The Venus of Milo: an archeological study of the goddess of womanhoodCarus, Paul
History
The Venus of Milo: an archeological study of the goddess of womanhood
Carus, Paul
Venus (Roman deity); Venus de Milo
Of the more recent pictures we will mention only those of Schnorr von
Carolsfeld, who has succeeded most effectively in striking the proper
traditional note in Bible illustrations. He represents Adam and Eve
according to the dogmatic belief of Protestant Christianity. In the
scene here reproduced they are portrayed after their expulsion from
Paradise in their comfortable primitive home, where Adam, leaning on his
hoe, rests from his labors while Eve sits in the background with a
distaff in her hand, and their two sons are playing about them.
* * * * *
And now, in conclusion, the question as to the place of this theme in
the art of the future. Has not the present generation lost interest in
our ancestors? Since the legend is no longer believed literally, our
artistic imagination is not attracted so strongly by it. The story of
the fall of man has become an allegory, an interesting tale, but it is
no longer a truth. We believe now in evolution, and so Gabriel Max has
pictured a new Eve for us which is the mother of modern man,--the mother
who bequeaths to her son a deeper comprehension of life and a truer
insight into the nature of things.
[Illustration: PRIMITIVE MAN.
By Gabriel Max.]
The picture is at first sight repulsive, but the more we look at it and
the more we study the artist’s intentions, the more it grows on us. Here
is a primitive couple of the ape-man type, fossil remains of which have
been found in the Neanderthal, in Cannstatt and in Spy. They must have
been very savage, and we shudder at their appearance. How unpleasant it
would be to meet such creatures in a lonely forest! The male is very
brutish while the female shows traces of a dawning intelligence.
Verily, we discover in this scene represented by Gabriel Max a close
resemblance to pictures of the holy family. And considered rightly, the
similarity is by no means fortuitous, for here we have indeed a holy
family. It is an uncultured primitive couple of a speechless tribe of
forest men, yet the hope of progress and a brave determination to take
up the battle of life for the sake of the babe that is born to them
becomes visible in the mother’s eyes.
After all, the wife of _homo alalus_, of the primitive speechless man,
is still the same Eve. There is the same sacrifice of motherlove, the
same determination of bringing to life the man of the future, the
higher, better, nobler man, whose life will be much more worth living
than was her own.
This is the secret of life, that we live not for ourselves but for
others. If mankind were one great immortal being, how monotonous life
would be; how egotistical would all our aspirations become! But nature
renders all egotism futile. None of us finds an abiding home here on
earth; we pass away and new generations fill the places we leave vacant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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