Chapter 1929 Under the Lion’s Claw (11)

In 1642, the archer captain Captain Banning Kirk and his team members paid 100 guilders each and asked Rembrandt to paint a collective portrait. At that time, the citizen army no longer had wars to fight and became wealthy citizens.

In social clubs, they are keen to ask painters to paint their portraits to show their martial arts skills, and these neatly dressed and well-dressed young people are also quite popular among the citizens. Captain Banning Kirk saw Rembrandt as

The portraits painted by the priest Anslow and his wife. He liked this kind of painting very much. The aesthetic taste of the members of the Self-Defense Forces was also similar. They wanted Rembrandt to paint a group portrait for them.

According to general requirements, this type of commissioned painting needs to arrange the painted objects in order of official position. However, Rembrandt did not paint this painting according to the requirements of the client. If so, the picture of the painting would be very rigid. Rembrandt finally painted

The characters in the work are arranged naturally, with different postures and expressions for each person, and the light has different performances in various parts of the picture. The composition of the work adopts a technique close to the stage effect, which not only allows everyone's image to appear on the picture, but also arranges

It is well-proportioned, with strong contrast between light and dark, rich layers, and full of drama.

But the buyers were not satisfied. They each paid 100 guilders, just to have half of their faces exposed. The patrolmen protested to the painter because they paid the same amount but could not have equal status in the painting.

Payment was also refused. In order to recover the commission, the guild took the matter to court.

Rembrandt once used his wife as a model and painted many controversial religious historical paintings. He was vigorously attacked in court. Even though he won the lawsuit in the end, his career suffered a heavy setback.

It went downhill. Not long after, his wife also passed away. Under the double blow, he made up his mind to stop catering to buyers' appetites and paint the paintings he wanted.

The colors of his later paintings are dim, not only because of his painting style, but also because he could not afford expensive pigments. Siena ocher is brown before heating, and turns into reddish brown after heating.

During the Milan plague in 1630, someone witnessed a carriage appearing on the outskirts of Milan, followed by several people. The next day after they appeared, blood was smeared on the door lintels of every house in Milan, which looked terrifying.

This time Milan was not as lucky as the Black Death in the 14th century, and suffered heavy casualties.

In 1494, Savonarola, a monk from the Church of Rome, served as the spiritual and secular leader of Florence and established the Republic of Florence. He burned many luxury goods that he considered immoral, and his sermons also targeted the then Pope Alexander VI and

Medici family.

The raging fire lit in Florence's Town Hall Square was what he called the "fire of vanities", including mirrors, cosmetics, portraits, pagan books, gambling game equipment, lutes, women's hats, etc., and almost destroyed the fire.

Renaissance art, philosophy, and non-religious books were burned to the ground. Botticelli, who once loved pagan themes, was also obsessed with Savonarola's sermons in his later years and personally threw his works into the fire.

Spices can not only make perfume, but can also be used for burning. Some people use it to smoke clothes, and some people put it in incense burners as supplies for religious rituals or to drive away diseases. The value of some spices was once equal to gold.

Coupled with Marco Polo's travel notes, Westerners feel that the East is full of spices and gold.

The Crusades brought back many books preserved by the Saracens, which they paid to have translated in the Library of Alexandria.

A church in Florence housed a wax figure of Savonarola, who burned so-called pagan books, many of them about the Greek gods. Florentines soon grew tired of it, and some shops violated his ban.

Forced to close its doors, prosperous Florence suddenly fell into poverty, and with the arrival of 1500, the end of the world did not come, so a group of people booed when Savonarola was preaching, and a civil uprising ensued. He and his followers

The visitors gradually left, and everything returned to normal.

The Latin Quarter is not only a university town, but also has many bookstores. There are several rare bookstores on the street next to the Luxembourg Gardens. From the window of the bookstore, you can see the movement of the Innocence Fountain opposite, so Severus

Ask Orlando to stop the carriage at the intersection and walk to one of the rare bookstores.

A clerk in a white shirt was sitting at the desk at the entrance, writing something. When he saw a customer coming, he immediately raised his head and greeted Severus.

"Bonjour."

Severus ignored him and looked around at the bookshelves casually.

The so-called rare books refer to precious or rare books or materials. The manuscript of the "Declaration of Independence" was written on ordinary paper, and its preciousness is mainly reflected in its content. This rare book store sells beautifully bound books.

