裁縫的兒子與光影大師

V. M. 希利爾（仲秋?譯）

V. M. 希利爾（1875—1931），美國著名兒童教育家、科普作家，創(chuàng)建了卡爾弗特教育體系。他為孩子們編寫了一套趣味盎然的歷史、地理、藝術(shù)讀物，即《寫給孩子看的世界歷史》《寫給孩子看的世界地理》《寫給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》。本文選自《寫給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》。

If your name were Andrea， and if your father were a tailor， and if you were called Andrea of the Tailor， people would always be asking， “Can you paint pictures？” For Andrea of the Tailor was a famous painter， one of the Born Again painters of Florence. Italians， of course， didnt use English words for the painters name. What they called him was Andrea del Sarto， which is the Italian way of saying Andrea of the Tailor.

When this son of the tailor grew up he married， strange to say， the widow of a hatter—a man who made hats. She was a beautiful woman but was always scolding and was very extravagant and selfish and spent Andreas money as fast as he could make it.

Two of Andreas paintings were sent to France and when the King of France saw them， he wanted the painter to come to France and paint for him. So to France Andrea went. The king was pleased with his work and paid him well， but soon Andrea got a letter from his wife telling him to come back to Italy. The king made him promise he would return to France very soon and gave him money to buy some pictures in Italy to bring back to France.

And now we see that Andreas pictures were better than he was， for Andrea was what we call a “weak” man. When he got home to Italy， his wife made him build her a fine house. And when Andrea found his own money wasnt enough for the house he used the kings money！ Of course， after such dishonesty， he was afraid ever to go to France again.

如果你叫安德烈亞，你爸爸又是個(gè)裁縫，你常被人稱作“裁縫家的安德烈亞”。那么，你肯定經(jīng)常會聽到有人問你：“你會畫畫嗎？”這是因?yàn)樵谖乃噺?fù)興時(shí)期的意大利佛羅倫薩，有一位著名的畫家就叫“裁縫家的安德烈亞”。當(dāng)然了，這是意大利語里的意思，大家把他的名稱音譯出來，叫作安德烈亞·德爾·薩爾托。

這位裁縫的兒子長大后，娶了一位——說上去有些奇怪——從事制帽的寡婦。這位寡婦非常漂亮，但總是挑剔安德烈亞，而且這位寡婦喜歡揮霍，花錢如流水，還自私自利。

有人把安德烈亞的兩幅畫帶到了法國，法國國王看到后非常喜歡，想把這位畫家請到法國為他畫畫，于是安德烈亞就去了法國。法國國王非常滿意他的作品，也付了他很多錢。但是不久，安德烈亞收到了妻子的來信，讓他回意大利。法國國王讓安德烈亞承諾一定盡快回法國，并給了他一筆錢，讓他從意大利購買一些繪畫作品帶回法國。

接下來我們就會發(fā)現(xiàn)安德烈亞的畫要比他的為人好很多了，因?yàn)樗悄欠N非常軟弱的人。安德烈亞回到意大利的家中后，妻子要他修建一座漂亮的房子。而當(dāng)安德烈亞發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的錢不夠的時(shí)候，竟然動用了法國國王給他買畫的錢！做了這樣違背誠信的事情以后，安德烈亞當(dāng)然也就不敢再回法國了。

In Italy， Andrea painted several pictures in fresco on the walls of monasteries. You remember I told you what fresco painting was. The artist painted on the plaster while it was still wet so the colors would soak into the wall. If a painter made a mistake in fresco painting， he couldnt rub it out， because the picture was part of the plaster. So most artists touched up their fresco paintings after the plaster was dry. Andrea， however， never did this. He could paint so well that he didnt have to correct mistakes after the picture was finished. There werent any mistakes to correct.

Andrea painted in oil as well as in fresco. You remember， dont you， that the early Renaissance painters used to mix their paints with egg or glue？ Then some one discovered that it was better to mix paints with oil， and soon all the painters were using oil paints except for fresco. In the old egg or glue way of painting artists had to paint on a board covered with a kind of smooth plaster called gesso （jesso）. With oil paints they could paint their pictures on canvas or boards without using gesso. This was much easier and it also made the pictures look better.

Andreas most famous oil painting is a Madonna. The baby Christ is in her arms， on one side stands Saint Francis， on the other Saint John， with two little angels between them. The picture has a peculiar name. It is called “The Madonna of the Harpies.” Do you know what harpies are？ Harpies are make believe animals—birds with womens heads. The Madonna in Andreas picture is standing on a block or pedestal which is decorated with two little harpies. Thats why we call it “The Madonna of the Harpies”.

The Madonna in this picture is supposed to look like Andreas wife. He painted her likeness in almost all his pictures， but when poor Andrea finally caught the plague and became very ill， his selfish wife was so afraid of catching the disease herself that she left him alone and uncared for till he died.

安德烈亞在意大利給一些隱修院畫過濕壁畫?！皾癖诋嫛蹦氵€記得吧？濕壁畫就是在石灰墻還沒有干的時(shí)候就畫上去的畫，濕的石灰可以讓顏料直接滲到墻面里。不過正由于顏料會迅速地與墻壁融為一體，因此畫家畫錯(cuò)了也沒辦法擦掉。所以一般濕壁畫畫家都會在石灰干了之后再潤色一下畫作，不過安德烈亞從不需要這么做。因?yàn)樗漠嫯嫷梅浅Ｍ昝?，完全不用做任何修改，也沒有任何需要修改的地方。

安德烈亞的油畫也和他的濕壁畫一樣好。你還記得我曾經(jīng)介紹的蛋彩畫嗎？文藝復(fù)興早期的畫家使用的顏料常常是與雞蛋清和膠水的混合物。后來，又有人發(fā)現(xiàn)顏料和油混合在一起的效果更好，所以不久之后的畫家除了畫濕壁畫就是油彩畫了。傳統(tǒng)蛋彩畫使用雞蛋清和膠水混合而成的顏料，它只允許畫家在涂有光滑的石膏粉的木板上作畫;而如果用油彩，畫家就可以直接在畫布上或者木板上作畫，而且這樣畫起來不僅更加容易，而且效果也更好。

安德烈亞所作最著名的一幅油畫是圣母像，畫中的圣母懷抱圣嬰，一邊站著圣方濟(jì)，另一邊站著圣約翰，他倆中間還有兩個(gè)小天使。這幅畫的名字很特別，叫作“有鳥身女妖基座的圣母馬利亞像”。你知道什么是“鳥身女妖”嗎？它是一種虛構(gòu)出來的動物，一種長著女人頭的鳥。安德烈亞畫中的圣母就站在一個(gè)由兩只鳥身女妖裝飾的基座上，這就是這幅畫作得名的由來了。

這幅畫中圣母的原型，人們估計(jì)正是安德烈亞的妻子，因?yàn)樵趲缀跛邪驳铝襾喌漠嬂?，都有他妻子的影子。不過后來，當(dāng)可憐的安德烈亞感染上瘟疫，病得很嚴(yán)重的時(shí)候，他自私的妻子卻因?yàn)楹ε聜魅窘o自己，將他棄之不理直至他去世。

Word Study

extravagant /?k'str?v?ɡ?nt/ adj. 揮霍的;奢侈的

Shes got very extravagant tastes.

plague /ple?ɡ/ n. 瘟疫

The city is under threat from a plague of rats.

Andrea del Sarto was named for his fathers trade. Now we come to a painter who was named for his hometown. You remember Perugino， who was named for the town where he lived？ Well， not a great distance from Perugia is the town of Correggio where there lived a painter known everywhere by the name of his town. We dont know much about Correg gios life， but we can admire his pictures. Like Andrea del Sarto， Correggio painted both in fresco and in oils. All his frescoes are in the city of Parma， in Italy， where he worked on the cathedral and the churches.

The cathedral in Parma has a round tower on top called a cupola， and Correggio painted a picture for the inside of the cupola. The picture was circular so it would fit into the ceiling of the cupola. As it could be looked at only from the floor below， Correggio decided to make the angels and other figures in the picture look like real figures flying through the air and seen from underneath. If you should look straight up and see an angel flying above your head you would see the soles of the angels feet nearer to you than his head. You would see just the opposite view if you looked down on the top of some ones head.

To paint a figure seen from below was something that very few artists knew how to do. Correggio first had a sculptor make some models in clay so he would know how people would look in these strange positions. The way he painted them we call foreshortening.

Correggio did other foreshortened cupola pictures. People who saw them didnt quite know what to make of them. It was such a new way of painting that at first it wasnt liked very much. One man said such a painting looked like a hash of frogs. But the painter Titian came to Parma and when he saw Correggios cupola picture in the cathedral he said， “Turn the cupola upside down and fill it with gold and even that will not be the pictures money worth.”

“裁縫家的安德烈亞”就這樣被人們冠以他爸爸的裁縫職業(yè)叫了一輩子。下面我們再來認(rèn)識另一位被冠以自己家鄉(xiāng)名稱的畫家。你還記得佩魯吉諾吧，就是那位以居住過的小鎮(zhèn)而得名的畫家。其實(shí)在離佩魯賈不遠(yuǎn)的地方，有一個(gè)叫科雷吉?dú)W的小鎮(zhèn)，而有一個(gè)畫家也被大家稱呼為“科雷吉?dú)W”。我們對科雷吉?dú)W的一生知道得很少，但是大家都很欣賞他的畫。和安德烈亞一樣，科雷吉?dú)W既畫油畫，也畫濕壁畫。科雷吉?dú)W所有的濕壁畫都存于意大利的帕爾瑪，因?yàn)樗?jīng)是那里教堂的專職畫師。

