By V. M. Hillyer ——V. M. 希利爾

V. M.希利爾（1875—1931），美國著名的兒童教育家、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》。

Many towns are named for persons— Washington， St. Louis， Jacksonville， and others. It is not so often that persons are named for towns， but here is a painter who was named for one. The town was Perugia， in Italy， and the man was called Perugino （Pay-roo-jeeno）. He wasnt christened Perugino， but most people have forgotten what his real name was. Perugino wasnt even born in Perugia， but he went to live in that town and started a school for painters there.

美國許多地方都是以人名作為當(dāng)?shù)氐某鞘忻?，比如華盛頓、圣路易斯、杰克遜維爾等城市;但是卻很少有人會根據(jù)城市名來取自己的名字。我現(xiàn)在要給你介紹的這位畫家就是特例，他的名字就是根據(jù)意大利城市佩魯吉諾來取的。事實(shí)上，畫家佩魯吉諾出生時(shí)并不叫這個(gè)名字，但是大部分人都已經(jīng)忘了他的原名。他的出生地也不是在佩魯吉諾，只因?yàn)樗髞碓谀抢锒ň?，并且?chuàng)辦了繪畫學(xué)校。

You can tell whom some letters are from before you open them， just by the handwriting on the envelop. In the same way you can tell a picture that Perugino has painted even if it hasnt his name on it. He painted Madonnas and saints and after you have seen several of them， you can recognize others he did， even though you may not be able to tell just how or why. Usually they have their heads bent to one side， a very sweet expression， and usually the figure has one knee bent.

你收到一封信，有時(shí)不拆開信封就能知道是誰寄來的，那是因?yàn)槟憧闯隽诵欧馍献舟E的特點(diǎn)。同樣的，即使沒有署名，我們也能猜出哪些畫是佩魯吉諾畫的，因?yàn)樗漠嬕埠苡刑攸c(diǎn)。佩魯吉諾最常畫的主題是圣母馬利亞以及各位圣徒，通常你只要看過他的兩三幅畫就能認(rèn)出他的其他畫了，雖然你可能也沒法說清你是如何辨認(rèn)出來的。他畫中人物特點(diǎn)通常都是頭偏向一邊，臉上帶著微笑，一條腿微微彎曲。

Perugino painted many beautiful pictures， but he is chiefly famous because of one of his pupils. This pupil was a boy who many people feel became the greatest painter of all time. His name is Raphael. Raphael studied with Perugino for three years. By the time he was nineteen years old he had learned everything that his master could teach him， so he started out for himself. He died when he was thirty-seven years old， but he was such a hard worker that he had painted or drawn over a thousand pictures by that time. Indeed， we are told that he died from overwork.

佩魯吉諾畫過很多漂亮的畫，不過，他的出名主要還是因?yàn)樗囊幻麑W(xué)生。佩魯吉諾的這名學(xué)生是個(gè)小伙子，人們都認(rèn)為這個(gè)年輕人是有史以來最偉大的畫家，他就是拉斐爾。拉斐爾跟著佩魯吉諾學(xué)習(xí)了三年。拉斐爾十九歲的時(shí)候，他已經(jīng)把佩魯吉諾能教的所有東西都學(xué)會了，之后他就開始自學(xué)。拉斐爾一直都非常努力地畫畫，所以盡管他三十七歲就去世了，但留下了一千多幅已經(jīng)完成的繪畫作品。事實(shí)上，有人說拉斐爾其實(shí)是因?yàn)楫嫯嬏量?，勞累過度而死。

Raphael must have done about one picture a week， and some of his paintings are very large and have many figures in them. The only way he could have made so many， and the way we know he did， was to have his pupils help him. He always painted the faces himself， but his pupils painted the clothes and hands and other less important parts of the pictures.

It would take several books with a picture on each page to show all of Raphaels paintings. One of the most famous is “The Madonna del Gran Duca”. It was called so because it was bought by a grand duke who prized it more highly than all his riches. In fact， he was not willing to have it hanging on the wall of his palace or placed in a vault for safe-keeping. He wanted it with him all the time and is said to have carried it with him in his carriage wherever he went so that it would never be out of his sight.

為了畫這么多畫，拉斐爾必須每一個(gè)星期就完成一幅作品，有一些畫作的幅面非常大，人物也非常多。要想完成這么多畫，唯一的辦法就是讓學(xué)生幫忙。據(jù)我們所知，事實(shí)上拉斐爾也是這么做的。通常，拉斐爾自己先把人物的臉畫好，然后讓學(xué)生畫次要的部分，比如人物的四肢、服飾等。

如果每一張拉斐爾的畫都印一張紙，那么所有印出來的紙就可以湊成好多本書了！在拉斐爾的眾多畫作中，《大公爵的圣母》是他享譽(yù)盛名的畫作之一。這幅畫叫這個(gè)名字是因?yàn)橐晃淮蠊舫龈邇r(jià)買走了這幅畫，出的價(jià)甚至超過了自己所有財(cái)產(chǎn)的價(jià)值。這個(gè)公爵實(shí)在是太喜歡這幅畫了，他希望把這幅畫時(shí)刻帶在身邊，而不是掛在墻上，抑或是鎖在柜子里保存。所以不管走到哪兒，大公爵都把這幅畫放在自己的馬車?yán)?，隨身攜帶。

The grand duke is now dead， of course， and “The Madonna del Gran Duca” is in an art gallery in Florence， where every one can see it as often and as long as he likes， if he can afford to go there. How fortunate， you may think， for the people who live in Florence， who can see it every day without cost！ Yet I know people living in Florence who have never seen it. Strange？ That seems to be the way with people. Some people go thousands of miles and pay thousands of dollars to get there， while those who live almost next door dont or wont “go across the street” to see the picture.