Sets of gilded books are neatly arranged, which really looks very visually impactful.

People in the past gave knowledge and books the highest status, and even bound them with gold and gems. When they were placed on bookshelves that went straight to the ceiling, they looked like colorful mosaics.

"Need help, sir?" the clerk said in English.

"I want to see it myself first," Severus said patiently.

So the clerk sat down again.

He walked around among the bookshelves and found a location that was convenient for surveillance. Then he picked up a book at random and pretended to read it while looking at the dark forest.

There didn't seem to be anything unusual there, it seemed like all the ambush had been evacuated.

At this time, he lowered his head and glanced at the book in his hand. It turned out to be a copy of "The Decameron".

Brushing gold on raw edges is a common technique in French rare book binding. The cover of the book is made of sheepskin, and the black base is stamped with golden flower and grass patterns. Turning to the first page, it is a print printed on silk cloth. It is exactly that group of people.

Scene of young men and women telling stories in Florence.

The page Severus turned to told the first story of the fourth day.

Don Claiborne, the prince of Salerno, was a kind and generous prince, but in his later years, his hands were stained with the blood of a couple. He did not have three men or two women under his knees, but only a single princess.

The prince really loves her in every possible way. Since ancient times, a father has only loved his daughter like this. Who would have thought that if he didn't raise this daughter, his later life might be happier. Since the prince loves the princess so much, he doesn't care.

He delayed his daughter's youth and was reluctant to marry her; until later, he could no longer hide it. Then he married her to the son of the Duke of Capua. Unfortunately, her husband died shortly after the marriage and she became a widow.

, returned to her father again.

She was in the prime of her youth, with a lively nature, a very pretty figure and a quick mind. It was a pity that she became a woman. She lived in her father's palace, pampered and lived a luxurious life; later she saw that her father loved her so much.

, he didn’t want to remarry her at all, and he was embarrassed to speak out, so he secretly planned to find a man of his choice to be his lover.

There were people from both the upper and lower classes who came in and out of her father's court. She paid attention to the behavior of many men and saw a young attendant in front of her father named Guiscardo. Although he was of humble origin, he was of noble character.

He was so majestic and high-spirited that he was indeed one step above everyone else. She liked him so much that she secretly fell in love with him. They met day and night, and the more they looked at each other, the more they fell in love with him. The young man was not a fool. Soon he noticed her feelings and couldn't help but be moved.

She was in love with her, and she only thought about her all day long, leaving everything behind. The two of them had been flirting with each other for a long time, and the princess just wanted to find a chance to have a tryst with him.

There is a mountain near the prince's palace. There is a stone chamber on the mountain that was dug many years ago. In the mountainside, another tunnel was dug at that time, which shines with light and leads directly to the cave. The stone chamber has been abandoned for a long time, so the tunnel's

The exit was also overgrown with thorns and weeds, almost covering the entrance of the cave. In the stone chamber, there was a secret stone step that led directly to the palace. There was a heavy door between the stone step and the palace. Open the door and you will find the princess building.

A room below. Because the cave has been abandoned for a long time, everyone has long forgotten this stone staircase. But nothing can escape the eyes of a lover, so it was actually remembered by the passionate princess.

She didn't want anyone to know her secret, so she found a few tools and opened the door herself. After several days of hard work, she finally opened the door. She climbed up the stone steps until she found the exit of the cave.

, she wrote the topography of the tunnel, the approximate height of the entrance from the ground, etc. in the letter, and asked Guiscardo to try to sneak into her palace through this tunnel.

Giscardo immediately prepared a rope with many knots and loops in the middle to facilitate climbing up and down. The next night, he put on a leather coat to avoid being pricked by thorns, so he sneaked in alone.

When he reached the foot of the mountain, he found the cave entrance, tied one end of the rope to a strong tree stump, and followed the rope to the bottom of the cave, where he waited for the princess.

The next day, the princess pretended that she was going to take a nap, so she sent all the maids out and locked herself in the room alone. So she opened the secret door, walked down the stone steps, and found Giscardo. Neither of them liked it.

Zisheng. The princess took him into her bedroom, and the two stayed in the room for most of the day. They were as happy as gods. When they parted, they agreed that they should act cautiously and not let others know their private affairs.

So Guiscardo returned to the cave, and the princess locked the secret door and went to find her maid. After dark, Guiscardo climbed up the rope, went out through the entrance of the cave, and returned to his residence.

