Leonardo di Vinci’s Lost Painting "Medusa’s Shield"

Painter Caravaggio

-Original was Lost

Medusa’s Shield has been lost in time but is one of those mysterious Leonardo da Vinci works with a high level of spirit and debate. Originally painted in his youth an art historian Giorgio Vasari made the account in 1550 that the painting was so realistic it frightened both Leonardo’s father as well as others. It was seen as associated with death and was secretly sold to merchants.

Vasari indicates that the face was painted on a wooden shield cut from fig trees. It was a favor to a peasant friend of his who fashioned the shield. Leonardo in his experimental style took the shield and heated it by fire and made it smooth. He then moved to make one his very first masterpieces.

When his father Ser Piero came see the shield and knocked on the door Leonardo told him to wait. He took the painting and adjusted it near a window with the soft light peering through. Ser Piero came in and took a look at the painting and stepped back with a gasp. Leonardo said, “This work serves the end for which it was made; take it, then, and carry it away, since this is the effect that it was meant to produce.”

 It is believed that the painting made its way to the Duke of Milan who held it for a while and then sold it again for 3X what he paid for it. Medusa was part of Greek Mythology. She was seen as a protector who was sexually forced by Poseidon and in Athena’s rage she took the “fair cheeked Medusa” and turned her hair into snakes and her skin into scales so that all men would hate her. Her very look would turn a man to stone.

To historians and lay people Medusa represents many different things. To some she is an example of female rage and the victim of lust and jealousy. To Freud it was a sense of castration while to others it means scientific determinism. Scientific determinism indicates that under the exact same conditions the same thing would happen again and again. Regardless of the interpretations, Medusa is an interesting character to both Leonardo and the world as it took Perseus’s wit to eventually behead her making it an important story of history.

Café Terrace at Night by Vincent van Gogh

Café Terrace at Night 1888

Café Terrace at Night by Vincent van Gogh was completed in 1888 as a representation of a famous coffee house in Arles France.  The location still exists and is now called Café van Gogh. Within the picture you can find shops as well as the tower of a church that has been converted into the Musée Lapidaire. The painting offers clash of light and dark, yellow and blue, and blue with black. The popular cafe is shown as an inviting and lively display of local socializing and attracted high levels of interest among locals.

The history of van Gogh is a little more troubling. Vincent van Gogh had a terrible start in life suffering from all types of personal and public turmoil’s. A son of a preacher he tried being a clerk, preacher, and an art salesman. In each of these instances he failed miserably before landing on painting art himself. He was considered a highly emotional person and lacking in self-confidence.  Even through chronic failure he eventually achieved success as a painter upon his death.  People now marvel at his works and colorful insight paying millions to own his works.

In a letter to his sister he writes about his experiences painting Café Terrace:

In point of fact I was interrupted these days by my toiling on a new picture representing the outside of a night cafe. On the terrace there are tiny figures of people drinking. An enormous yellow lantern sheds its light on the terrace, the house and the sidewalk, and even causes a certain brightness on the pavement of the street, which takes a pinkish violet tone. The gable-topped fronts of the houses in a street stretching away under a blue sky spangled with stars are dark blue or violet and there is a green tree. Here you have a night picture without any black in it, done with nothing but beautiful blue and violet and green, and in these surroundings the lighted square acquires a pale sulphur and greenish citron-yellow colour. It amuses me enormously to paint the night right on the spot. They used to draw and paint the picture in the daytime after the rough sketch. But I find satisfaction in painting things immediately.

The history of the coffee shop is an interesting one that follows the path of the Enlightenment. Originally seen as a product of the Middle East, people in the West have come to frequent coffee shops for socialization, passing time, playing games, reading and entertaining. To many these cafes are informal clubs where the members come to understand and know one another from local communities.

The beginning of coffee houses appeared in Venice as a direct result of trade with the Ottomans.  The first being recorded around 1645. Such places attracted intellectuals from around the city. The first coffee house in America started in Boston around 1676. Since this time the coffee house has expanded into both independent establishments to chain coffee shops like Starbucks. To this day the coffee shop maintains its charm as a place of socialization and enlightenment.

American Gothic as a Depiction of the Great Depression by Grant Wood

American Gothic (1930)

The painting an American Gothic was produced by Grant Wood in 1930. It was completed in Iowa as a backlash against Europeans trying to depict Americans from their own vantage point. The concept of self-representation was called Regionalism. It was part of a movement of paintings by Americans to characterize "true" American life.

The picture is of a farmer and his daughter. Grant Woods used his sister and a dentist to model the image. One can see the age on the father's face and his willingness to work hard and save the farm. Perhaps he was saving it for his daughter. As the Depression took hold you can see the determination with just a touch of a classy sports jacket thrown over his bibs. It is an interesting clash of age and youth, wealth and poverty, ruggedness with soft flowers in the back, and commitment with a get-to-work attitude. 

