Raphaels Portrait Leo X with Cardinals Guilio de Medici Essay Example for Free

Raphaels Portrait Leo X with Cardinals Guilio de Medici Essay In Nelson Minnichs religious interpretation of Raphaels famous portrait of Pope Leo X, Minnich first begins with the very basics of the portrait; what is contained within its canvas and why it is there. From small clues such as these, he is able to lay the foundation for which theories and conclusions can be based. He first points out the location of the figures in the painting. Minnich believes that they are in a large room, seated before a green cloth on the wall, or cloth of honor. There is some speculation, however, as to exactly where this room is located. Several theorists, as well as he, believe that the location is a room in the Vatican, perhaps the library. He points out that there is reflection of a window in several objects in the portrait, allowing more narrowing down the location even further and debunking the library idea. With the location not quite known, Minnich moves on to the color scheme. He points out that the painting is known for its use of red on the robes of the pope and cardinals, the furniture, and the table coverings. Red was considered a papal color, so this is not unusual in a papal portrait. What is unusual however, is the other two men accompanying the pope in the portrait who were painted in later. Minnich identifies these cardinals as Luigi deRossi, Leos first cousin, and Guilio deMedici, another of Leos cousins. Leo was extremely close with Luigi and this is shown by Luigis hands on Leos chair. Guilio was considered Leos right hand man, and is depicted as so in the portrait by being almost a part of Leos right arm. Minnich also points out that it is ironic that Guilio is depicted as a cardinal because his clerical status wasnt determined at the time. From here we move on to another important item in the portrait, the bell. This specific bell was made for Leo after his election and is a hand bell used for praying. Minnich explains that its presence is most likely to represent Christ in the portrait. Next to the bell is a magnifying glass which Minnich says is merely there to represent the popes nearsightedness. Leo would have needed the glass to read the next item on the table, his bible. The bible is obviously not an unlikely item, being that it is a portrait of a pope, but it is where the bible is opened to that is of importance; St. Johns Gospel. Minnich tells us that Leos first baptismal name was Giovanni, a name that came from this gospel. After inspecting the painting for obvious clues and symbols, Minnich is ready to discuss the possible reasons for the paintings existence. The first being the obvious, that it is merely a papal state portrait. He points out several reasons that this could be a wrong assumption. The painting was kept in Florence and not in Rome, like most papal portraits. It was much smaller than an average state portrait. And the most obvious objection was that there were three people present in the painting, which is highly unusual for a portrait. Minnich then suggests the possibility that Raphael was merely painting a family portrait. But then he quickly points out that no other of Leos relatives was involved. He also points out that the items involved, a bell, the bible, are not usually in state portraits. With the state portrait theory clearly discredited, Minnich tells readers of the theory that the painting is simply an occasional piece, saying that it was painted just to be displayed at the wedding of the Medici and Valois houses in lieu of the pope and his two relatives not being able to make the festivities. Minnich states that the clothing in the portrait clearly leads one to believe that the painting was done months before the wedding. The pope and his relatives would have to have known far in advance that they could not make the occasion and Luigi deRossi was actually recognized as being present the day of the wedding. He says that occasional pieces are not usually so planned out, but does however, mention that a lot would be explained had Raphael begun painting a portrait and then suddenly attempted to switch it into a wedding gift and add the two cardinals. Not fully committed to a purpose, Minnich takes a quick look at the eligious meaning behind the portrait. He mentions that Josephine Jungie has the most persuasive theory on the painting. She believes that the bible represents the stage of the Holy spirit, the bell represents the new age, and that Leo looking to the left represents his looking to the arrival of the new age, and thinking about his own appointment as an Angelican Pastor who will lead the Church in the final age. Minnich points out that this is persuasive because Leo was attempting to take on the roles that an Angelican leader would, yet points out the Jungie failed to find reason for the two cardinals in the portrait. He closes with admitting to readers that no one will ever really know Raphaels true intentions behind this famous painting. All we have is historical facts, symbols, ideas, and of course opinions to make up the reason for Pope Leo Xs portrait with Cardinals Luigi deRossi and Guilio deMedici.

