The Pollution Of The River Gomti Environmental Sciences Essay

The Pollution Of The River Gomti Environmental Sciences Essay The city of Lucknow has come up on the banks of the river Gomti. The rivers significance has been time and again stated in various historical annals, which essentially point out the manner in which the city in its early days was dependent on the Gomti. The early nawabs used had built palaces on the banks of the Gomti, with water from the river being brought into the palaces for both sanitary as well as aesthetic purposes.  [3]  These palaces had bathrooms as well as toilets with proper sewage disposal mechanisms to ensure that the water post use was taken out of the palace and left back in the Gomti.  [4]   The river provided for the arts of various craftsmen to thrive.  [5]  The water from the river was utilized by various people who practiced the art of dying cloth. The water, once the dying process was over, was let back into the river.  [6]   When the British came to Lucknow, they constructed the company cantonment, called the Residency, four miles north of the Gomti.  [7]  Here too, the river played an important role in providing water to the British by means of a system of canals that they had constructed for their purposes.  [8]   The river for the masses had always been an important asset. Besides being a source of water, it provided them with employment as well. Agriculture thrived along the banks of the river.  [9]  Fishing too was an important source of income, which was nurtured by the river.  [10]   Over the years, a lot about the city as well as the river that nurtured it has changed. The British as well as the Nawabs have long left and have been replaced by various factories as well as the innumerable people who now call Lucknow home. The river that once was the life line of the city now carries its waste and sludge. The residents solid wastes gets dumped into the river, and in light of the poor implementation of the law, the manufacturing units present in the city use the river to discharge their affluent. The river water hence has been rendered unsuitable for consumption. The aquatic life that once existed too now has perished as a result of the raised levels of pollution. 1.2 Research Methodology For the purposes of this research paper the researcher has utilized the doctrinal, as well as the empirical method of research. In order to achieve the aims and objectives of this research paper, the researcher needed not only understand how pollutants in the river water have a detrimental effect on the quality of the water, but also needed to study the existing legal framework to see if those specific concerns had been catered to in the legislations. Furthermore, the author had to empirically access the levels of pollution in the river waters of Gomti in order to determine whether the pollutants were being controlled or not by the respective agencies. In addition to this, numerous newspaper reports and government documents from the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board  [11]  have been used. Various sources form the world wide web too were utilized for research purposes. 1.3 Aims and Objectives The aim of this research paper is to portray the levels of pollution in the river Gomti and thus determine the effects of pollution on the river. The objective of this research paper is to determine if the legal framework is well suited to ensure that the pollution levels be curbed or if there is any lax in the normative structure of the law. 1.4 Scope and Limitation The scope of this research paper revolves around the pollution that has been caused by the industrial activity in and around the city of Lucknow and the manner in which the same has polluted the river. The scope of this research paper also envisages a brief perusal of the legal norms governing the environment and its protection in India. This scope is limited to the legal situation that exists in India. In addition to this, the scope of this research paper is restricted to the River Gomti alone and no other river that flows in the region. Necessary references to highlight the comparative levels of pollution have been made in paper where necessary. 2.0 The Law for the Protection of Water Bodies 2.1 The Water (Prevention And Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 In 1974, the Central Legislature decide to enact the Water Act. This Act aimed at the prevention and control of water pollution and at the maintenance or restoration of the wholesomeness of water bodies in India.  [12]  The Act envisaged this by means of the establishment of Central  [13]  and State Boards  [14]  . The main function of the central boards is to ensure that the water bodies do not in any manner incur any degradation.  [15]  They work towards the maintenance of aquatic ecosystems across the States. For the fulfillment of the said objective, they not only coordinate the activities of the State Board but also ensure that adequate assistance is provided to the State boards whenever necessary. The Central Boards are also provide technical information to the State Boards whenever the same is asked for by the latter. The Central Board for the purposes of furthering environmental causes may recognize laboratories so as to enable them to analyze water samples form the various parts of the country.  [16]  The State Board on the other hand is responsible for planning a comprehensive program for the prevention of pollution in the State. It is suppose to work in conformity with the Central Board for the attainment of its predetermined objectives.  [17]   As per the legislation, the authorities have the right to enter any industrial establishment and take samples of the chemicals that are being released into the water bodies in order to determine whether or not they are toxic and therefore ought to be treated before they are released.  [18]  Furthermore, if the agency cannot gather the chemicals, it can collect the samples from the water that is being released in order to determine the levels of toxicity.  [19]  Subsequently, the Board can approach a court of law to enforce the prescribed penalty.  [20]   In cases where, the culprit is a company, then the board also withholds the power to pierce the corporate veil and determine whose commission or omission is responsible for the release of the pollutants into the water body.  [21]  Similarly, if the culprit is a Government entity, then in that case, the Head of the Department of that Government entity shall be deemed to be responsible for the pollution caused.  [22]   In addition to the Water Act, 1974, there are various provisions in the Constitution of India such as the Article 48A that talks about the protection of the environment.  [23]  Similarly, the municipalities  [24]  as well as the panchayats  [25]  too have been enabled to take steps for the preservation of the ecosystem. 2.2 Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989 . These rules essentially provide the manner in which Hazardous wastes are to be handled and disposed of by the any industry or body that is emitting the same. These Rules were brought in pursuant to powers conferred by Sections 6,8 and 25 of the Environment(Protection) Act, 1986(29 of 1986) on the Central Government to make rules.  [26]   These Rules have specific schedules that mention the quantity of heavy metals that are permissible to be released into any water body.  [27]  In addition to this, the Rules also provide for the responsibility of the occupier and the operator of a facility in regards the release of affluent into water bodies.  [28]  The rules mandate that hazardous waste be packaged, labeled and transported to specific dumping sites.  [29]  These disposal sites too have been specifically provided for in the rules.  [30]   2.3 Cases on River Water Pollution in India 2.3.1 Tirupur Dyeing Factory Owners Association v. Noyyal River Ayacutdars Protection Association and Ors. , Civil Appeal No. 6776 of 2009 (Arising out of Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 6963 of 2007) and Civil Appeal No. 6777 of 2009 (Arising out of Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 28296 of 2008) as Decided On 06.10.2009 (Not Cited Yet) Public Interest Litigation was filed by the Noyyal River Ayacutdars Protection Association, a registered Association for seeking directions for preservation of ecology and for keeping the Noyyal river in Tamil Nadu free from pollution.  [31]  According to this Association, a large number of industries, some of them respondents before the writ court and appellants herein had indulged in dyeing and bleaching works at Tirupur area and discharging the industrial effluents into the Noyyal river which had caused water pollution to the extent, that the water of the river was neither fit for irrigation nor potable. The pollution also adversely affected the Orthapalayam reservoir and other tanks and channels of the said river.  [32]   The court held in this case that the polluting Association cannot escape the responsibility to meet out the expenses of reversing the ecology.  [33]  They were bound to meet the expenses of removing the sludge of the river and also for cleaning the dam.  [34]  The principles of polluters-pay and precautionary principle in this case have been read with the doctrine of sustainable development.  [35]  In light of this reading it became the responsibility of the members of the Association that they carry out their industrial activities without polluting the water.  [36]   2.3.2 U.P. Pollution Control Board v. Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Modi and Anr, (2009)2SCC147 M/s Modi Carpets Ltd., Raebareli had been releasing affluent and sludge into a nearly water body and the same had been happening for a very long time. The court in this regard after looking at the facts and circumstances of the case came to the conclusion that the pollution that was being caused was the responsibility of this said establishment and held them liable for the damage caused to the environment.  [37]   2.3.3 Pondicherry Paper Limited v. Central Board for Prevention and Control of Pollution, Cri. M.P. No. 4662 4663 of 1978 Madras High Court Pondicherry Paper Limited had been releasing various chemicals intro a nearby water body. This had caused a lot of damage to the environment and the water in which the chemicals were being dumped was now not suitable for any form of usage.  [38]  The court in this case under Section 33 of the Water Act, gave an injunction to prevent further water pollution.  [39]   2.3.4 Narula Dyeing and Printing Works v. Union of India, AIR 1995 Guj 185 In this case the Dyeing Unit had not set up any treatment plant and had been functioning for a very long time. During the years of its functioning, it had been releasing the chemicals that it had been using in the Khalicut Canal. When the matter was brought to the cognizance of the court, they not only issued an injunction on this unit but also called for the payment of heavy damages.  [40]   3.0 The Condition of the Gomti Today The condition of the river Gomti has been depleting day be day. The waters of the river have been used by the residents of the city as a dumping ground for household garbage. The Times of India on the 16th of September, 2008 ran an article that brought this pathetic condition to the fore.  [41]  With the receding waters of the river, for the first time, the Lucknow Municipals Corporation came to know the amount of polythene that had been dumped in the river. The polythene had subsequently managed to reach the sewage treatment plant at Daulatganj, the sole sewage treatment plant in Lucknow on the Gomti. As a result of this, the plant was chocked and could not process the wastes. Consequently, untreated water had been flowing into the river Gomti causing the depletion of the aquatic environment as well as the marine life that exists there.  [42]   The treatment plant at Daulatganj receives 303 Million liters per Day of sewage.  [43]  When toxic substances enter a body of water, they get dissolved in the water and cause the oxygen levels in the water to deplete. On numerous occasions, the pollutants in the water remain suspended or get deposited at the bottom of the river. The resulting water pollution causes the quality of the water to deteriorate and affects aquatic ecosystems. Pollutants can also seep down and effect groundwater deposits.  [44]   Lucknows sewage and industrial wastes that are discharged into the Gomti have had a similar effect. Studies have shown that the amount of dissolved oxygen in the river has constantly been reduced with the raised levels of pollution. It is an accepted scientific fact that aquatic life cannot exist in waters where the level of dissolved oxygen is below 4 Mg / liter.  [45]  A study of the levels of dissolved oxygen in the waters of the Gomti has shown that the condition has been made critical because of the dumping of sewage and other pollutants. In 2008, the level of dissolved oxygen was calculated by the UPPCB to be 1.2658 Mg / Liter  [46]  causing large scale deaths of fish and other marine life forms.  [47]  In addition to this, micro organisms that thrive in highly alkaline waters that are unsuitable for the habitation of fishes and other aquatic beings too were found, which further corroborate the high toxicity levels of the waters of the Gomti.  [48]   Besides sewage being dumped in the river, municipal waste  [49]  as well as the animal carcasses too are left by the banks of the Gomti  [50]  . The dumping of municipal wastes along the river over a large period of time has caused the chemical composition of the soil as well as the water to change. As the toxic chemicals present in the waste percolates down the soil, it chemically reacts with the soil to alter its chemical nature and composition permanently.  [51]   The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute  [52]  had conducted a survey along the River Gomti in order to determine the levels of toxicity in the river water as well as the sediments along the banks. They concluded that the levels of heavy metals, found not only in the river but also in the sediments were raised above normal. The water contained 0.0276 mg / L of lead which was considerably above the optimal limit. Similarly, the levels of Cadmium and Copper too were substantially raised.  [53]   The study of the sediments found along the banks too narrated a similar story. The levels of Iron, Magnesium, Manganese and Cadmium had been raised alarmingly due to the continued disposal of toxic waste along the banks. Iron was found to be at a high of 739.43 m grams / gram. Similarly, in every gram of sediments collected, NEERI found 7.9 m grams of Cadmium.  [54]   It is thus evident from the raised levels of these heavy metals that the river water as well as the area surrounding it is highly toxic. The origin of these heavy metals has conclusively been determined as the waste products that have been dumped in the river and the areas surrounding.  [55]  The presence of these heavy metals has been known to cause several diseases. Cadmium for example causes health hazards like gastrointestinal ulcers, kidney damage, and liver damage.  [56]  Internationally, it has been recognized that the levels of Cadmium should not exceed 5 m grams / gram.  [57]  This index therefore gives us an idea as to the level of toxicity along the Gomti. The allegations that had been leveled against the National Botanical Research Institute  [58]  further has added to the debate.  [59]  It was alleged that the NBRI had been conducting the certain experiments using radioactive material. The disposal of the waste material created by the research was said to be in non conformity with the guidelines issued for disposal of radioactive waste.  [60]  The raised levels of heavy metals in the river water and in the sediments could be an indicator of the same.  [61]   4.0 Conclusion The situation encountered here is one that is not unusual in India. One cannot conclude that there is a paucity of laws in this particular area concerning water pollution. But when one looks at the enforcement of these laws, a lot remains desired.  [62]   The State Boards and the Central Boards have not been functioning as per their mandate. With government officials not catering to their responsibilities, the Boards have become paper tigers, despite the impressive legislative backing that they have. The empirical studies conducted by the researcher shows that the river water is exhibiting tell tale signs of high levels of pollution. The law on preservation of water bodies has stipulated the amount of sewage that can be released into the rivers and other streams in any region. As per Annexure II 303 Million Liter of sewage is released per day into the Gomti, the same is higher than any of the prescribed limits for proper waste disposal in any country of the world.  [63]   As a consequence of such high levels of pollution, the levels of dissolved oxygen in the water have depleted, rendering the water unsuitable for the sustenance of any form of life. Ideally, for the aquatic ecosystem to exist, there ought to be a minimum of 4 mg of dissolved oxygen per liter of water.  [64]  Unfortunately, due to the release of various pollutants into the river water, the level of dissolved oxygen has become as low as 1.2658 Mg / Liter.  [65]  The same has consequently resulted in the death of numerous fishes in the river. In addition to this, what is extremely alarming is the raised levels of heavy metal in the river water and the sediments found along the river bank. A qualitative analysis of the river water as well as the sediments have disclosed high levels of Cadmium and Lead, in addition to Iron.  [66]  The presence of these three heavy metals in such high quantity is indicative of the high levels of toxicity that exists today. The same is a result of the large scale dumping that has been happening both of domestic as well as industrial waste. The toxic waste seeps into the soil and eventually causes the depletion of the quality of the soil. In addition to this, there have been allegations of radioactive wastes being dumped into the river by the NBRI.  [67]   4.1 Liability of the Municipality In regards the dumping of untreated sewage water in the River Gomti by the U.P. Jal Nigam, the liability for the same shall rest on the Municipality in light of the ratio laid down in the case of M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, AIR 1988 SC 1115. The Supreme Court in that case had stated that the maintenance of the ecosystem that exists in the rivers in India was the responsibility of the municipalities and they could not absolve themselves of the same on any ground.  [68]  If there was any release of chemicals or untreated sewage water into the waters of any river, the municipality responsible for having prevented the same shall be help responsible.  [69]   In the present matter, the Lucknow Municipality had the onus on them to ensure that the waters of the river Gomti were not polluted by the release of sewage. Since, the same was not done, they should be help responsible for the pollution caused to the river. Furthermore, the existence of heavy metals in the water and the sediments too can be attributed to the negligence of the Municipality. As per The Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989, specific limits have been provided that suggest the upper limit of the concentration of those heavy metals in the soil.  [70]   In light of Entry 3  [71]  , Entry 4  [72]  , and Entry 5  [73]  of Schedule I and Entry A3 and A4  [74]  and Entry B30 and B6 of Schedule II of the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989, the liability of the Municipality of the is further established. A reading of these entries show that the concentration of the heavy metals in the water of the river as well as in the soil sediments is far above the permissible limits and hence would make the municipality liable.  [75]   4.2 Liability of the NBRI The NBRI cannot be held liable under the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989 since the applicability of this legislation is specifically precluded from radio active wastes.  [76]  The disposal of radio active substance is covered by the Atomic Energy Act, 1962. As per the provisions of this legislation, whenever a particular organization is using any form of radioactive substance, then in that case the disposal of the same has to happen in sealed lead containers and not in the open, else the same might cause damage to the environment.  [77]   In the present case, the NBRI had been using radioactive substances, without disposing them off as per the requirements of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, that is, it had been releasing radioactive substances in the open and not in the proper sealed containers, the same shall render them liable for the damage caused to the environment. 4.3 Solutions The condition therefore is most certainly alarming. The city is dependent on the river for water, and continues to use the same, ignorant of the condition of the water, with no action being taken either by the U.P. Jal Sansthan or the UPPCB. There have been plans of cleaning up the Gomti, and the same have received immense media coverage as well. Unless and until, the flow of pollutants into the river is not stopped, such programs shall only be partial successes. Steps need to be taken to improve the levels of dissolved oxygen. In addition to this, the dumping that is happening along the river banks also needs to be controlled so that the levels of heavy metals can be reduced in the river water as well as in the sediments along the bank of the river. In addition to this, the dumping of animal carcasses as well as polythene bags need to be stopped. Not only do they block the water treatment plants, they also damage the aquatic ecosystem to a great extent.

