September 04, 2018 Tuesday
Bedtime Story
Polyptych of Perugia and the Annunciation
Tonight we shall analyze in greater detail
some of the specific art works of Francesca and study the use of linear
perspective in them.
Some of the art works that are a good
reflection of perspective deployed by Piero are the Polyptych of Perugia and
The Flagellation of Christ.
The word “polyptych” must be alien to most
of you if not all of you.
To understand the word it needs to be
broken into two – poly- which is derived from Greek -polús which in turn is
derived from the proto-Indo-European language (common ancestor of the
indo-European languages) -polhus which means “many” or “much”.
The first part would be known to all of you
but it’s the second part that is more of a challenge.
The root word of the second part is the
Greek word ‘ptysso’ which means ‘to fold’ or ‘ptyx’ which means ‘fold’.
Polyptych refers to panel type of paintings
wherein the single paining as a whole is divided into many sections or panels
either displaying different rooms in a same place or different temporal aspect
of the same activity in progress.
So if such a painting has just two panels
that kind of art work could be more specifically called a diptych and if it has
three parts then it would be called a triptych.
The painting that goes by the name of
Polyptych of Perugia (Perugia is a city in Italy) is a depiction of Virgin Mary
on a throne holding a child that is obviously understood to be Jesus flanked by
several saints and even an angel.
She is also shown surrounded by many
saints, two to her right, two to her left and two of them above her.
The human figures are distinctively robust
and full bodied but what concerns our story is the perspective image set on top
showing the act of annunciation.
Annunciation is a Biblical term is narrated
in Luke 1: 26-38 which is the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin
Mary that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus.
I want to take you through this passage of
chapter Luke 1 to surprise you what we human apes – of all walks of life and all
cultures across generations - are capable of believing:
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy,
God send the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a
man named Joseph, a descendent of David.
The virgin’s name was Mary.
28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings,
you are highly favored!
The lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words
and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be
afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling chimpanzee
or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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