Detail of Jan Steen's Sick Woman, ca. 1665
from Tess Kincaid's The Mag *click here* for Mag 138
from Tess Kincaid's The Mag *click here* for Mag 138
In Jan's short life, he developed relationships with actors and others involved in the theater. Many art historians agree that his paintings were often not so much of contemporary life as of portrayals of contemporary life as found on stage or as if staged to tell stories or offer opinions. In at least one of his paintings of sick women, the doctor is in costume appearing as a doctor of at least one hundred years earlier. Jan is well known for his extremely crowded and messy (some use the word chaotic) family and group scenes, though people generally doubt he lived like that. I noticed as well that certain details are common, such as lutes hanging face in on the wall and cuckoo clocks shown at an angle and in perspective on the painting's right hand wall. He liked to use messy floors as a still life tableau, adding detail to his paintings in that way. Jan never earned large money from his art and near the end of his life he opened a tavern in his home to make ends meet. Jan died aged 52, maybe 53.
Home Visit
As usual, smells
are the first thing I notice
coming into you
as you half lie on
your sick chair, seated and dressed
protecting virtue
yet asking for me.
I have traveled all this way,
more than one hundred
years on this journey
to appear before you here,
an apparition
of your need and hope
in this dim time, this drab space,
me here all in black.
October 7, 2012 12:09 PM
Oh, I do love the space and time travel your poem eludes to... an interesting twist to the real life images in the painting. Thank you for sharing this, Christopher.
ReplyDeleteLinda, in regards to time travel, I am only following the master :D
Delete" smells
ReplyDeleteare the first thing I notice
coming into you"
Such sensuality.
Back in the day, doctors relied on smells and tastes to diagnose.
DeleteI guess I must add since another "sensual" remark has occurred that it surprises me that my poem moves somewhere near the erotic(in the larger sense). Sick room odors are not that pleasing to me but I do suppose they are strong and perhaps unique.
DeleteI wonder if these odors reach the mothers and maybe fathers among us more than others. They are certainly the intimate experiences of family more than elsewhere.
Intriguing take on the prompt, and so well expressed.
ReplyDeleteWhen I realized that Jan painted at least two similar sick room scenes it became compelling to me. Jan spent some real time creating his images of sick rooms with women being visited by doctors (not midwives) and thus seated fully clothed in sick chairs at the heart of things.
DeleteThe formal nature of such a visit says a great deal about the relationships of men and women. These relationships are almost completely alien to modern sensibilities. That a seriously ill woman should be compelled to dress like that no matter what is remarkable to me.
Maybe that is the communication Jan wanted to make with his doctor(s) being so anachronistic. Maybe it is a statement of complaint about the backward nature of things. This is pure idle speculation, of course.
Fascinating time travel, sir...
ReplyDeleteIndeed. I always need a hook since the Magpies are actual tales. In reading up on Steen it got me when I realized that he portrayed a contemporary sick room for his time but introduced healers in the past tense - at least one hundred years earlier. I don't have an easy answer what that actually means but the juxtapositions of time and space are easy to create.
DeleteThe archetypal healer appears just in the nick of time, the only question that remains is his name ? . Appollonique ?
ReplyDeleteIs that a name or an attitude? In terms of the theater of the day, I suspect the name is the attitude.
Deletei hope one-day someone will travel a hundred years to see me!!
ReplyDelete:D I was born in 1845... but since I am currently a resident of 2012, how would you know that?
DeleteLove the way you weave the artist's life with your poetry ....
ReplyDeleteWonderful to travel through the posts and see so many totally original takes. I like the space travel, which is a nicer explanation for the old-fashionedly garbed doctor than Jan Steen intended.
ReplyDelete( I notice you have the 'wal' issue sorted. Having said that: Manhattan's Wall Street seemed to refer to a partition rather than a bulwark even back in the dutch days.]
I don't know what he intended, but I think I got a reasonable clue when I mentioned in another reply that it may be how "old fashioned" he thought healers were.
DeleteInteresting that you should think to link NYC's Wall Street to the "-wal" in Noordwal. I understand the reference to the early Dutch settlement there. I had not thought that the Wall Street name had its origin so far back.
This is a richly sensual piece--I love "coming into you"
ReplyDeleteI am struck by you and others think this poem sensual. That remark has surprised and pleased me.
DeleteLove this and its time travel theme - and yes your words are sensual.
ReplyDeleteOf note: I do remember seeing you 1845(ish)...
Anna :o]
Wow, you visited my mom or something? I am sure you didn't talk with me. I didn't hold conversations much before 1848 and then not so much with grownups unless you had food or something. I was a bit feral. I already got along well with cats and dogs.
Delete