My Favourite Book Essay

My favourite book is â€Å"The Old Man and the Sea† by Ernest Hemingway. This story is one of the well-known works of the writer. The author depicts the characters of the old man and the boy and their relations very vividly and skillfully. Santiago, the old man, was one of the writer’s beloved characters. The old man was a born fisherman, but he was not a butcher and fished only for a living. He was very lonely. He had a devoted friend – the boy, Manolin. The boy loved the old man for his kind heart, his devotion to the sea. Manolin was like a son to Santiago. He took care of the old man’s food and his belongings. The old man was glad to pass his experience to the boy. He looked forward to going to the sea together with the boy. All Santiago’s life had been in preparation for the battle with big fish. He knew that he had been born for this and it was time to prove it. A strong man at last had met a strong fish. The battle was a difficult one and full of danger. Though the sharks had eaten the fish and nothing had left but the backbone, the old man had morally won the battle. Santiago’s words â€Å"man can be destroyed but not defeated† are the main idea of this story. â€Å"The Old Man and the Sea† is a masterpiece for its imaginative language and the description of nature.

Economic Activity as Reflected in Painting:

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY AS REFLECTED IN PAINTING: THE CONTRASTING VIEWS OF ECONOMISTS AND ART HISTORIANS [1] Manuel Santos-Redondo Universidad Complutense de Madrid [las diferencias con respecto al Documento de Trabajo disponible en la Web estan subrayadas] 1. Introduction The Moneychanger and his Wife is probably the picture most widely used to illustrate economic activity, and so it is (supposedly) well known by economists, managers, and accountants. The accounting book which appears in the picture is the origin of former AECA (Spanish Association of Accounting and Business Administration) logotype. It is a Flemish painting from the early 16th century. Not so many economists are, however, aware that there are two different versions of this picture: one by Quentin Massys, painted about 1514 (now in Paris, the Louvre), and another by Marinus (Claeszon) van Reymerswaele, painted in 1539 (now in Madrid, in the Prado). There are significant changes between the two versions. This being the Scholastic period and also the epoch of the commercial revolution in Europe, we would expect this picture to have some sort of economic meaning, and for the changes in the pictures to reflect these changes in economic activity and economic thought. We will argue in this paper that there does exist such a meaning; and that also the very important changes between Massys’s and Reymerswaele’s pictures have much to do with the economic changes in Europe in the beginning of the 16th century. Most art historians have seen in Massys' and Reymerswaele's paintings a satirical and moralising symbolism, The Money Changer and his Wife being the representation of greed. Others think that the picture shows economic activity in a respectable way. Flanders at that time was the centre of a flourishing industrial and commercial activity, and also was the centre of a mercantile trade in works of art. Both things led to a representation of the professional activity of moneychangers, goldsmiths, and bankers in a way that shows those activities as respectable professions. The second view is the one implicitly shared by economists when choosing this picture to illustrate many books on economics or business. Some scholars have proposed more subtle interpretations. Marjorie Grice-Hutchinson, the historian of economic thought who first aroused the interest of economists in the Spanish Scholastics of â€Å"School of Salamanca†, considers Massys' painting to be an illustration of the intention of Scholastics to make compatible the commercial customs of the time with Church doctrine on usury. According to her interpretation, Massys' painting would mean the money lender working and, at the same time, discussing with his wife the fairness of a particular commercial deal, helped by the religious book his wife is reading. It is important to notice that, 25 years on, the book in Reymerswaele’ painting is no longer a religious work but an accounting book. But art historians claim that there is still some symbolism in the painting which gives it a moralising and satirical intent. According to them, this symbolism was clear to contemporaries but not to us; or sometimes would have been intentionally difficult to notice for those contemporaries who were not in the same religious group as the painter or his client. For instance, the long, curved fingers of the bourgeois couple allegedly represented avarice. But Reymerswaele painted the fingers of Saint Jerome in the same way , so it must have an aesthetic intention and not a symbolic one. In the process of reviewing the different interpretations provided by art historians of this picture and other similar ones, we shall see that they are consistent with the views that most art historians share about the economy (as Hayek points out in his chapter of The fatal conceit, 1988, â€Å"The Mysterious World of Trade and Money†) rather than based on any objective interpretation of the painting and history. Thus, while the picture shows commercial and financial activity to be a normal, respectable occupation, most art historians see a moralizing and satirical intention. My view is that art historians’ prejudice towards commercial and financial activity leads them to a wrong interpretation of the paintings. When the painters wanted to be satirical and moralizing, they did it in a way that is clearly recognizable by us today. And that this is not the case with the The Moneychanger and his Wife, in either the version of Massys or that of Reymerswaele. 2. Quentin Massys Let us start with Quentin Massys,[2] The Moneychanger and his Wife, dated 1514. Figure 1]. It is probably derided from a lost work by Jan van Eyck, c. 1440. [3] On the table are placed coins, a set of scales, and various other tools of their trade. (â€Å"various other tokens of their wealth†, says the art historian Jean-Claude Frere, 1997, p. 186. This is our first difference in interpretation). The man is wei ghing gold coins with great care. At that time, coins with the same face value varied in the amount of gold they contained (and therefore in their real exchange value), because it was a normal practice to file them down, clip them, or to shake them together in a bag in order to collect the gold dust they produced. So, the moneychanger is simply going about his business, not counting his money as a miser would do. And, if you look at his face, it is not the face of a miser, but the face of a concentrating working man, carefully carrying out his job. His wife is looking at the coins and scales too; but she has a book in her hands. The book is a religious one, an illustrated â€Å"book of hours†. Marjorie Grice-Hutchinson, the historian of economic thought who first brought economists attention to the Spanish Scholastics of the â€Å"School of Salamanca†, considers Massys painting an illustration of the intention of the Scholastics to make compatible the commercial practices of their time with the Church's doctrine on usury. According to her interpretation, Massys painting portrays the money lender at work and, at the same time, discussing with his wife the fairness of a particular commercial deal, helped by consulting the religious book his wife is reading. [4] Many other interpretations of Massys’s work consider this picture as to be a oralizing one, in a much stronger sense than that of Grice-Hutchinson's view. The Encarta Encyclopedia says: â€Å"In The Moneychanger and his Wife, the subtly hinted conflict between avarice and prayer represented in the couple illustrates a new satirical quality in his paintings. â€Å"[5] (It is curious that the â€Å"Web Gallery of Art†, together with the Encarta article, provides this contradictory explanation: â€Å"The painting remains in the Flemish tradition of