best: it has an extended sword fight scene with hot, sweaty, bare chested best buds Alexander ("Alex") and Hephaestion ("Heph") finishing their match with an open mouthed kiss, followed by a dip in a pool with more bodily exploration and kissing, which only ends when their equally hot buddy Ptolemy ("Tol") appears to tell them they need to get off to Alex's father's second marriage celebration.

The four male leads (I'd add Darius III to the aforementioned) are handsome and sexy. Better had Hephaestion been taller and handsomer than Alexander, as he was said to be--illustrated by the famous scene in which the mother of Darius approaches Hephaestion rather than Alexander to beg for mercy, and when she apologizes for her mistake, Alexander responds, "This man too is Alexander." I'll also add that, however great these guys look, the hair is wrong (from the official portraits--sculpture and coin--and the Battle of Issus mosaic in Naples) Alexander had longer, Apollo-like hair, not the mid fifth century athlete's short hair given to the actors playing Greeks in the series. Alexander also supposedly put gold-flecks in his hair. That would have been a nice touch.

The first episode shows Alex and Heph visiting Troy to pay homage at the tumulus tombs of Achilles and Patroclus. One of the histories recounts that they stripped naked and ran around the circular mounds. That would also have been a nice touch.

Time to pull out the Robin Lane Fox biography and the Mary Renault trilogy.

 

[Essex Boy]

^
Bless you for reminding me of Mary Renault! Our English teacher told us about her when I was 13 or so, and I bought The Bull from the Sea with my pocket money. I didn't realize it was the sequel to The King Must die. To this day I've never got round to reading any of her other books. I know she was an out-and-proud lesbian and lived in South Africa. So that's my belated New Year resolution--get into Mary Renault at long last.

I was mad about the Greeks and Greek myths as a child and devoured the books about them in the library and drooled over the pictures of impossibly handsome, athletic young men in those skimpy miniskirts! That was probably the first thing that got me sexually aroused, before I knew what it was all about. I wonder how many boys got their first pre-pubescent trouser-tingles from ancient Greek heroes in those days. Ah, the joys of a classical education!

 

[NotHardUp1]

That painting that I saw was in the National Gallery in London by Veronese. When my cousins and I traveled there in 2004 (I think), we only had one day in London at the end of a week that took us from Gatwick to Cambourne the first night, from Cambourne to Stratford-on-Avon the third day, from Stratford to Leeds the fourth day, and finally back to London on the sixth day.

My older cousin was in her early 70's and kind of bossy, more so to her daughter, who was about three years my senior and had been in school, church, and choirs with me. While we were at the gallery, they were rushing along, but I wanted to hear a docent presentation, and the one I apprehended was at that massive canvas. I was SO glad I did, as I remember few others I saw because I had little to remember them by.

And, I had never studied the painting in my art courses, so it was new to me.

Is that the one you saw, or were you referring to another?

 

[Latimer]

^ Essex Boy, this was largely my story, too--although the art books were all in my parents' library, including Mary Renault. I've jokingly said that were it not for Greek sculpture, vase painting and Mary Renault I'd never be gay. I almost think it could be true.
^
@ Essex Boy You need to take a look at:

The Song of Achilles - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It's quite wonderful, particularly in its portrayal of the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus. The passages on Achilles' decision to join the Greek forces, to choose a hero's death over a long life are particularly moving.

I'm reminded of the Iliad and the Odyssey when we sit down to dinner in the evening as our dining room is decorated with prints that John Flaxman designed to illustrate scenes from Homer in the late 18th century. Flaxman, as you probably know, designed reliefs for the Wedgewood Pottery and Nelson's monument in St Paul. His gold shield of Achilles is particularly magnificent. There are copies in the Fitzwilliam, the Royal Collection, Anglesey Abbey, the Al-Tajir collection in Paris and--to my great good fortune, the Huntington Museum in Pasadena.

I hope you caught the great show at the British Museum in 2015 "Defining beauty: the Body in Ancient Greek art". The curators of the show made the point in the catalogue and in interviews that the sculpture is not erotic.

But we know otherwise.

 

[Latimer]

@Not Hard Up
I know the Veronese, but I was specifically thinking of one of the three Alexander frescoes that Il Sodoma painting for Agostino Chigi's bedchamber in the Villa Farnesina in Rome. The penultimate illustration is a detail from the painting I was thinking of when I wrote my post. The Villa Farnesina is one of my favorite places to visit when I'm in Rome. Beautiful architecture, decoration and a fascinating history. The Loggia, with frescoes by Raphael, Giulio Romano and others, is my favorite room in the city.

Villa Farnesina Frescoes Explained - Rome Travel Guide | Roma Wonder

The stunning frescoes of Villa Farnesina in Rome easily explained by our authors, official Rome Tour Guides. Pictures and entertaining information available

www.romawonder.com

 

[Latimer]

The centerpiece of the room is The Marriage of Alexander and Roxana. Hephaestion is off to the right, leaning on the god of marriage, Hymen, and casting a knowing gaze over at his best mate Alexander.

Wedding of Alexander and Roxane by SODOMA, Il

Page of Wedding of Alexander and Roxane by SODOMA, Il in the Web Gallery of Art, a searchable image collection and database of European painting, sculpture and architecture (200-1900)

www.wga.hu

 

[Latimer]

...but thank you, NotHardUp, for reminding me what a great painter Veronese is. I tend to not give him the attention that I give to other Venetian painters, thinking him a glib entertainer--all of those monkeys, musicians and other ephemera. But what a brilliant entertainer he is! And as importantly, the character he portrays in the faces of his subjects can be telling, even profound. He is always enjoyable.