Melvilles Men :: Argumentative Argument Philosophy Papers

Melville's Men The body of this argument lies in a meager psychoanalysis of Melville. I have had to take a very broad approach, look at Melville purely as a man. I have attempted to put the reader into Melville's head, where I have attempted to put myself. To better achieve this I discuss much of Melville's background, hoping to give the reader a sense of what he had experienced. I have written with confidence, but hopefully not too much, you must decide for yourselves what of mine you feel is right. It is always very hard to use psychoanalytical approaches, because, as the mind is a mystery, it is all ultimately unproved. All psychoanalytical opinion is based on event, as all psychology is based on the idea that men are shaped by experience. I speculate below, on things I cannot really know, and I do this only to achieve some rough personal connections between Melville and his Moby-Dick. It serves me, and I hope you as well. Herman Melville might have been a homosexual, or at least, a lover of men. Of course the word, "Homosexual" did not exist in Melville's time and so he could not really be a homosexual. Besides this, there is little to no evidence that Melville ever did, or desired to engage in genital, homosexual sex. There is no way of knowing that he was homosexual, but there are many implications that he at least had strong affections toward men. The question is: How was this reflected in what is generally considered to be Melville's greatest work, Moby-Dick? Or one could even ask, how does the homoeroticism, ever present in Moby-Dick, reflect on Melville's own sexuality? Because homoeroticism, or rather, male friendships are such a large theme in Moby-Dick, one might also think to ask what it all means to the greater message of the book. The parallels between Melville's own sexual identity and the sexual identity of his protagonist, Ishmael are quite strong. Thus it follows that Moby-Dick might h ave been Melville's attempt to understand his own sexuality and its' course, or at least his fantasy. Sigmund Freud theorized that while most male children are secretly attracted to their mothers, homosexual male children harbor attraction toward their fathers. While I am not calling him a homosexual, it seems clear to me that Melville's relationship with his father must have effected him. I assume the effect to be negative, because, Allan Melville was not a model father.

Prohibition in Usa 1900-1930

Prohibition in USA in the 1900’s The prohibition was brought on by the strong temperance movement happening in America in the early 1900’s. These groups were devout Christians who vowed to be sober as they saw the affect alcohol had on families. But the members of this movement campaigned for everyone to give up alcohol. The arguments of the Temperance groups were so strong that they eventually convinced state governments to prohibit the sale and produce of alcohol in their state.Politicians backed this movement as it secured them votes in the rural areas, and by 1916, the sale and production of alcohol had been banned in 21 states. USA’s entry into the war strengthened this movement, as drinkers were being labelled as ‘Unpatriotic cowards’ for not entering into the war. The fact that Germany supplied most of the countries alcohol also helped the movement, as Germany was seen as the enemy. Despite the great efforts made by the government, the sale an d production if alcohol didn’t entirely cease.People all over the US started making their own alcohol, these were called ‘bootleggers’ People also set up illegal bars selling black market alcohol and providing entertainment, these were referred to as ‘Speakeasies’ and made a fortune. Over the 13 years that the prohibition lasted, over 37,000 illegal distilleries, or ‘stills’ were shut down, and nearly 23 million gallons of illegally produced or imported alcohol was seized. But even after all that it is said that only a fraction was discovered, although it is Impossible to know for certain.Temperance groups had been around for many years, but their quest for a dry country wasn’t prominent until the early 1900s. These groups were strong in rural areas of the US, but after America’s entry into the First World War in 1917, this movement was strengthened. America’s deep sense on patriotism previously weakened the temperan ce movement, as citizens were proud of who they were and all enjoyed a good drink. But when the war was over, and Germany was distinguished as the enemy, patriots were unwilling to support their economy by buying their alcohol, which greatly helped the movement as most of the US’ alcohol was supplied by Germany.With majority of the country on their side, the temperance movement grew stronger and by 1917 they had enough states on their side to propose the eighteenth amendment, which ‘prohibited the manufacture, sale or transportation or intoxicating liquors’ and in January of 1920 it became a law, known as the Volstead Act. The prohibition was not for everyone, and although a lot of Americans agreed with the movement, there were plenty who did not.People began to see there was potentially a lot of money in this, and began to set up illegal bars selling illegally made alcohol. A lot of these people were immigrants, who were poorly educated but also ruthless and cle ver. The government enforced the prohibition by implementing ‘prohibition agents’ who discovered and arrested offenders. But despite the work of these agents, who were poorly paid and had a large area to cover, it became apparent that it was practically impossible to effectively enforce prohibition in the cities.Many speakeasies thrived as bootleggers took advantage of the underpaid officers, and bribed them to keep quiet. Many people made a vast fortune through the movement, one of the most well-known being Al Capone, who made an estimated 2 billion dollars throughout the 13 years of prohibition. Al Capone was a well-known gang leader, and was renowned for his ruthlessness. His criminal activities were not exactly ‘quiet’ but it was virtually impossible to convict him as he had such a strong control over the police.In 1929 Capone and his gang dressed up as police and murdered 7 members of an opposing gang, which is now known as the ‘St. Valentineâ₠¬â„¢s day massacre’. It was at this point where it became apparent that things had gotten out of hand, and some say it was this event which essentially led to the end of the prohibition. At about the same time, there was a massive crash in the American stock market. People were losing jobs and the economy was crumbling. By this stage the police were corrupt, the country was lawless and the gangsters were rich and powerful.To make matter worse, by 1930 a great depression had set in and arguments were raised that if the ban on liquor was raised, it would create more jobs, the gangsters would have less power and less money, and it would open resources which were dispensed to the agents in charge of the unrealistic task of enforcing prohibition. These ideas were frowned upon by many, but the country was in need of change. In 1932, the democrat Franklin D Roosevelt was elected president, and by 1933 the eighteenth amendment was revoked.It was said by many that the prohibition was a complete failure, as from day one it was an immense struggle to enforce the law, and people continued to drink despite it, which resulted in huge profits for the people illegally producing and selling alcohol. Many people also think that the prohibition was a contributing factor to the great depression, and impacted the country in a negative way. American culture was greatly changed by the movement, as police became more corrupt than the offenders they were allegedly trying to imprison, and gangsters were controlling the cities which put the country into a state of constant fear.Crime and violence rates rose greatly, the government lost a lot of money from alcohol taxes and the country struggled to support itself without the income which alcohol used to provide. It wasn’t until the St Valentines Massacre that people realised how out of control the whole situation was, and it is referred to as a ‘turning point’ as it is thought that this event made the governmen t see that the prohibition was causing more trouble than it was fixing. In conclusion, the prohibition really did not achieve what it set out to do, stop people from drinking and create a more civilised country, in fact, it did quite the opposite.