van Eyck, with the addition of a profane sense of beauty, sign of a new world†). [6] Another scholar says this about Massys: â€Å"Painters also began to treat new subjects. Men like Quentin Massys, for example, played an active role in the intellectual life of their cities and began to mirror the ethical concerns expressed by humanist thinkers with new paintings that used secular scenes to impart moralizing messages. Vivid tableaux warned against gambling, lust, and other vices. â€Å"[7] At the bottom of the painting there is a circular mirror; we can see the tiny figure of a man wearing a turban. [Figure 2] For some reason, the following is the explanation of the art historian Jean-Claude Frere: â€Å"a side window, under which we can just make out the tiny figure of a thief. He would seem to be spying on the couple as they count their gold, while they would seem to be oblivious to his presence, blinded by their greed†. [8] Let us leave aside the greed and concentrate on the tiny man. Is he a thief? I don't know. But I'm sure he is not â€Å"spying on the couple as they count their gold†: I am not an art historian, but it seems clear to me that the man is inside the room, he is reading a book and looking out of the window to the street. In think that this is not a casual mistake: it is consistent with art historians’ interpretation. Symbolism, a source of moralistic interpretation My view is that art historians explanation of The Moneychanger and his Wife as a satirical work containing symbolic allusions hidden from contemporary observers, is merely a reflection of their own prejudices concerning certain economic activities. Let us consider the serious arguments supporting the symbolic explanations of paintings of the Flemish Renaissance, in order to be able to judge when a painting has this meaning and when has not. The famous art historian Erwin Panofsky held that the Early Flemish painters had to reconcile the â€Å"new naturalism† with a thousand years of Christian tradition. Based on St. Tomas Aquinas, who thought that physical objects were â€Å"corporeal metaphors for spiritual things†, Panofsky (Early Netherlandish Painting, 1953) maintains that â€Å"in early Flemish painting the method of disguised symbolism was applied to each and every object, man made or natural†. [9] There are other historical sources that point to a symbolic meaning in the painting of Quentin Massys. In his painting Portrait of a Merchant and his Partner,[10] [Figure 3] there is a clearly legible inscription, in French: â€Å"L'avaricieux n'est jamais rempli d'argent†¦ N'ayez point souci des richesses injustes, car elles ne vous profiteront en rien au jour de la visitation et de la vengeance. Soyez donc sans avarice†. This is a paraphrase of the Gospel of St Luke, ch. XII, 15, 21-34; Saint Matthew, ch. VI, 19-21. Jean Cailleux says that the main character in the painting â€Å"est soumis a la parole evangelique. Il est vraiment fidele dans les richesses injustes. Il ne cede pas a la sollicitacion du Tentateur qui, derriere lui, le visage tordu par lavarice et la soif du lucre, lui propose des comptes fantastiques†. 11] Painting and Economic Activity at Flanders We can expect the Flemish painters to be familiar with market oriented economic activity and the money world, because of the society in which they lived. Flanders at that time was the center of a flourishing industrial and commercial world, and also was the center of a mercantile trade of works of art. Both things led to a representation of the professional activity of moneychan gers, goldsmiths, and bankers in a way that shows those activities as respectable ones. Most Flemish artists were familiar with this world because of their own craft of painting, which was indeed market oriented. Massys was the most important of Antwerp painters of his time; and this means his shop was an example of how artistic production was organized in Antwerp, and formerly in Bruges. It is not at all odd that Flemish painters should portray business people. Massys worked for religious confraternities, and also painted portraits and other profane subjects, sometimes satirical, in response to commissions from humanists and scholars. Frere says that Massys was â€Å"perfectly attuned to the new mercantile conception of art. Antwerp was already established as an active and liberal center for trade in art† (1997, p. 186). Both Antwerp and Bruges had a regulated guild system for painters at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It is important to notice not only the art of the painter, but also the evolution of the master's workshop. At the beginning of the Renaissance, training in a craft took place in workshops regulated by civic authorities: apprenticeship was followed by admission to a guild. By the end of the century, â€Å"workshops had become more like shops nowadays, turning out goods for a flourishing private market accountable to no one. And change came without a defining moment and without artists missing a beat. Workshop assistants had certain preparatory tasks, including grinding pigments, laying grounds, and the transfer of under-drawings. Experienced assistants took on subsidiary passages, including background or stock figures. Assistants also made copies to keep pace with demand, and they had access to the master's designs once they set up for themselves. Workshop copies ranged from straightforward replicas to transpositions into other media and from large commissions to private, devotional images. â€Å"[12] The conventional portrait of a rich man But this familiarity of artists with a commercial society does not lead them automatically to portray business people in their trade, as â€Å"occupational portraits†: the common way to portray a business man was in a way that showed him as a religious man, or as an intellectual in his house, surrounded by works of art and literature. The best known example is The Arnolfini Portrait by van Eyck, but there are many others. In the triptych The Last Judgement, painted in 1480 by the Flemish painter, working in Bruges, Hans Memling, we can see the portraits of Tomaso Portinari and his wife, naked inside the scales; and those of Angiolo Tani and his wife, Catarina Tanagli, kneeling on the floor at prayer. [Figure 4] Both Portinari and Tani were important business men working in Bruges branch of the Medici company. In the Italian Renaissance, Lorenzo de Medici is portrayed as one of the Magi in Gozzoli’s Journey of the Magi, 1459. 13] It was quite common to include the donors' portrait in a religious scene. Tomaso Portinari and his wife, Maria Baroncelli, were also directly portrayed by Memling, at prayer. [14] (The fact that Antwerp was a rapidly enriched city and lacked a traditional aristocracy, may well have been an important reason for the artist representing economic activity in the portraits of businessmen , instead of the traditional â€Å"rich and cultured† portrait). 