V. M. Hillyer 仲秋

V. M. 希利爾（1875—1931），美國(guó)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》，該書(shū)寫于20世紀(jì)二三十年代。

At the time of the Renaissance， young girls used to wear golden garlands or wreaths around their hair， as girls nowadays wear bracelets round their wrists or rings on their fingers. One goldsmith was so famous for the garlands he made that he was called Ghirlandajo （Gear-lan-dah’yo）， which means a maker of garlands. Ghirlandajo gave up making garlands and began to paint pictures instead. He made many very fine pictures， but the chief thing he made was an artist， Michelangelo （Mike-el-an’je-lo）. Michelangelo studied with Ghirlandajo for three years， and the teacher paid the pupil， instead of charging for his teaching！

Ghirlandajo was probably a good teacher of painting， but young Michelangelo liked making statues better than painting pictures. So he left Ghirlandajo’s workshop and began to study sculpture.

Michelangelo was not a very easy person to get along with. He didn’t mind saying what he thought， even if it hurt other people’s feelings. One day he said he thought another young sculptor’s statue wasn’t much good. This probably was true， but the other young sculptor got very angry and hit Michelangelo on the nose. He punched him so hard that the nose was broken. All the rest of his life Michelangelo had an ugly crooked nose.

在文藝復(fù)興時(shí)期，年輕女孩流行在頭上佩戴金黃色的花環(huán)，就好像現(xiàn)在的女孩子喜歡戴手鏈、戒指作為裝飾一樣。當(dāng)時(shí)，有一個(gè)金匠因?yàn)榻饘倩ōh(huán)做得特別好，所以非常出名。他被人稱為“吉蘭達(dá)約”，就是“做花環(huán)的人”的意思。吉蘭達(dá)約后來(lái)不做花環(huán)開(kāi)始畫(huà)畫(huà)，他畫(huà)也畫(huà)得很好。但是，吉蘭達(dá)約最了不起的事情，是培養(yǎng)出了藝術(shù)家米開(kāi)朗琪羅。米開(kāi)朗琪羅跟著吉蘭達(dá)約學(xué)習(xí)了三年，吉蘭達(dá)約不但沒(méi)有收他學(xué)費(fèi)，相反還給他錢。

吉蘭達(dá)約可能是一位好繪畫(huà)老師，但是比起繪畫(huà)，年輕的米開(kāi)朗琪羅卻更喜歡雕塑，所以，米開(kāi)朗琪羅離開(kāi)了吉蘭達(dá)約的工作室轉(zhuǎn)而開(kāi)始學(xué)習(xí)雕塑。

米開(kāi)朗琪羅其實(shí)并不是一個(gè)很好相處的人，他總是想到什么就說(shuō)什么，即使說(shuō)的話會(huì)傷害別人的感情。米開(kāi)朗琪羅有一次說(shuō)另一位年輕雕塑家雕刻的作品不行。他或許并沒(méi)說(shuō)錯(cuò)，但是那個(gè)年輕的雕塑家很生氣，一拳打在了米開(kāi)朗琪羅的鼻子上。那個(gè)雕塑家下手太重以致米開(kāi)朗琪羅的鼻骨斷裂，于是他的鼻子從那時(shí)開(kāi)始就又歪又丑。

Michelangelo soon became famous as a sculptor—a man who makes statues or sculpture. He moved from the city of Florence to Rome， and there he worked for the Pope， who liked Michelangelo’s work so much that he didn’t want him to make statues for any one else.

This Pope wanted to have pictures painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. The Sistine is a chapel in the Vatican， the palace of the Popes. It has a very high curved ceiling. The Pope asked Michelangelo to paint the pictures on the ceiling， but the artist said that he was a sculptor and didn’t at all want to paint. Then some enemies of his spread around the story that he didn’t want to do it because he wasn’t good enough at painting and was afraid to try. This made Michelangelo angry. He made up his mind he would show that he could do the work as well as any painter in the world.

First of all， he had to have a scaffolding built in the chapel. The scaffolding was a wooden framework with boards across the top near the ceiling so that Michelangelo could climb up on the boards and paint.

If you stop to think a moment， you will see how hard it must have been to paint pictures on a ceiling. The painter had to lie on his back on the scaffolding. He had to be so close to the ceiling that he could see only the part right above him， unless he climbed down the ladder and looked up. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is very large. The pictures on it had to be large so people could see them plainly from the floor down below. How would you like to draw the head of a man when you could not see where his feet were to be？ Even if you were a good painter， that would be hard to do. And if Michelangelo put too much paint on his brush the paint would drip down all over him.

