Rivarossa's Jeffryon
Jeffryon
Dario Rivarossa
Inspired by my posts on the creature Geryon from Dante's Inferno, Dario Rivarossa has drawn a creature that he calls "Jeffryon" and made it available for viewing on ImageShack, but somebody must have objected, for it was removed with the message:
403 ForbiddenI suppose that Dario didn't realize that as with the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, depictions of my image are objectionable. Dario wasn't very happy:
This file removed due to violation of ImageShack Terms of Service or by user request.
huh... are they crazy??!! they removed the picture from ImageShack because of a "violation" or "by user request"!Dario therefore sent me the image, which you see above (courtesy of approval by me for nonprofitable use), along with a description:
Even the Vatican has restored the original Judgement by Michael Angel...
Geryon + manticore + Sin + Lilith, and a clear quotation from a painting by Magritte.The Magritte allusion might imply that "This is Not a Jeff" in which case, the image is merely a depiction of me, not the genuine article (especially since the "quotation" is from a different Magritte). That's comforting, I guess, but I have to admit that Mr. Rivarossa is an artist who has looked deeply into my unfumigated soul -- or my nephesh, as he might put it:
the Jewish word that is usually translated as "soul" was nephesh, that literally refers to "throat, breathing."At any rate, I'm flattered to have been immortalized in this 'nephetishistic' work of art.
Labels: Art, Dante, Dario Rivarossa, Muhammad, René Magritte
posted by Horace Jeffery Hodges @ 5:12 AM
29 comments
29 Comments:
:-D :-D :-D
Jeff, if you didn't exist, somebody gotta invent cha!
Anyway, the Magrittean source was:
Rape
Thanks for the link.
I was thinking of a different allusion -- to a figure of Magritte standing in the distance on a beach, or so I seem to recall (but no matter, since I was wrong).
Jeffery Hodges
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a figure of Magritte standing in the distance on a beach
I know Magritte's art quite well, but cannot remember a painting like that. He pictured "counter-mermaids" on the beach, i.e. having fish head and body, and human legs.
Or, could it be perhaps a painting by Caspar David Friedrich?
Perhaps I'm thinking of a different artist . . . or of Magritte with a missing apple.
Jeffery Hodges
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[ I sent ImageShack a msg by using the customer form. The object being: "Are you crazy??". For some mysterious reason, they didn't reply ]
Yes, that's certainly one of life's many mysteries.
Jeffery Hodges
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Hmm. hard to say, but of this I'm sure: I do not wonder what Ms. Gee, writer and scholar, would make of it.
I do wonder how to pronounce "Gee" -- as in the softcore curse or the command to a horse?
Jeffery Hodges
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as in Geryon?
as in zero gee? (in case she doesn't appreciate)
as in Bee Gees? (in case she buzzes)
I've been pronouncing "Geryon" with a hard "g" . . . is that correct?
Jeffery Hodges
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English pronunciation is a big mistery to Italians.
In our language the creature's name is pronounced with a "soft" G, like in Jesus, Bee Gees etc.
In Greek however (and maybe in ancient Latin) it had the "hard" sound, like in "gift".
You see, I am no G-man, sorry.
Perhaps Mr. Carter Kaplan will know . . .
Jeffery Hodges
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Just to add some more chaos: its / his name in Greek is:
Γηρυών
but it would be read aloud differently by an ancient Greek (something like "Gke-rou-on") or by a modern one (something like "Gkee-ree-on").
If we follow the Greek, then it's hard "g" . . . thanks.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Ha ha ha, a friend illustrator of mine suggested to go Photobucket. And here it is:
Jeffryon online
Nice set of, ahhh, "pecs" I guess. I'd hazard a guess though, the artist has never seen you in a T-shirt?
JK
Photobucket has sometimes deleted images that I posted there. I quit using their service (though for other reasons, originally).
Jeffery Hodges
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JK, the artist has never seen me at all, but has peered deeply into my soul, so those are spiritual pecs that drew your attention.
Jeffery Hodges
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By opening this page, an icon bottom right tries to stop me (in italian): "Warning! Un-certified contents detected".
That's why I luvya folks!
:-D
I never have any contents certified . . .
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
A further hint: a dragon described by Torquato Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered 9.25, which comes from two monsters by Dante: Geryon, and the centaur Cacus (Inferno 25).
The Soldan on his helm carries a hideous, huge
Snake, long its body, curved its neck,
Standing on its legs, wings displayed,
And twisting on a knot its forked tail.
With triple tongue it seemed to hiss [...]
(my translation, since I didn't like the one I found online: too many important details missing, too many misguiding details added)
Btw, the "Soldan" i.e. the warrior-king Solyman will provide much material to Milton to shape his own Satan, as well as the Serpent (see right here: the "triple tongue").
I note that your translation uses "snake" rather than "dragon" . . .
At first, I thought of the Egyptian headresses with serpents, but the further description nixes that allusion.
Jeffery Hodges
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I note that your translation uses "snake" rather than "dragon"
Yes, because Tasso simply writes "serpe" (that's either a literary or a dialectal form for "serpente").
Of course, a snake with legs and wings automatically becomes a dragon, but the word "snake" better conveys the first impression of the beast, long and wriggling.
Besides, the Serpent has a more direct link to Satan, as I think that it was meant here.
At first, I thought of the Egyptian headresses with serpents, but the further description nixes that allusion
Not impossible, though: Tasso loves to mix different allusions. See The TeaM: Postcards from Egypt.
Tasso never deals with those headresses, but in another passage in Il Mondo Creato the horned god Amun is mentioned, so the poet knew something about ancient Egyptian objects.
But did Tasso know of the headresses? Or were these only known through subsequent archeological digs?
Jeffery Hodges
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It's difficult to answer. He anyway mentioned the god Anubi, that only Archaeology (in its earlier beginnings, at least) could have let him know. It was right in the Renaissance that Egypt started to be discovered "as is", especially by esoteric groups. See the books "by" Hermes Trismegistos; see Pico della Mirandola's 900 Theses, an attempt to unify Christianity, Hebraism, and ancient "heathen" religions.
As for helms, only three are described in GL:
- the hero, Rinaldo: eagle
- the villain, Solyman: snake
- the heroine, Clorinda: tiger.
Some Coptic books might have filtered in, I suppose, though I don't recall when that happened.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
The command to a horse is "jee." I put it in IPA except I forget how. Haw!
I never knew that. I'd only seen it in print and thought that the "g" was hard, like in "Giddyup," an alternate form of "Get up." I assumed that "Gee" was short for "Get up."
Jeffery Hodges
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