3. Marinus van Reymerswaele Let us now move on to the other version of the portrait and to a different year. Marinus van Reymerswaele[15] The Moneychanger and his Wife, [Figure 5] painted in 1539, is inspired by Massys. [16] This is the explanation of the painting provided by the Spanish Association of Accounting and Business Administration, AECA, which in 1979 chose as the symbol of the association a section this painting. [Figure 6] â€Å"The painting which has inspired our logotype is internationally famous as an image of financial activity during the Renaissance: it shows a scene typical of the counting house of a banker of the period. The subject of the pair of moneychangers shows us a new profession which has appeared in the period, a profession related to the world of finance, taxes and commercial accounts. Reymerswaele adapts the subject of the banker and his wife from Massys’s painting now in the Louvre in Paris. In Reymerswaele’s painting, the bourgeois married couple are seen counting out gold and silver coins, and the husband is weighing them with great care in a small set of scales, since most of them would be clipped or scraped. The coins are probably the product of tax-collection, an exchange of foreign currency or the repaying of a loan. This would imply the use of the abacus which the banker has at his right on the table, and then the setting out of accounts in the accounts book which the wife is holding in her delicate fine hands. â€Å"[17] Compare the explanation of this picture given by the AECA with the moralistic and over-sophisticated explanations of the art historians. The changes Between 1514 and 1539, many things have changed. In particular, the accelerated growth of the economy that stemmed from the discovery and colonization of the New World, and the religious transformation known as Lutheran Reformation. Reymerswaele was himself involved in the Lutheran Reformation. (We know that in 1567, being an old man, he took part in the sack of Middelburg cathedral, and was severely punished (six years of banishment and public humiliation). Reymerswaele specialized in everyday scenes of flourishing Flanders, with great realism, which gives his works a considerable documentary interest. (Paintings by masters of Northern Renaissance realism often recorded official contracts or acts. The Lawyer's Office, 1545, by Reymerswaele, [Figure 7] is a remarkable example of this practice. Recent research has demonstrated that the documents, which form the background of the painting, refer to an actual lawsuit begun in 1526 in the town of Reymerswaele on the North Sea). [18] His subjects were businessmen: usurers, notaries, tax gatherers; but what could be seen as â€Å"occupational portraits† are always stressed as moralizing: Another art historian says â€Å"usuriers, changeurs, avocats, notaires, percepteurs d'impots, monde apre et rapace de l'argent toujours plus puissant dans le metropole enrichie. †¦ ] L'art de Marinus [Reymerswaele] presente une accentuation presque caricaturale, qui donne a l'ouvre sa portee moralisante† (Philippot, 1994, p. 173). Puyvelde considers that, in the genre painting by Marinus van Reymerswaele, the realist portrait turns into a caricature of rapacious and greedy businessmen. In Reymerswaele The Moneychanger and his Wife, he says, â€Å"l'esprit de lucre est plus nettement marque dans les physionomies et les doigts maigres† (Puyvelde, p. 13; we will turn to the fingers latter). The study of the gold coins that appear in the painting shows that â€Å"the coins are mostly Italian and are all of types minted before 1520† (Puyvelde, p. 17). This could mean that the painting is a trial effort done by Reymerswaele, before his first clearly datable painting, Saint Jerome, of 1521. The importance of Puyvelde's argument is not the exact date, which I cannot dispute, but the fact that Puyvelde considers The Money changer and his Wife closer to a portrait than to a satire, as ompared to later works by Marinus: later in his career, Reymerswaele would have abandoned portraiture and turned to satire and caricature (â€Å"pamphlet†, says Puyvelde). [19] The public appears to have had a preference for satire, and Marinus sought to satisfy the public with pleasant humorous pictures which enjoyed great popularity among collectors of the period. Other paintings contain inscriptions which refer to the taxes charged on beer, wine or fish. In one of the copies or i mitations of The Lawyer's Office, titled The Notary's Study, the document the notary is reading has been deciphered: it appears to be a parody of legal slang. Even the signature on the document in French reads â€Å"Notaire infame et faussaire†. [20] Usually museum guides reflect the views of art historians. Referring to Reymerswaele The Moneychanger and his Wife, a guide to the Prado says: â€Å"In this painting we find all the characteristics of Northern European painters: minute detail, fine quality raw material, an empirical approach to reality, and above all, the naked sordidness with which Van Reymerswaele approaches one of the principal evils of his time: usury, the greater of all possible sins in a commercial society such as Flanders. Corruption and fraud affected all levels of society, even the clergy, producing a critical reaction on the part of writers, theologians and artists. â€Å"[21] Reymerswaele was not the only painter who developed Massys portraits; several other Flemish painters did. Again, there are significant differences in their style, differences which influence the overall â€Å"tone† of the picture either as â€Å"occupational portrait† or â€Å"caricature†. My point is that a common spectator of today can spot the difference. Corneille van der Capelle painted Le Percepteur d'impots et son Garant and Le Percepteur d'impots et sa Femme,[22] [Figure 8] in which we can notice a real, kind portrait of the businessmen, quite far from any caricature. But, even given the very different styles, I find no moral satire in Reymerswaele The Moneychanger and his Wife, as compared to his other works. In Reymerswaele version, the religious book has disappeared. This is an obvious change, since Marinus was a Protestant and wouldn't have accepted any other religious book for daily reading than the bible. But there is no bible in Marinus painting. Instead, there is a hand-written book, with no illustrations, which seems to be an accounting book. The characters in Reymerswaele painting are most elegant, with luxurious clothes, and long, delicate fingers. This is also thought by some scholars to be satirical: â€Å"Long, curved fingers were, in XVI century, a sign of greed or avarice, so an apparently domestic subject can also be full of moral meaning†. [23] Long, curved fingers and noses use to represent Jews and, by extension, greed or avarice in Christian iconography. It may be important to notice that Jews played an important role in Antwerp’s economic activity. The money market was controlled by the Italian Lombards, and Jews could only act as minor money-lenders. The Jews lent mainly small amounts of money for shorter periods of time to less wealthy people such as butchers and bakers. Scarcity was an excellent situation for Jewish money-lenders. As a consequence, the y had many clients among the common people who probably had great difficulties in paying them back. This fact may have reinforced the strong anti-Semitism prevalent at that time. There were a massacre of Jews in Antwerp in 1350, and then many Spanish and Portuguese â€Å"marranos† came to settle there after 1492 and 1497, expelled from Spain and Portugal. [24] I haven’t fully explored yet the possibility of the satirical portraits being racist or anti-Semitic). But the long fingers can imply other things: they can be an esthetic technique to make people appear more mystical, unmaterialistic, attractive. We could interpret thus the fingers of Reymerswaele’ Saint Jerome, in 1521. [Figure 9] And Saint Jerome transmits you the idea of ascetic sanctity, the antithesis of greed. Although, again, some scholar says that Reymerswaele painting of Saint Jerome is â€Å"stressing the crabbedness of scholarship†. Even if that is correct, it would not be the crabbedness of greed). To me, the long, curved fingers of the moneychanger and his beautiful wife imply simply elegance. This is my personal impression. If I then look at other paintings by Reymerswaele, for instance, the two Tax Gatherers (also The Misers), described by the same scholar as â€Å"exceedingly ugly and covetous†, I don't need to be his contemporary to notice the satirical meaning. [25] After comparing their clever interpretations with what a spectator sees in these pictures, I would recommend that the meaning of a painting, as given by art historians, not be accepted uncritically: their judgments appear to be based upon certain prejudices, in this case concerning commercial and financial practices, rather than any objective analysis of the painting. 