Essay on Media Violence Does NOT Cause Violent Behavior

In fairy tales, children are pushed into ovens, have their hands chopped off, are forced to sleep in coal bins, and must contend with wolves whove eaten their grandmother. In myths, rape, incest, all manner of gruesome bloodshed, child abandonment, and total debauchery are standard fare. We see more of the same in Bible stories, accentuated with dire predictions of terrors and abominations in an end of the world apocalypse that is more horrifying than the human imagination can even grasp. For the most part, these images of violence, promiscuity and human degradation are explained away by psychologists, mythologists, sociologists, philosophers, and non-fundamentalist theologians as symbolic manifestations of the human psyche. This is†¦show more content†¦And our stories seem to assist that flow. If we stipulate then that, to some degree, violence in our folk, fairy tale, mythic and biblical traditions is a good and natural reflection of our psyches connection to the interior realms of our unconscious, then why are we so adamantly convinced in our culture that violence and sexuality in modern film and television is sending us all to hell in a hand basket? Story has been around since humans first began to grunt, and it would be hard to imagine that even the most primitive mind didnt have some degree of innate understanding of the metaphorical and allegorical qualities of story. Why then do we assume that the adolescent, American male, living in the 21st Century B.C.E., cant make this mystical leap of judgment as well? Indeed, some of our cinematic images of brutality, savagery, and gore are disturbingly psychotic and totally gratuitous in their usage; but are they representative of something other than shadow? Or is it just that this shadow is out of the managerial range of parents, teachers and clergy? Even if we consider the view of von Franz that: Not all dark impulses lend themselves to redemption; [and we have to be careful not to] accept everything that comes up from the unconscious (InterpretationShow MoreRelatedJuvenile Delinquency Essay1646 Words   |  7 Pagesresponsibility and draconian penalties (Jenson Howard, 1998; Melton, Petrila, Poythress, Slobogin, 2007). These individuals react to this obvious social crisis with an attempt to fight the phenomenon with curbing the symptoms but without considering the causes which are created socially. When trying to combat this phenomenon, one has to be aware of the social contexts of juvenile delinquency. 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