米開(kāi)朗琪羅很快就在雕塑方面享有了聲譽(yù)，被稱為雕刻大師。后來(lái)他從佛羅倫薩移居到了羅馬，并且開(kāi)始為教皇工作。教皇對(duì)米開(kāi)朗琪羅的作品很是欣賞，甚至不希望米開(kāi)朗琪羅為其他人雕像。

教皇希望羅馬西斯廷禮拜堂的屋頂上有圖畫(huà)裝飾。西斯廷禮拜堂地處梵蒂岡，是教皇的宮殿，它有一個(gè)很高的拱頂。教皇邀請(qǐng)米開(kāi)朗琪羅給西斯廷禮拜堂的穹頂畫(huà)畫(huà)，但是米開(kāi)朗琪羅卻說(shuō)他是一個(gè)雕塑家，根本不想畫(huà)畫(huà)。那些嫉妒米開(kāi)朗琪羅的人就散布謠言，說(shuō)米開(kāi)朗琪羅之所以拒絕是因?yàn)樗井?huà)不好，不敢嘗試。米開(kāi)朗琪羅知道以后非常生氣，決心要向人們證明自己的繪畫(huà)能力并不比世界上任何一個(gè)畫(huà)家差。

首先，米開(kāi)朗琪羅在禮拜堂里搭建了一個(gè)木架。木架從地面搭建到離穹頂很近的地方，以便他爬到木架上面去作畫(huà)。

你稍微想一想就知道在穹頂上畫(huà)畫(huà)是非常不容易的事情，因?yàn)樽鳟?huà)的人必須躺在木架頂部上畫(huà)才行。他必須距離穹頂很近，以至于只能看到眼前很小的一塊地方，而要看全景除非他從木架上下來(lái)站在地面，向上仰視才可以。西斯廷禮拜堂的穹頂非常大，所以頂上的畫(huà)也要畫(huà)得特別大，這樣人們站在地面上仰視時(shí)才能看得清楚。假如不讓你看見(jiàn)人物雙腳的位置就讓你畫(huà)出人物的頭，你會(huì)怎樣畫(huà)？即使是優(yōu)秀的畫(huà)家也很難畫(huà)好。而且如果米開(kāi)朗琪羅的畫(huà)筆蘸的顏料一多，就會(huì)滴得自己渾身都是。

But once he had started， nothing could stop him. At first he had some other artists to help him， but he found the helpers couldn’t do the work just as he wanted it， so he sent them away and kept on all by himself.

It took him four and a half years to finish the ceiling， and that was really a very short time when you think of the work that had to be done！ The Pope kept telling him to hurry and Michelangelo even moved his bed into the chapel so he would be able to spend more time painting.

The Pope also kept telling him how the pictures should be done. Michelangelo didn’t like this， because he felt he knew more about such things than the Pope did. So one day when the Pope was standing on the floor calling up advice to the painter， Michelangelo let a hammer drop from the scaffolding. He was careful to let it fall quite near the Pope—near enough to scare him. After that the Pope stayed out of the chapel while Michelangelo was painting！

Finally， the ceiling was almost finished. Michelangelo wanted to add some touches of gold paint， but the Pope was so anxious to have the chapel opened that the artist had the scaffolding taken down before the gold was put on.

Then people came from all over Rome to see what the famous sculptor had done as a painter. What they saw was a painting of Bible pictures. Around the edges of the ceiling were huge figures of prophets who had foretold the coming of Christ. Down the middle of the ceiling were shown pictures of the Old Testament stories—The Six Days of Creation， Noah’s Ark and the Flood， and others. The pictures were drawn so well that people were astonished.

可是米開(kāi)朗琪羅一旦著手去做，就沒(méi)有什么困難能夠阻礙他。一開(kāi)始，米開(kāi)朗琪羅還請(qǐng)了一些畫(huà)家來(lái)幫忙，可是后來(lái)他發(fā)現(xiàn)這些畫(huà)家無(wú)法按照他的要求完成繪畫(huà)工作，所以就把他們打發(fā)走了，由自己一人全權(quán)負(fù)責(zé)這項(xiàng)工作。

米開(kāi)朗琪羅花了四年半的時(shí)間畫(huà)完了整個(gè)穹頂?shù)谋诋?huà)。我們知道這份工作如此繁瑣，四年半的時(shí)間已經(jīng)算是很快的了。教皇一直不停地催促，所以后來(lái)米開(kāi)朗琪羅干脆就住進(jìn)了教堂，夜以繼日地畫(huà)畫(huà)。

除了催促，教皇還不停地強(qiáng)調(diào)怎么畫(huà)才好，指揮米開(kāi)朗琪羅作畫(huà)。米開(kāi)朗琪羅不喜歡這樣，因?yàn)樗J(rèn)定自己在這方面比教皇懂得多。于是有一天當(dāng)教皇又站在底下指手畫(huà)腳的時(shí)候，米開(kāi)朗琪羅故意讓錘子從木架上掉了下去——米開(kāi)朗琪羅非常小心地讓它掉到教皇身邊足夠近的地方，只是會(huì)嚇到教皇。從那以后只要米開(kāi)朗琪羅在作畫(huà)，教皇就再也不敢走進(jìn)教堂了。

