Wall Painting of a Camel, first half 12th century (perhaps 1129–34)
From the hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga
Fresco transferred to canvas; 65 x 134 in. (165.1 x 340.3 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, 1961 (61.219)
[Photo By: KPA, December 13, 2012]
I just found a way to get to my XD-Picture Card files, from my old Olympus camera. Apparently, this card is pretty much out of date now, but I managed to find a memory card reader, which allows me to download a variety of files.
This is not a great photograph (my camera then was having problems with interiors and using a flash would produce too much glare). I only recently found it (or was able to find it due to the reader).
I took the photograph in August 2012, when I came to New York for a brief summer trip. I met Larry Auster for several outings, despite his ill health, and we went to the Cloisters together. I went twice, (the first time is when I took the photograph). The second time, I went with Larry, having figured out that it would be possible for him to make the trek all the way out there.
I think this photograph is symbolic of our times, and also symbolic of the battle Larry was fighting. It is a reminder not to stop, and not to lapse into complacency. We may stop, but this hard and determined enemy doesn't. I will explain below.
For some reason, I didn't take any photos of Larry. I think I was just being polite. But below is one of him taken at the dinner planned for (and by) him, to celebrate Christmas together with his friends.
He sent me the photo with these remarks: "A photo of me at the dinner with my little pig eyes... My eyes are already small, and when I haven't had much sleep they get even smaller."
Larry was never one to fall to vanity, nor was he one to mince his words. I think he looks cheerful. We came from far and wide to celebrate Christmas with him. He was happy to be amongst friends.
Larry Auster
Kennedy's Pub and Restaurant, New York City
December 8, 2012
Now back to the camel.
Here is how the Metropolitan Museum of Art describes this wall painting:
The hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga was constructed in the beginning of the eleventh century at the heart of the frontier between Islamic and Christian lands. Its interior was transformed 150 years later with the addition of two cycles of vibrant wall paintings. The upper walls of the church were decorated with a series of scenes from the life of Christ, while the lower sections include boldly painted hunt scenes and images of animals, all of which derive from earlier Islamic objects.We are back again in that fascinated mode of the medieval Christian kingdoms. Camels are desert creatures, belonging to their Muslim masters. The medieval artist who created this wall painting didn't quite know how to depict the camel's hooves. He cleverly made them flat and wide, suitable for travel along unstable desert sands. But why create camels in the first place, other than a desire to bring the exotic closer? It was this openness, and "tolerance" that eventually led to the Islamic conquest of Spain.
Associated with aristocratic power and pursuits, the camel was a subject often seen on the courtly fine arts of the Umayyad caliphate and Ta’ifa monarchies. Islamic court art was known and admired by inhabitants of the Christian kingdoms for its costly materials and unparalleled craft. Though the Christians under Alfonso VII had definitively wrested Berlanga from Islamic forces in 1124, the paintings in the hermitage suggest that they continued to rely on Islamic motifs and the style of the Islamic court when seeking to create a luxurious setting.
In our eagerness to experience the exotic, we contemporary folk have made our cities dangerous for conquest once again. It seems that we in the West will always have this perennial cycle of openness, then conquest (by those we opened our doors to), then war, then freedom once again. But this time, it may not have that desired ending.
Larry spent a good deal of his time writing about this civilization we might lose. He exhorted us to stop our lazy ways and not to neglecting this civilization. And he warned us about the dire consequences if we did.
In view of the recent shocking events in France, where armed Jihadis were in the middle of the streets of Paris with sophisticated weaponry, I say that we pay especial heed to his words.
Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat