Medvedev Dmitriy: http://www.proza.ru/2012/07/10/556
So happened that Rubens ended up with the difficult task of commemorating a huffy and puffy commode, which looked like it had to hold too much liquor, while giving it the appearance of a majestic queen, presented like top fresh meat, and a low-fat one at that. Plastic surgery, which purged the wrongs with fire and steel, was at that time in exclusive use of the inquisition and was a real killer, in all senses, and photoshop was yet to be invented. Therefore, to get the desired result, the face was constantly hidden at the background, as if Medici herself wasn’t the main character. But the complexion of the aristocratic muffin was truly exalted by Peter Paul, to honor her ability to keep a good shape. And though the shape itself grew closer to an orb as years passed, and the artist believed that curves make the lady, Marie was adamant: in all paintings she was to look as slim as they get.
The condition was so strict, that even in “the Birth of the Princess”, the baby with the halo looks less delicious than the other characters. Meaning she looked simply famished. And there’s the use of similar tone for the halo and the torch in the hands of Lucina (goddess of childbirth), making it look like she set it aflame, before giving to the hands of Florence (the city in which Medici was born), by whose feet lies the fertile Arno (the god of the river on which the city is built). It’s citizens, who support the shield of France, the flora and fauna, the new construction at the background, and also all kinds of clockmakers and horny men * (meaning horn bearers) are also symbolic, but not as interesting as the maiden with the flowers in her hands, whose head is in the clouds. Before a surgery performed by the painter, it was an archer, because according to Rubens’ calculations, Mary was born under the sign of Sagittarius**. But some Asian stargazer’s horoscope insisted that the end of April is in fact Taurus, therefore they remade the archer into something more milk bearing. It’s not like it’s proper to paint flowing cattle above the gathering.
Immediately after the birth in the previous frame, the princess was framed for studying in the chronologically sixth painting, “Education of the Princess”, despite her being far from sharpest crayon in the box. The author didn’t list the classes, deeming them obvious, so I’ll dare to suggest that Minerva taught her sapphism*** (pardon my sophism), Hermes uses her to use the staff at the staff (caduceus, in his hand), and the musician Orpheus, with his huge violin- to play the meat flute (the shortest way to a man’s heart). The three Graces teach nothing- they seem to be off topic here. But since Rubens had no PC with internet access, he had to paint his own naked chicks, wherever he could. And while technically, the femmes have no direct connection with the schooling of the main heroine, in my male opinion, they teach her mEnagement, as in menage-a-trois.
Same thought supposedly crossed the mind of those who criticized the nudity, because half a century later, the pornography was thinly veiled, and at the pass of two centuries heavily curtained, with only a hand sticking out, holding the wreath which crowned the student. The main irony showed later, when the censorship was removed, and the named women stood out clearly on the faded canvas. Considering that the twenty four pictures were a part of a single cycle, contrast cleaning was needed not only by that piece alone. I find it to be a strong allegory to the sexual revolution, which occurred centuries later.
* The genius of clocks (at the left) and the genius with the horn of Plenty (right), in which lie the scepter and the crown.
** Rubens did the calculations himself, deeming the sign that reigned April 26th 1575, which is mentioned in his correspondence with the astronomer Peiresque.
*** Sapphism- the study of the poetess Sappho, who was the first to depict the love of one woman for the other. Resided on the island of Lesbos.