 

[NotHardUp1]

@Not Hard Up
I know the Veronese, but I was specifically thinking of one of the three Alexander frescoes that Il Sodoma painting for Agostino Chigi's bedchamber in the Villa Farnesina in Rome. The penultimate illustration is a detail from the painting I was thinking of when I wrote my post. The Villa Farnesina is one of my favorite places to visit when I'm in Rome. Beautiful architecture, decoration and a fascinating history. The Loggia, with frescoes by Raphael, Giulio Romano and others, is my favorite room in the city.

Villa Farnesina Frescoes Explained - Rome Travel Guide | Roma Wonder

The stunning frescoes of Villa Farnesina in Rome easily explained by our authors, official Rome Tour Guides. Pictures and entertaining information available

www.romawonder.com

Thank you.

For any following along but not reading links, here is the Bazzi depiction:

Of course, both compositions are very formulaic in their arrangement and posturing, but with the obvious century advancing the human forms in the Veronese. Although I much enjoy the color of the Bazzi, the boyish feminized faces of Alexander and Hephaestion seem highly incongruous with their warrior experience, even at age 23. They are neither the faces of warriors or rulers.

In the Veronese, they are Conquistadors, even if Italianate, and aged far too much there.

So, neither scene feels realistic, only notes in a bottle from centuries past.

The reduction here is unfair. When standing before the Veronese, it is intimidatingly large, as intended, nearly 8' x 16', and one feels the dread of Darius' wife at her realization of insult to the man who holds the lives of her children in his palm. But, it is not lovely or engrossing at all in this reduced scale on the monitor.

One footnote: my memory has played a trick on me. I know for a fact I have only seen the Veronese in person, but when I view the Le Brun, it is what my memory tells me I saw in London, yet I know it is impossible, as it hangs in the Louvre, and I've never even been to Paris. I'm sure I looked it up in the past two decades and simply remember it better because I like it best. Go figure.

The Le Brun:

 

[Latimer]

To my eye, Veronese's Alexander and Hephaestion are two handsome, elegant Venetian aristocrats, their response to Darius' mother showing more noblesse oblige than compassion, whereas Il Sodoma's conquerors exhibit real and tender concern --note Alexander's hand on her shoulder and Hephaestion's compassionate gaze. In the Le Brun, Alexander pays no attention to the supplicant mother at his feet, his gaze focused on Darius' wife, while Hephaestion simply observes.
An interesting discussion for an art history seminar.

The supplicant pose of Darius' mother in Il Sodoma's painting--Sisygambis is her name--brings to mind the Giotto Noli me tangere in Assisi.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Giotto_di_Bondone_-_Scenes_from_the_Life_of_Mary_Magdalene_-_Noli_me_tangere_-_WGA09105.jpg

 

[Essex Boy]

The Song of Achilles - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It's quite wonderful, particularly in its portrayal of the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus. The passages on Achilles' decision to join the Greek forces, to choose a hero's death over a long life are particularly moving.

I've been caught napping! That has been the Book at Bedtime on Radio 4 for the last week but I haven't been following it. It's half way through now. I'll catch up on the BBC Sounds thingy. Here's the link for anyone who's got access to the BBC Sounds thingy:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/m001vsfx

 

[NotHardUp1]

To my eye, Veronese's Alexander and Hephaestion are two handsome, elegant Venetian aristocrats, their response to Darius' mother showing more noblesse oblige than compassion, whereas Il Sodoma's conquerors exhibit real and tender concern --note Alexander's hand on her shoulder and Hephaestion's compassionate gaze. In the Le Brun, Alexander pays no attention to the supplicant mother at his feet, his gaze focused on Darius' wife, while Hephaestion simply observes.
An interesting discussion for an art history seminar.

The supplicant pose of Darius' mother in Il Sodoma's painting--Sisygambis is her name--brings to mind the Giotto Noli me tangere in Assisi.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Giotto_di_Bondone_-_Scenes_from_the_Life_of_Mary_Magdalene_-_Noli_me_tangere_-_WGA09105.jpg

The postures of supplication remind me of the stylizing evident from the earliest murals, such as those of Egypt, and the intersection of artist and cultures. In the ancients, the artist appears to have had less lattitude with how great scenes were portrayed. The figures are remote and faces almost implacable.

By the time we see Bazzi, the figures are pulled through the filter of religious adoration, and the generals appear more like innocent, angelic adult cherubs, not men. They could just as well have been Gabriel at the annunciation. The Veronese demonstrates the progression of artists under patrons, much closer to fawning to aristocratic sponsors with the generals looking more powerful and manly, but no hint of divine. The tableau seems like just another day in the grand royal court, complete with a monkey as entertainment, perhaps in contrast to the dire event in the foreground.

The Le Brun is religious adoration on steroids. The realism has been intensified, then imbued with divine light highlighting multiple figures, and with Hephaestion and Alexander elevated to full Greek god status. Alexander is a credible Apollo.

I could spend years touring museums and studying art formally. Being in front of a painting is a life-changing thing in many instances. As wonderful as art books or online viewing is, it is a pale experience by comparison. Scale and lighting and texture are so much different in the shrines of museums than at our fingertips in miniature.

 

[rareboy]

The series sounds like a hot mess.

 

[rareboy]