米開(kāi)朗琪羅在穹頂?shù)谋诋?huà)接近完工的時(shí)候，想添上一些金色的線條做到精益求精，可是教皇只想盡早開(kāi)放禮拜堂，所以米開(kāi)朗琪羅只好放棄了自己最后的想法，拆卸了木架。

羅馬人從四面八方趕來(lái)參觀重新開(kāi)放的西斯廷禮拜堂，想看看這位著名雕塑家的繪畫(huà)作品到底是什么樣子的。人們看到的是以《圣經(jīng)》故事為主題的圖畫(huà)。穹頂?shù)倪吘?，?huà)有預(yù)言耶穌誕生的先知們的巨大畫(huà)像;穹頂正中央畫(huà)的是《圣經(jīng)·舊約》里的故事，有“創(chuàng)世紀(jì)”“諾亞方舟”“大洪水”等等。每一幅畫(huà)都畫(huà)得非常好，來(lái)參觀的人們都嘖嘖稱道、夸贊不已。

The men and women painted on the ceiling look strong and solid. They look like statues， which of course are the shape of real people all around， and not just flat pictures. So we call Michelangelo’s paintings sculpturesque or like sculpture.

In this photograph you see a small part of the ceiling. It shows the Creation of Man. Notice what great shoulders and muscles Adam has.

Almost thirty years after the ceiling was painted， Michelangelo was asked to paint a picture on the wall over the altar at one end of the Sistine Chapel. The wall was already covered with a painting by Perugino which had to be destroyed. Michelangelo’s painting that took the place of Perugino’s is called “The Last Judgment”. It is one of the most famous pictures ever painted， though it is not so great as the six ceiling pictures. It is crowded with the figures of men and women rising from the dead on Judgment Day.

Michelangelo painted very few other pictures. The only small finished painting that we are sure was done by him is a tondo of the Holy Family. It shows the Madonna on her knees， holding over her shoulder her little Son so that Joseph can see Him. The picture shows how this artist liked to paint people in strange positions.

Michelangelo lived to be a very old man. As he grew older he seemed to grow crosser and harder to get along with than ever. But though he was a cranky old fellow， every one respected him and admired him as one of the greatest artists in the history of the world.

畫(huà)在穹頂上的男男女女看上去厚重又立體，他們看上去不只是普通的平面圖，所有的人物看起來(lái)像雕塑那樣有著真人一樣的輪廓立體感。也正因?yàn)槿绱?，人們把米開(kāi)朗琪羅的畫(huà)叫作“類雕像畫(huà)”，就是類似雕刻的繪畫(huà)。

左邊這張圖片就是西斯廷禮拜堂穹頂畫(huà)中很小的一部分，故事畫(huà)的是“上帝造人”。亞當(dāng)肌肉發(fā)達(dá)，肩膀看上去是那么厚實(shí)！

米開(kāi)朗琪羅完成西斯廷禮拜堂的畫(huà)作大約三十年后，他又奉命為西斯廷禮拜堂祭壇一端的墻壁作畫(huà)。這面墻上原來(lái)有佩魯吉諾的畫(huà)，所以不得不被毀掉了。米開(kāi)朗琪羅新畫(huà)上的畫(huà)作替代了原來(lái)佩魯吉諾的畫(huà)作，新畫(huà)作名為“最后的審判”。盡管《最后的審判》比不上穹頂上的作品，但它也是世界上最偉大的畫(huà)作之一。這幅畫(huà)上密布著在最后審判日中從死亡中復(fù)活的人們。

米開(kāi)朗琪羅的其他繪畫(huà)作品并不多。在小型作品中，人們唯一能確定是米開(kāi)朗琪羅畫(huà)的一件完整的作品就是一幅圓形畫(huà)——《神圣家族》。這幅繪畫(huà)作品中圣母馬利亞雙膝跪地，將耶穌舉過(guò)肩膀給約瑟看?？戳嗣组_(kāi)朗琪羅的這幅繪畫(huà)作品你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，他很喜歡把人物畫(huà)成各種奇怪的姿勢(shì)。

米開(kāi)朗琪羅活了很多年，歲數(shù)比較大了，可是他年齡越大脾氣也越差，也更難相處了。盡管他是一個(gè)性情古怪的人，但人們都非常尊敬他、敬仰他，因?yàn)樗侨祟悮v史上最了不起的畫(huà)家之一。

Word Study

wreath /ri?θ/ n. （裝飾用的）花環(huán)

punch /p?nt?/ v. 拳打;以拳痛擊

She punched him on the nose.

plainly /'ple?nli/ adv. 清晰地;明顯地

The sea was plainly visible in the distance.

prophet /'pr?f?t/ n. 先知;預(yù)言者

The pity is that you are not a prophet.

cranky /'kr??ki/ adj. 古怪的;脾氣壞的

The kids were getting tired and a little cranky.

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