Since discovering this shortcut, the lovers have met frequently.

After all, paper can't cover up the fire. In the end, their affairs were found out by the prince, and the angry prince yelled in anger.

"Giscardo, I usually treat you well, but today I have to see with my own eyes that you are so cowardly that you dare to ruin my daughter's reputation!"

Guiscardo didn't say a word, but answered him this way: "The power of love is not something you and I can control."

The prince ordered him to be closely guarded, and he was immediately confined in a secret room in the palace.

When he saw his daughter at night, he started yelling again, "Qisimengda, I always thought you were dignified and steady, but I never thought you would do such a thing: If I didn't see it with my own eyes, but heard others tell me, then it would be

You have a relationship with a man other than your husband. Even if you have such desires, I will never believe it. I have reached the end of my life and have only a few more years to live. I don’t want to encounter such a scandal. I will never do it again.

When I think about it from now on, I feel heartbroken! Even if you are going to do such a shameless thing, gosh, you have to choose a man of suitable status! Many princes and grandsons come in and out of my court, but you just take your fancy.

Guiscardo - this is a lowly slave. You can say that he has relied on us for good deeds since he was a child and kept him in the palace. Your behavior really upsets me and I don't know how to deal with you.

As for Giscardo, as soon as he climbed out of the cave last night, I caught him and locked him up. I have my own way of dealing with him. As for you, God knows, but I have no idea at all. On the one hand, I

I can’t be cruel to you. No father in the world loves his daughter as much as I do. On the other hand, when I think of you being so frivolous, how can I not burst into anger? If it’s for the sake of father and daughter,

For your sake, then I have no choice but to let you go; if we judge things on a matter-of-fact basis, I will not care about the feelings of flesh and blood and must punish you severely. However, before I make up my mind, I will first listen to you.

What’s there to say?”

After listening to her father's words, Qisimengda knew that not only their affair had been exposed, but also that Guiscardo had been imprisoned. She felt an unspeakable sadness in her heart, and several times she almost felt like an ordinary woman.

She burst into tears and screamed. She knew that her Giscardo was bound to die, but her noble love defeated her fragile feelings. With amazing willpower, she forced herself to remain calm and made up her mind that she would rather die than die.

She said half a word of begging for mercy. Therefore, in front of her father, she did not look like a woman crying because she had made a mistake or been blamed. Instead, she was fearless, with no tears in her eyes and no sadness on her face, and she answered her frankly.

Father said:

"I'm not going to deny this, nor do I want to ask for mercy from you; because the first thing won't do me any good, and the second thing I won't do even if it's good. I don't want you to look at my father and daughter either.

To excuse me, no, I just need to tell the truth of the matter, defend my reputation with sufficient reasons, and then use actions to resolutely respond to the great call of my soul. Yes, I am indeed in love.

As for Giscardo, as long as I am alive - even if I don't live long - I will always love him. If people can still love after death, then I will continue to love him after death. I fell in love with him.

Falling in love is not so much because of a woman's weak will, but rather because you don't want to find another husband for me, and also because he is respectable and cute. Some women are satisfied as long as they find a random man. I

It was not like that; it was only after some observation and deliberation that I chose Giscardo among many men, with the intention of teasing him, and we both acted with caution and indeed enjoyed a lot of fun. You have just

I scolded you, and according to your tone, I entered into an affair, and the crime was relatively light; but I should never have a relationship with a lowly man, it would be like if I found a prince to be my lover.

, then you won’t be angry with me. This is completely unreasonable secular prejudice. You should not blame me or complain, you can only blame the God of fate, why does he always let those vulgar and incompetent people steal things?

Occupying a prominent and honorable position, those heroes in the world are buried in the grass. Our souls are all given by God and have the same functions, the same effectiveness, and the same virtues. We humans are born equal.

Yes, only moral character is the criterion for distinguishing human beings. Only those who display their great talents and virtues are worthy of a 'noble'; otherwise, they can only be regarded as 'low'. Although this most basic law is obscured by secular fallacies

, but it is not wiped out, it is still revealed in people's nature and behavior; therefore, anyone with moral character has proved his nobility. If such a person is said to be humble, then it is not his

It is wrong, but the fault of those who treat him this way. When it comes to his character and talents, I don’t trust other people’s judgments. I only trust your words and my own vision. Who has ever praised him as you have done so many times and treated him as such?
To be continued...