當(dāng)然，那個(gè)大公爵早已離世，這幅畫現(xiàn)在被收藏在佛羅倫薩的一個(gè)美術(shù)館里。所有到那個(gè)美術(shù)館的人都可以去欣賞這幅畫，看多少次、看多久都行，只要他們付得起路費(fèi)。住在佛羅倫薩的人多幸運(yùn)呀！他們可以隨時(shí)欣賞這幅畫，而不需要花路費(fèi)！估計(jì)你多半有這樣的感嘆吧。不過呢，據(jù)我所知并不是所有的佛羅倫薩人都看過這幅畫。你覺得奇怪？其實(shí)人們就是這么奇怪。有些人不遠(yuǎn)萬里，花很多路費(fèi)專門去看這幅畫;而有些人與它可能僅有一墻之隔，卻不理會珍寶就在身邊。

Raphael painted another Madonna called “The Madonna of the Chair”. It is a tondo. Do you remember what that is？ It is a round picture.

The story is that Raphael was walking one day in the country when he saw a young mother sitting in a doorway with her little baby.

“What a beautiful madonna！” Raphael said to himself. “I must paint her now， on the spot where she is， before she changes.”

He looked around for something to paint on and， in a rubbish heap near by， he saw the round top of a barrel. So he sketched the young woman and her baby then and there with a pencil. And as soon as he reached his home he made the painting of them.

拉斐爾還有幅著名的圣母像——《椅中圣母》——是一幅tondo。你還記得是什么意思嗎？就是圓形畫的意思。

據(jù)說，有一天拉斐爾在鄉(xiāng)間散步時(shí)，無意間看到一位年輕的母親懷抱著一個(gè)嬰兒坐在門檻旁邊的情景。

“多美的圣母馬利亞??！”拉斐爾喃喃自語道，“我要在她沒有改變姿勢之前，趕快把她的形象畫下來。”

拉斐爾當(dāng)下立即四周尋找，看看附近有沒有合適的東西可以用來畫畫。結(jié)果只在不遠(yuǎn)處的垃圾堆上撿到了一個(gè)圓形的垃圾桶蓋。拉斐爾在上面迅速地用鉛筆把年輕母親和嬰兒的輪廓勾勒出來。然后，他一回到家就馬上根據(jù)記在垃圾桶蓋上的輪廓完成了這幅作品。

But the most famous picture in the world is another Madonna by Raphael called “The Sistine Madonna” from the name of the church where it was first placed. It is not there now， however， but in a gallery in Dresden， Germany， where it has a room all by itself， for no other picture is thought worthy to be hung in the same room.

但是拉斐爾的《西斯廷圣母》卻是世界上最著名的圣母畫像了。西斯廷是最初安放這幅畫的教堂的名字，不過現(xiàn)在這幅畫已經(jīng)被存放在了德國德累斯頓的一家美術(shù)館里。人們認(rèn)為，世界上再找不到其他任何一幅畫作可以配得上與它放在一起，于是它被專門單獨(dú)放在一間屋子里。

Many Madonnas that I have shown you may be beautiful themselves， but the Holy Child in the pictures may not be beautiful at all. He often looks like a little old man or just a very fat baby， and not a bit what we feel the Son of God should look like. The Christ Child in Raphaels “Sistine Madonna” is very beautiful. Leaning on the edge of the frame， beneath the feet of the Madonna， are two little angels or cherubs. This idea Raphael got from Fra Bartolommeo， who was a great friend of his. The two other people in the picture who are worshiping the Madonna are Pope Sixtus and Saint Barbara. They， of course， did not live at the time of Christ. They were put in this picture just as Botticelli put two living boys into his picture of the “Coronation”.

我給你展示過的大部分圣母像中，圣母都非常漂亮。但是畫中的圣嬰通常卻不怎么漂亮，有的看起來像個(gè)小老頭，有的就是個(gè)小胖墩兒，完全不像我們心目中上帝之子應(yīng)該具有的形象。不過，拉斐爾的《西斯廷圣母》中的圣嬰?yún)s非常漂亮。在圣母馬利亞的腳下，倚在畫的邊緣還有兩個(gè)小天使，這是拉斐爾從他的好朋友費(fèi)拉·巴爾托洛梅奧那里學(xué)來的畫法。畫中另外兩個(gè)正在朝覲圣母的人，分別是西克斯特教皇和芭芭拉圣徒，這兩個(gè)人都沒有生活在耶穌時(shí)代，但是拉斐爾還是將他們畫了進(jìn)去。把不同時(shí)期的人畫在一起，這和波提切利把兩個(gè)當(dāng)時(shí)真實(shí)的小男孩畫在他的《圣母加冕圖》中是一樣的。

Word Study

heap /hi?p/ n. （凌亂的）一推

v. 堆積（東西）;堆置

His clothes lay in a heap on the floor.

Rocks were heaped up on the side of the road.

sketch /sket?/ v. 畫素描;概述

n. 素描;速寫

He quickly sketched the view from the window.

She sketched out her plan for tackling the problem.

The artist is making sketches for his next painting.

worship /'w????p/ v. （尤指在宗教場所）做禮拜，敬奉;崇拜，敬重

The Maya built jungle pyramids to worship their gods.

She adores her sons and they worship her.