4. Other Flemish â€Å"occupational portraits† If you look at other paintings of the same school, it is easy to find examples of â€Å"good†, non critical or satirical, representation of moneychangers, goldsmiths, and bankers. Adriaen Isenbrant Man Weighing Gold (c. 1518),[26] [Figure 10] is described in this way by Jean E. Wilson: â€Å"This sensitive portrait of a banker or, perhaps, a moneychanger reveals the sitter's evident pride in his occupation. The portrait also serves as an example of the widening interest in portraiture, which had gradually extended to members of the business sector† (Wilson 1998, p. 196). But another scholar points out that â€Å"the act of weighing coins may allude both to the man's profession and to his contemplation of higher values, comparable to Saint Michael's weighing of souls on Judgment Day†. [27] In Hieronimous Bosch's The Table of the Deadly Sins,[28] 1480, [Figure 11] avarice is shown as a judge who is being bribed. This is completely different from the activity of the banker: what Bosch shows us is not a profit-seeking commercial practice which is therefore sinful, but an act of corruption which would be taken to be immoral equally in a commercially oriented society or in an ideal world described by Scholastic theologians. Another example of an â€Å"occupational portrait† is the Portrait of a Merchant [Figure 12] by Jean Gossaert (c. 1530),[29] thought to be a portrait of Jeronimus Sandelin, a real merchant from Zealand, in Flanders. There is nothing satirical about it: it is a purely â€Å"occupational portrait†. But the National Gallery of Art Brief Guide says this: â€Å"the sitter's furtive glance and prim mouth are enough to inform us of the insecurity and apprehension that haunted bankers in the 1530s, when the prevailing moral attitude was summed up by the Dutch humanist Erasmus, who asked, â€Å"When did avarice reign more largely and less punished? â€Å"[30] St. Eloy (Eligius) in His Shop, 1449, by Petrus Christus,[31] [Figure 13] is the clear representation of a goldsmith working in his shop and attending two clients: a rich, well-born bridal couple. It seems to be a representation of the goldsmith's trade, with the excuse of the portrait of a saint (hardly a subtle ploy, since St. Eloy is the patron of goldsmith's guild). The goldsmith sits behind a window sill extended to form a table, a pair of jeweler's scales in one hand, a ring in the other. Only his halo suggests that the painting deals with legend. On the right is a display of examples of the goldsmith's craft. The picture may very well have been painted for a goldsmith's guild (the one in Antwerp). St. Eligius is the Patron of metalworkers. As a maker of reliquaries he has become one of the most popular saints of the Christian West. Eligius (also known as Eloy) was born around 590 near Limoges in France. He became an extremely skillful metalsmith and was appointed master of the mint under King Clothar of the Franks. Eligius developed a close friendship with the King and his reputation as an outstanding metalsmith became widespread. It is important to notice that most prominent features in the life of St. Eligius can be seen both as indications of sanctity and the best professional characteristics of a good goldsmith. In the goldsmith's trade, skills were as important as reliability, as Adam Smith notices in Wealth of Nations: â€Å"The wages of goldsmiths and jewelers are every-where superior to those of many other workmen, not only of equal, but of much superior ingenuity; on account of the precious materials with they are intrusted†. [32] Eligius is praised for both qualities. From his biography, we can see how important this reliability of his goldsmith was, for the king to become Eligius' protector: â€Å"The king gave Eligius a great weight of gold. Eligius began the work immediately and from that which he had taken for a single piece of work, he was able to make two. Incredibly, he could do it all from the same weight for he had accomplished the work commissioned from him without any fraud or mixture of siliquae, or any other fraudulence. Not claiming fragments bitten off by the file or using the devouring flame of the furnace for an excuse. â€Å"[33] The portrait Saint Eligius by Petrus Christus is a fine example of the â€Å"occupational portrait†, describing a goldsmith's shop, the only religious connection being the halo and the fact than the saint is the patron of the guild. The true â€Å"moralizing† pictures of the Flemish School Look at the painting The Ill-Matched Lovers, c. 1520, [Figure 14] by Quentin Massys:[34] again you don't need to be a contemporary of his to notice the satirical intention. (It is important to notice that the theme of love between the old and the young was extremely popular in sixteenth century, and we can agree that both the popularity and the moral view has changed on this subject in modern times. The meaning of the painting, however, hasn't changed at all, because the artist doesn't paint the old man with tenderness and love and mature elegance, but as undignified uncontrolled, despicable desire). There are other paintings by Marinus which shows a clearly satirical approach, or at least an ugly expression which does not imply pride in the profession: see The Lawyer’s Office, 1545, and The Misers [Figure 15] (also known, in different versions, as The Tax Gatherers or The tax gatherer and his guarantor). This one shows â€Å"two tax collectors, or rather a treasurer, or an administrator with his clerk, the collector with a winking grimace†¦. The treasurer enters in a book the sums received for the taxes†¦ with his right hand counts and weighs the coins†¦ â€Å"[35] Both of them look clearly satirical for a modern observer. 5. Conclusion This paper has compared the rival interpretations provided by economists and art historians of the painting The Moneychanger and his Wife. The painting is seen as an â€Å"occupational portrait†, showing a banker in his office, carefully weighing coins simply because this is one of most prominent features of his trade. It is a clearly secular subject, much more so in Reymerwaele's version: the religious books in the woman's hands has been turned into an accounting book. We could expect Flemish painters to be familiar with market oriented economic activity and the money world, because of the society in which they lived. Flanders at that time was the center of a flourishing industrial and commercial world, and also was the center of a mercantile trade in works of art. [36] Both things led to a representation of the professional activity of moneychangers, goldsmiths, and bankers in a way that shows those activities as respectable ones. In the process of reviewing the different interpretations provided by art historians about this picture and other similar ones, we have seen that they are consistent with the views that art historians share about the economic activity, rather than based on any objective interpretation of the painting and history. Thus, while the picture shows commercial and financial activity to be a normal, respectable occupation, most art historians see a moralizing and satirical intention. This paper maintains that art historian’s prejudice towards commercial and financial activity leads them to a wrong interpretation of the paintings. LIST OF ILUSTRATIONS 1. The Moneychanger and his wife, by Quentin Matsys, 1503-1505. 2. The Last Judgement, by Hans Memling, 1480. Portrait of Angiolo Tani and his wife. 3. The Moneychanger and his wife, by Marinus van Reymerswaele, 1539. 4. Saint Jerome, by Marinus Reymerswaele. 5. Logo of the Spanish Association of Accounting and Business Administration (AECA). 6. Adriaen Isenbrant, Man Weighing Gold, fist half of the sixteenth century. 7. St. Eloy (Eligius) in His Shop, by Petrus Christus, 1449. 8. The Table of Deadly Sins, 1480, by Hieronimous Bosch. 9. Portrait of a Merchant, by Jean Gossaert, c. 1530. 10. The Ill-Matched Lovers, by Quentin Mastsys. 11. The Misers, or The moneylenders, by Marinus van Reymerswaele, 1545. 12. Marinus van Reymerswaele, Two Tax-Gatherers, 15–, National Gallery, London. [Yamey, p. 52, Plate XVI] 13. Marinus van Reymerswaele, Two Tax-Collectors, 15–, Alte Pinakotheck, Munich. [Yamey, p. 54, 29 XVI] 14. Map of Flanders and Antwerp. 15. The Lawyer's Office, by Marinus van Reymerswaele, 1545. 16. Portrait of a Merchant and his Partner, by Quentin Metsys. 