Toilet of Venus

Diego Velazquez
Diego Velazquez, Toilet of Venus, 1647-51
While this Toilet of Venus lacks the grandeur of Boucher's Rococo-styled Venus (painted in 1703), it stands as an important representation of Velasquez work. It's subject matter was rare and quite bold as it went against what the Catholic Church found tasteful. For this reason, very few female nudes were done at the time of the Inquisition. This painting is Velasquez's only piece depicting a female nude that has survived to this date, but only barely. In 1914, The Toilet of Venus had suffered a malicious attack at its home in the National Gallery in London.

In the early twentieth century, England was undergoing a violent suffragette movement. One afternoon, one Mary Richardson entered the National Gallery, which was open to the public. She carried in with her a meat grinder. Mary Richardson approached the Velazquez and dealt several slashes. This attack was one of several on the National Gallery, which lead them to denying entry to women for a brief time. The message this group of militant Suffragists were attempting to get across reverberated through to the frames of these canvases. Mary hated the way men would ogle Venus' naked body before her viewers.

As a self-proclaimed art student, Mary Richardson made a statement over the power the gallery held; although, the act of slashing the painting was a dramatic form of revenge. Emmaline Pankhurst was an activist and major voice in the movement for women's voting rights. When the Conciliation Bill did not pass, which would have granted women's suffrage, Pankhurst lead a violent revolt where "women were thrown from one policeman to another who punched them with fists, striking the women in their faces,breasts and shoulders." She was then jailed for the chaos. Mary Richardson had destroyed the painting in protest of her imprisonment. "I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government for destroying Mrs Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history."While all the damage was successfully restored, these attacks were horrific actions that jeopardized Velazquez's triumphant nude.


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The Fighting Temeraire

007
J.M.W. Turner, The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to be Broken Up, 1838

For four years I’ve been waiting, anticipation twice the size of my thanksgiving meal. Arriving a bit later than usual, I’m thankful for the release of the new James Bond movie and that it kicked butt, redeeming Daniel Craig’s last movie, Quantum of Solace. Of course I’m thankful for my family, the house I live in, friends, and such, yet this is James Bond we’re talking about, Ian Fleming's British MI6 total badass secret agent. The sometimes cheesy British spy films have always been a way for my step-father and I to have some quality bonding experiences, having seen all of them with him, some multiple times. It’s November release is perfect for a time of family gathering, almost a pre-Thanksgiving.

Ben Wishaw and Daniel Craig, Skyfall, 2012
In the new movie, Skyfall, James Bond sits besides his new quartermaster, “Q”, in room 34 of the National Gallery in front of Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to be Broken Up, painted in 1838. Celebrating all that is British awesomeness, this scene symbolically represents the entire theme of the movie, the rise of the new and out with the old. The HMS Temeraire was an old 98-gun War ship. Glorious in comparison to the industrial smog polluting tug boat. The old ship’s beauty represents the glory doing things the old way in Skyfall. The movie itself differs from any other Bond film made. It contained a more complete narrative with just enough events taking place, unlike Quantum of Solace where the amount of setting changes detracted from the overall plot.

Daniel Craig plays an older more out of date Bond in Skyfall, confronted by a new world, a new enemy. In this scene in the museum, Q and Bond mirror each other in their sitting positions, their existence dependent on the each other. An aged James Bond, doing things the old fashion way, his work found behind a Walter PPK, contrasts Q, a young and tech-savvy genius who holds power behind his computer.

I won’t spoil any of the storyline, but the my favorite example of this theme is when Bond and M drive the classic Aston Martin from the early movies, accompanied by the classic instrumental theme song. It was perfect. Through the dialogue, props, and sets, Skyfall exaggerated the overall theme: Daniel Craig’s Bond is experiencing a change, fighting on a new battlefield, filled with hacking and viruses. Confronted with change, he successfully does the job right, using his traditional style of doing things.

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