Grant Woods moved to Cedar Rapids after his father passed away in 1901. He went to an art school in Minnesota and then came back to Cedar Rapids to teach in a one room school house. Around 1913 he attended the School of Art Institute in Chicago. Through his travels in Europe he exposed himself to other forms of art. He focused much of his effort on the Midwest and the lives of its inhabitants.

The Depression was a worldwide event that started in 1930 and ended in the early 40's. It is seen as the world's longest lasting economic downturn. International trade declined by 50% and unemployment rose to around 30%. The causes of the Depression range from explanations of market contraction to governmental inefficiencies. However, the initial decline of the stock market was seen by some economists as a symptom of bank and government policy failures.

In a study of the Great Depression by economist James K. Galbraith's work The Great Crash:1929 he writes:

The main relevance of The Great Crash, 1929 to the great crisis of 2008 is surely here. In both cases, the government knew what it should do. Both times, it declined to do it. In the summer of 1929 a few stern words from on high, a rise in the discount rate, a tough investigation into the pyramid schemes of the day, and the house of cards on Wall Street would have tumbled before its fall destroyed the whole economy. In 2004, the FBI warned publicly of “an epidemic of mortgage fraud.” But the government did nothing, and less than nothing, delivering instead low interest rates, deregulation and clear signals that laws would not be enforced.

Galbraith, J. (1961) , The Great Crash 1929, Pelican Books

An American Ship in Distress (1841) by Thomas Birch

American Ship in Distress (1841)

Thomas Birch (1179-1851) was considered one of the first American painters to focus on maritime paintings. He completed a number of great works on the War of 1812 and the shipping industry in general. An American Ship in Distress (1841), was a large work depicting a ship that is in a hazard state after a major storm. The mast, sails and the rigging of the ship were destroyed. You can see a lifeboat being dropped into the water and the approach of two ships to help the crew. At this time the American Navy was almost non-existent and could not lend assistance.

Thomas Birch immigrated to American in 1794 with his father William Birch. William made his living as painter and engraver. Both moved to Philadelphia where the family settled. Thomas's works often focused on the cultural advancement and the national economic strength of shipping in the New World. His works were copied by many admirers in the U.S. and Europe. Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had a particular fondness for his work.

During this time Congress passed the Naval Act of 1794 for $888,888 to build the first six frigates of the U.S. Navy. These ships were designed to engage other frigates but be faster than ships of the line which had higher levels of firepower. The Revolutionary War left the country in high debt, and lacking money for ship repairs, the nation sold its last ship in 1785.

Continued harassment of American merchant ships by the Barbary Pirates, France and England put additional pressure to create some counterbalance to the world powers that knew Americans had no way of defending themselves at sea. After Portugal and Algeria made peace, 11 merchant ships were captured. The pressure to act was high. In January 1794 Congress authorized the American Navy and the building of the frigates.

The first civil rights case made national news and importance in 1841. African slaves aboard the Spanish ship La Amistad rebelled against the crew near Cuba and overtook the ship. In 1840 the U.S. Federal Court determined that carrying slaves across the sea was illegal. This led into an 1841 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that the African Slaves were not slaves but actually free men and women. The U.S. provided transportation back to their home country.

Death and the Miser by Hieronymus Bosch

Death and the Miser- 1490

The painting Death and the Miser by Hieronymus Bosch, around the year of 1490, was designed to help people remember that death is inevitable despite the power of wealth. As you can see in the picture a man on his death bed is reaching for a bag of gold. Around the room are various creatures of death that lurk and tempt the man. There appears to be stages in life depicted within the picture. In the front of the picture are weapons and armor, followed by older age with wealth and finally ending in death. The picture is hosted in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.

Hieronymus Bosch lived most of his life around the Duchy of Brabant (Netherlands). He is one of five children of which both his father and four siblings were painters. He married Aleyt Goyaerts van den Meerveen who was from a wealthy family and they lived in her inherited home. Artistic scholars view his paintings as a result of ultra orthodox beliefs of his location and time that mixed religion with local folklore.

Such paintings come from the Early Netherlandish and Northern Renaissance period where Gothic works were still popular. The region was under Burgundian influence and therefore earned wealth by making luxury goods and products. Such works were a result of local free thought and artistic experimentation of the period. Many of the productions were sent to the open market in Germany and Italy.

Around the time this painting was produced the Duchy of Brabant was given to the House of Hapsburg through the dowry of Mary of Burgundy in 1477. The area was considered wealthy and markets could be found in the largest of towns in the provinces. Two influential Chancellors by the name of Hugonet and the Sire d'Humbercourt were executed in Ghent for having correspondence with France. Upon her marriage two centuries of contention between the Hapsburgs and France began.

It should also be remembered that the plague had some influence in the Netherlands during this time and may have had some impact on the region. The work could have some association with the painters perceptions and fears within his life. This was a period where Christopher Columbus was setting sail to find a new trade route to India and Leonardo di Vinci was cranking out artistic endeavors. Brabant's fleets were destroyed while its cloth trade was one of the best in the world. It wouldn't be a far stretch to even consider the painting as a representation of the interest of outsiders in local wealth.