17. The taxgatherer and his Wife, by Corneille van de Capelle (Corneille de Lyon? ) BIBLIOGRAPHY Ainsworth, Maryan Wynn (et al. (1994), Les Primitifs flamands et leur temps (sous la direction de Brigitte Veronee-Verhaegen et Roger Van Schoute). Louvain-la-Neuve: La Renaissance du Livre. Benezit, E. (1976), Dectionaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs (nouvelle edition, entierement refondue, revue el corrigee sous la direction des heritiers de E. Benezit). Libraire Grund. Vol. 7. â€Å"Marinus Van Roejmerswaelen† Campbell, Lorne, et al. (1978) â€Å"Quentin Massys, Desiderius Erasmus, Pieter Gillis and Thomas More†. The Burlington Magazine, Vol. CXX, n? 908, november, pp. 716-724. Cassagnes, Sophie (2001), D’art et d’argent. Les artistes et leurs clients dans l’Europe du Nord (XIVe -XVe siecle), Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes. Frere, Jean-Claude (1997), Early Flemish Painting, Paris: Terrail. Friedlander, Max J. (1967) [1929] Early Netherlandish painting. Vol 1, The van Eycks–Petrus Christus, Brussels: La Connaissance, and Leyden: A. W. Sijthoff. Genaille, Robert (1967), Dictionnaire des peintres flamands et hollandais, Paris: Larousse. Grice-Hutchinson, Marjorie (1993) â€Å"Santo Tomas de Aquino en la historia del pensamiento economico†, in Ensayos sobre el pensamiento economico en Espana. This essay, lectured to receive the Honoris Causa Doctorate from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, is not in the English version of the same book). Hayek, Friedrich August (1988), The fatal conceit. The errors of socialism, London: Routledge. Chapter 6, â€Å"The Misterious World of Trade and Money†. Mackor, Adri:  "Are Marinus' Tax Collectors collecting taxes? † Bulletin du Musee National de Varsovie XXXVI (1995; n? 3-4) pp. 3-13. Mackor, Adri: â€Å"Marinus van Reymerswale: Painter, Lawyer and Iconoclast†, Oud Holland 109 (1995) pp. 191-200. Mund, Helene (1994), â€Å"La copie†, in Ainsworth (et al. ) (1994), pp. 125-141. Panofsky, Erwin (1971) [1953], Early Netherlandish painting: its origins and character (2 vols. ) London: Harper and Row. Panofsky, Erwin (1993) [1955], Meaning in the visual arts, Penguin. Philippot, Paul (1994), La peinture dans les anciens Pays-Bas. XV-XVIe siecles. Paris: Flammarion. Puyvelde, Leo van (1957), â€Å"Un Portrait de Marchand par Quentin Metsys et les Percepteurs d'Impots par Marin van Reymerswale†, Revue Belgue d'Archeologie et d'Histoire de l'Art, vol. 26, pp. 3-23. Silver, Larry (1984), The paintings of Quinten Massys with catalogue raisonne, Oxford. Montclair, N. J. : Allanheld & Schram. Smith, Adam (1976) [1776], An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Comps. R. Campbell, A. S. Skinner y W. B. Todd. Oxford : Clarendon Press. Van Houdt, Toon (1999), â€Å"The Economics of Art in Early Modern Times: Some Humanist and Scholastic Approaches†, History of Political Economy, 31(0), Supplement 1999 (Economic Engagements with Art, edited by Neil De Marchi and Craufurd D. W. Goodwin, London: Duke University Press), pages 303-31. Vanhoutte, Edward (1997), â€Å"In your seed all the nations of the Earth shall be blessed. Importance and unimportance of the Jews of Belgium from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment†,. Guest-lecture. Lancaster (UK): Lancaster University, 6 february. In . VVAA (1994), El Prado, Barcelona: Lunwerg. Wilson, Jean E. (1998), Painting in Bruges at the close of the Middle Ages. Studies in Society and Visual Culture. Pennsylvania : University Press. Yamey, Basil S. (1989), Art and Accounting, New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ———————– [1] The author wants to thank John Reeder for his useful comments. A previous version of this paper, with the title â€Å"The Moneychanger and his Wife: from Scholastics to Accounting†, is in Internet, [http://www. ucm. es/BUCM/cee/doc/00-23/0023. tm]. [2] Quentin Massys (1465/66 – 1530), also Matsys, Metsys, Metsijs, Massijs. Famous Flemish painter, the founder of the Antwerp school, he was probably born in Leuven, Belgium. He was the main painter of his epoch. [3] Yamey (1989), pp. 24, 45. [4] Grice-Hutchinson (1993), pp. 203-205. [5] â€Å"Massys, Quentinâ₠¬  Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2000, . In the same Encarta website, Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY, says that Massys painted â€Å"a witty commentary on greed. The banker's wife pretends piety by leafing through a religious book, while stealing a glance at her husband's gold. [6] â€Å"Web Gallery of Art†, . The pages says that â€Å"the comments were compiled from various sources†. [7] National Gallery of Art (Washington D. C. , USA), 2000, â€Å"Antwerp in the Early 1500s†, . [8] Jean-Claude Frere, Early Flemish Painting (1997, pp. 187-188). [9] Wilson (1998), p. 191; quoted from Panofsky, Early Netherlandish painting, 1953, p. 142. â€Å"Every perceptible thing, man made or natural, becomes a symbol of that which is not perceptible†, says Panofsky (â€Å"Abbot Suger of St-Denis†, 1946, in 1955, p. 161) following Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite. 10] Quentin Massys, Portrait of a merchant and his partner (Paris, collection M. Cailleux) . [11] Puyvelde (1957, p. 5), quoting from Jean Cailleux, Les Richesses injustes, Reforme, Paris, n? 72, 3 aout 1946. In Antwerp, a tax-collector was obliged to have a surety or guarantor, who had the right to supervise the collection of money and its recording. The tax-collector is â€Å"shown as a respectable person, accompanied by his guarantor, malicously rendered with a pronounced scowl†. Yamey (1989, p. 54), confronts this van Puyvelde’s interpretation with other art historians’ view. 12] â€Å"The Boys in the Back Room†, written by John Haber in the Website â€Å"Postmodernism and Art History: Gallery Reviews from Around New York†. The informations refers to the exhibition â€Å"From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting†, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 1999. . [13] Benozzo Gozzoli (1420-1497), Italian painter. Procession of the Magi, 1460, Medici Riccardi Palace, Florence. [14] The Triptych The Last Judgement, now in Gdansk, Narodowe Museum, was painted by Memling (also Memlinc) in 1477. Angiolo Tani is painted in the outside of the wings. Tani had been the head of the Bruges branch of Medici Bank from 1455 to 1465. Tomaso Portinari was his successor in the position. Memling, Tommaso Portinari, 1470, tempera and oil on wood, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Maria Maddalena Baroncelli (Mrs. Tomasso Portinari), 1470, tempera and oil on wood, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. For details, see Ainsworth et al. (1994), chapter â€Å"Hans Memlinc†, pp. 462-466. [15] Marinus (Claeszon) van Reymerswaele (also Roymerswaele) is a Flemish painter (c. 1495-1566). He received his first artistic training as an apprentice to an Antwerp glass painter named Simon van Daele in 1509. Known as a painter of genre and satire, Reymerswaele was famous enough to have been mentioned by the Florentin historian Guicciardini and the art historian and painter Vasari. [16] Reymerswaele (or his workshop) made a lot of copies of this subject. Puyvelde (1957, p. 15) claims that the two paintings in the Prado and the one in the Collection of the State of Babiera, signed in 1538 and 1539, are inspired by Massys The moneychanger and his wife. Puyvelde considers that most other copies are inspired by Massys Tax Gatherers. 17] â€Å"El cuadro inspirador del logotipo es conocido internacionalmente como una imagen de la actividad economica del Renacimiento, especialmente de la financiera, ya que en el se muestra una situacion caracteristica de lo que podria considerarse un banquero de la epoca. El tema de la pareja de cambistas pone de manifiesto el surgimiento de una nueva profesion renacentista relacionada con el mundo de las finanzas, de los impuestos y de las cuentas mercantiles. Marinus toma de Quintin Metsys el tema del banquero y su mujer, que se expone en el Louvre de Paris. En el cuadro de Marinus, el matrimonio burges recuenta las monedas de oro y plata y el pesa en una pequena balanza, con gran delicadeza, aquellas, ya que la mayoria de las mismas eran raspadas o recortadas. Posiblemente provendrian de una recaudacion de impuestos, de una cambio de monedas o de la devolucion de un prestamo, lo que implicaria despues controlar o calcular la operacion con el abaco que tiene a su derecha sobre la mesa y a efectuar anotaciones en el libro de Contabilidad que ella tiene entre su bellas y delicadas manos†. From AECA's Website, 1999. 