帕爾瑪大教堂的頂部是一個(gè)圓頂塔樓，科雷吉?dú)W在這個(gè)圓頂塔的內(nèi)壁畫了一幅畫。因?yàn)橐蛨A頂塔的天花板相契合，所以這幅畫作也是圓形畫。站在塔樓里面看這幅畫的人，肯定只能從地面仰頭往上看，所以科雷吉?dú)W作畫時(shí)就決定將畫中的天使等人物畫成正在空中飛舞時(shí)人們仰視他們看到的樣子。假設(shè)你抬頭時(shí)看到一個(gè)天使從你頭頂飛過，那么你會發(fā)現(xiàn)，相比天使的頭，他的腳要離你更近一些。如果你的視角是從上往下看的話，這個(gè)天使的頭應(yīng)該離你更近。

要想畫出由下往上的仰視圖是不容易的，很少有畫家能畫好?？评准?dú)W先讓一個(gè)雕塑家雕刻了幾個(gè)陶土的人物模型，以便他能更好地了解這些人物從各個(gè)角度看上去是什么樣子的?？评准?dú)W的繪畫方式被我們稱為“短縮法”。

科雷吉?dú)W的一些圓頂畫都是按照這種方法畫的，但看到這些畫的人并不知道這些畫是如何畫的。這種創(chuàng)新的繪畫方式太新，一開始并不受人歡迎。有的人甚至說這種方法畫出來的人物看起來就像是一堆青蛙。后來一位“伯樂”發(fā)現(xiàn)了這些畫的價(jià)值，這位伯樂就是提香。有一次提香到帕爾瑪大教堂看到圓頂塔內(nèi)的畫驚嘆道：“這幅畫真是太珍貴了！就算把整個(gè)頂塔拆下來，翻過來當(dāng)作大碗裝滿了黃金，也不抵這幅畫的價(jià)值?！?/p>

Correggios oil paintings are noted for their wonderful light and shade. He was what we call a master of light and shade. The people in his paintings are graceful， smiling， pretty， and happy-looking， and so almost everybody likes them. The main fault people find with them is that they do not seem to mean very much. Correggio was not a great thinker like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.

Another one of Corregios paintings is called “The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine.” Saint Catherine dreamed she was being married to the baby Christ and this picture shows the Baby playing with the wedding-ring that Saint Catherine had seen in her dream.

Just as famous as this painting is one called “Holy Night” or “The Adoration of the Shepherds.” It shows the Baby in His manger with His mother and the shepherds around Him. A wonderful glow of light comes from the manger where the Baby lies， and lights up the faces of those who worship Him.

A strange story is told of Correggios death， but whether it is true or not we do not know for sure. According to this story， Correggio was paid for one of his paintings all in bronze coins. You know that if you pay in pennies for something expensive， it takes lots of pennies. And this payment to Correggio took so many bronze coins that it made a very heavy load. Correggio started out to carry this load of coins home. It was a hot day and the heavy load made Correggio so hot and tired that he became ill， had to go to bed and soon died. And that was the end of this master of light and shade， but his paintings have lived on after him to give pleasure to all who see them.

科雷吉?dú)W的油畫因出色地處理了光影效果而聞名，他也因此被稱為“光影大師”。科雷吉?dú)W畫中的人物舉止優(yōu)雅，面帶微笑，神態(tài)自然動人，所以幾乎人人都愛看他的畫。如果說有什么缺點(diǎn)的話，那唯一缺陷可能就是畫作的“內(nèi)涵”不足。科雷吉?dú)W并不是如同米開朗琪羅或者達(dá)·芬奇般那樣偉大的思想畫家。

《圣凱瑟琳的神秘婚禮》是科雷吉?dú)W的另一幅名畫。傳說圣凱瑟琳曾經(jīng)夢見自己即將嫁給圣嬰，這幅畫描繪的是圣凱瑟琳夢中所看到的圣嬰把玩圣凱瑟琳手上戒指的場景。

科雷吉?dú)W的畫還有一幅和這幅一樣有名，叫《圣夜》，又叫《牧羊人的膜拜》。畫中的圣嬰躺在馬廄里，圣母馬利亞和牧羊人圍繞著他，圣嬰所在的位置射出絢麗的亮光，周圍朝拜者的臉都被照得明亮。

科雷吉?dú)W去世的故事很奇特，但真實(shí)性不為人知。據(jù)說，科雷吉?dú)W有一次為一個(gè)人作畫后，那人決定用銅板來支付。如果我們用一分錢的硬幣去買很貴重的東西，你知道得有幾麻袋，甚至幾推車的硬幣量才夠。同樣的，由于科雷吉?dú)W的畫酬很高，那人在支付時(shí)用了很多很多銅板，加起來非常重。那天天氣很熱，銅板又多又沉，將其背回家的科雷吉?dú)W又熱又累，回家之后就病倒在床，接著就過世了。傳說這位光影大師的一生就這樣完結(jié)了，不過他的畫作給觀賞者帶來的快樂卻一直延續(xù)到今天。

Word Study

cathedral /k?'θi?dr?l/ n. 大教堂;主教座堂

sculptor /'sk?lpt?（r）/ n. 雕刻家;雕塑家