18] â€Å"Recent research has demonstrated that the documents, which form the background of the painting, refer to an actual lawsuit begun in 1526 in the town of Reymerswaele on the North Sea. The suit arose between three heirs of Anthonius Willem Bouwensz and Cornelius vander Maere, the latter having purchased a salt refinery from the heirs of Anthonius. Difficulties began when Cornelius vander Maere refused to make the initial payment and subsequently had his goods seized. The legal transactions lasted until 1538, by which time the property under dispute had probably been ubmerged or destroyed by storms. Ironically, the court fees still had to be paid. † New Orleans Museum of Art, Information written by Joan G. Caldwell. [http://www. noma. org/MARINUS. HTM]. The Museum owns one of the many versions of the painting: â€Å"Several versions of this composition exist in Munich, Amsterdam, Cologne and Brussels. While the Museum's version is apparently the last in the series, it is painted with the greatest detail, thus clearly revealing the documents in the lawsuit†. [19] Puyvelde (1957), pp. 7-18; â€Å"le veritable portrait fait place a la caricature de l'homme de affaire rapace† (Puyvelde, 1957, p. 13; also, p. 20). [20] Puyvelde (1957), p. 23. [21] â€Å"Es esta tabla encontramos todas las caracteristicas de los pintores nordicos: el detallismo, las calidades materiales que se aprecian a la perfeccion, la aproximacion empirica a la realidad, y sobre todo, la sordidez descarnada con la que Van Reymerswaele aborda uno de los principales males de su epoca: la usura, el mayor pecado posible dentro de una sociedad comerciante como era la flamenca. La corrupcion y la estafa afectaban a las capas de la sociedad, llegando al clero y provocando la reaccion de escritores, teologos y artistas†. CD-ROM La Pintura en el Prado, 1996, Editorial Contrastes. [22] Corneille van der Capelle, Le Percepteur d'impots et sa Femme. Jadis Sigmaringen, Pince of Hohenzollern collection. [23] The illustrated book El Prado (Barcelona: Lunwerg, 1994), p. 389. [24] Vanhoutte (1997). [25] â€Å"Web Gallery of Art†, description of the painting The Tax Collectors, 1542 (Wood, 103,7 x 120 cm. Alte Pinakothek, Munich), : â€Å"The Tax Collectors by Marinus Van Roymerswaele appears to be a deliberate caricature; the painter's Calvinist background clearly comes through in his depicting the tax collector's greed with a fierse grimace and claw-like hands, whilst the administrator records the money in the ledger, maintaining his proper distance. Marinus van Reymerswaele was a painter of three themes, all more or less caricatural. He painted a numbe r of straightforward S. Jeromes, all derived from Durer's picture of 1521 (Lisbon) but stressing the crabbedness of scholarship. The other two themes are interdependent: two exceedingly ugly and covetous Tax Gatherers and a Banker and his Wife (the banker counting his profits). The Banker is closely related to Massys's picture of the same subject, and it may be that the Tax Gatherers derive from Massys's borrowings from the caricatures of Leonardo da Vinci. There are about thirty versions of the Tax Gatherers (the best is in London, National Gallery; another has the date 1552), and what nobody has so far explained is why so many people should want to own a picture of tax collectors (and excessively ugly ones at that) gloating over their imposts. There are also examples in the British Royal Collection and in Antwerp, Berlin, Ghent, Madrid, Munich and Vienna. † The Website says on the Welcome page that â€Å"the comments were compiled from various sources†. [26] Adriaen Isenbrant (? ) Man Weighing Gold, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Friedsam Collection. Adriaen Isenbrant is also known as Hysebrant or Ysenbrant. He was active in Bruges, 1510 – 1551. He was first mentioned in 1510 when he became a master in the Bruges painters' and saddlemakers' guild. He was recorded as a stranger, but his native town was not mentioned. Between 1516/1517 and 1547/1548 he was listed numerous times as a vinder or minor offical of the guild and in 1526/1527 and 1537/1538 was a gouverneur or financial officer. Because of the uncertainty, some authorities prefer to use the name Isenbrandt in inverted commas or with or with question mark. See the Website of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D. C. , [27] Bauman, G. , â€Å"Early Flemish Portraits 1425-1525†, M. M. A. Bull. XLIII, Spring 1986, pp. 46 f. On the contrary, Wehle, H. B. , and M. Salinger, M. M. A. , A Catalogue of Early Flemish, Dutch and German Paintings, 1947, pp. 100 f. , â€Å"identify the sitter as a banker or a money changer and consider the portrait to be purely secular, not a ‘donor's likeness in a religious ensemble'†. References provided by Sandra Fritz, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Catalog. [28] The Table of the Deadly Sins, 1480, by Hieronimous Bosch (c. 1450-1516). Oil on panel, 120 x 150 cm. Prado Museum. Bosch is the name given to the Dutch painter Hieronimus van Aeken. [29] Jan Gossaert (c. 1478 – 1532), Portrait of a Merchant, c. 1530. Oil on panel, . 636 x . 475 m Washington, National Gallery of Art, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund. [30] National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA, Brief Guide, in . [31] Petrus Christus (fl. 1444-c. 1470), St. Eloy (Eligius) in His Shop, 1449, oil on panel, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. [32] Smith (1976), I. x. b. 18. [33] The Life of St. Eligius, 588-660, paragraph 5. The Life of Eligius, bishop and confessor, was written by Dado, bishop of Rouen (his friend and contemporary). Eligius lived from 588 to 660. The full text is in . [34] Quentin Massys, Ill-Matched Lovers, c. 1520/1525, oil on panel, 0'432 x 0'630 m. National Gallery of Art, Washington D. C. Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund. [35] Marinus Van Reymerswaele, The Misers, 1531. Oil on wood. Naples, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, . [36] â€Å"Bruges et surtout Anvers ont donc cree les premiers marches publics consacres a l’art en Occident†, Cassagness (2001), p. 264.

Bartocelli Art Analysis - 778 Words

†¢ The characters above are all of mythological ideas, some possessing some biblical traits such as Venus with the halo created by the reflection of the orange grove. †¢ The red lines drawn on the image show the commonly used technique of perspective leading to the vanishing point which is the centre of the image. This is where Venus stands, which is a technical element conveying her importance within the painting. †¢ The impeccable attention and detail on Flora’s face indicates that he was of the High Renaissance movement. †¢ Bartocelli used Egg tempera to create this painting. He has connected the colours of the paint with the message behind each part and being of the image. With the use of egg tempera, he had to work fast aw well as with this technique there must be an under colour and the darker colour over it. The under colour will therefore shine through, giving a stronger and clear final product. †¢ Symbols in the artwork include: o Fruit- This including the orange which is the fruit of free will. There are no oranges only after the incident of Zephyr and Chloris, showing after trials will there only be fertilisation and produce o Colour- The use or oranges and Red indicates the long for materialism, indulgence, carnal desire and a desire for worldly goods. Multiple Choice Answers 1. A 2. D 3. C 4. C 5. D 6. B 7. A 8. B 9. C 10. A Question two (Naming Paintings) A. â€Å"The Last Supper†, Leonardo da Vinci B. â€Å"The Birth of Venus†, Sornado Bartocelli C. â€Å"The meeting of