Saltimbanque
A menace in the streets, roaming in the darkest alleys, showing off in the busiest plazas. They're entertainers for a price and eccentric beggars, performers in every sense of the word. Somehow they always manage to know the most obscure affairs happening at all times, in a way they might be the eyes, ears and hands of the town. Noises at night suggest they deal with far more than coins.
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Il Saltimbanco by Antonio Mancini. Italy, 1879. Oil painting.
In the early 19th century, the exile of Napoleon lifted restrictions on public expression and brought about a new era of innovation in theater and performance, bringing about characters such as Pierrot and Harlequin. Antonio Mancini was part of the Verismo movement, an Italian response to Realism, and often painted children and street performers.
In this painting, he depicts a young boy (the model being Luigiello, one found in several of Mancini's paintings) as a Saltimbanco, an acrobat who used a small bench as his platform. This type of performer can be dated back to at least the 18th century, and would perform both on streets as well as in theaters. While the Saltimbanco is Italian in origin, the nature of this character changed with the changed in the French theater scene in the 19th century. The writings of the French poet Charles Baudelaire in particular reimagined the character in his short story, 'Le vieux saltimbanque.' Originally a cheery character associated with the thrill of Italian commedia, he was reimagined as a sad clown, a man depressed by the contrast of his "comic rags" to the misery around and in him. Similarly, Mancini often focused on the desolate, raggedy nature of the performers he was depicting, particularly when they were poor children. In this piece, the performer is not particularly raggedy, but he is rather frail and posed similarly to portrayals of Jesus as the "Man of Sorrows." This piece combines both the contemporary reinvention of theater as well as the artists focus on street performance, themes also seen in other portraits by the artist.
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tragedy in art
the execution of lady jane grey by paul delaroche (1833)
the fall of babylon by john martin (1831)
ophelia by sir john everett millais (1852)
the destruction of pompeii and herculaneum by john martin (1822)
princess tarakanova by konstantin flavitsky (1864)
the episode of the yellow fever by juan manuel blanes (1871)
les saltimbanques by gustave dore (1874)
ivan the terrible and his son ivan by ilya repin (1885)
the course of empire, destruction by thomas cole (1836)
the plague of ashdod by nicolas poussin (1630)
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Family of Saltimbanques (French: Famille de saltimbanques) is a 1905 oil on canvas painting by Pablo Picasso. The work depicts six saltimbanques, a kind of itinerant circus performer, in a desolate landscape.
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"Behind the corpse in the reservoir, behind the ghost on the links, behind the lady who dances and the man who madly drinks, under the look of fatigue, the attack of migraine and the sigh. There is always another story, there is more than meets the eye."
-- W.H. Auden
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HK et les saltimbanques
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Danser encore
HK et le saltimbanques
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On lâche rien
HK et le saltimbanques
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L'empire du papier
HK et le saltimbanques
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La fin du Moi,le Dèbut du Nous
HK et le saltimbanques
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Dis-leur que leur s'aime
dis-leur que l'on sême
HK et le saltimbanques
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TRADUZIONE:
Dìgli, che noi amiamo
Dìgli che ci fa stare bene ...
Che non c'è nulla di male
Come puo’ essere un problema
se ci teniamo per mano?
Digli che stiamo seminando
Digli che ci fa stare bene
Come sarebbe un problema
Siamo il mondo di domani.
Digli che così nascono le colombe
Digli che qui comincia il nuovo mondo.
Digli che i nostri cuori si stanno aprendo
Quando il mondo è separato, isolato
digli che noi ci incontriamo.
Emancipati dalle camicie di forza
Racconta loro i nostri corpi che vibrano
Le nostre note musicali
Digli che siamo liberi in ogni passo di danza
sulla pubblica piazza.
Digli che siamo uniti
Digli che stiamo insieme
Digli che siamo vivi
su questa Terra che ci somiglia.
Digli che stiamo andando avanti
Com'è inevitabile attraverso le nostre differenze
Seguendo una stella inaccessibile
Digli che inventiamo
un altro canto delle possibilità
Come quegli uccelli canterini
al mattino presto di una grande serata
felice e ribelle .
Digli che è così
Come nascono le colombe
Digli che è qui che il nuovo mondo comincia
Digli che i nostri cuori si stanno aprendo
Quando il mondo è isolato, separato,
di loro, che noi ci incontriamo.
Emancipati dalle camicie di forza
racconta loro i nostri corpi che vibrano
Le nostre note musicali
Digli che siamo liberi
ad ogni passo di danza sulla pubblica piazza
.
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Frédéric Manfrin - " Ballades parisiennes " saltimbanque
Musicien de rue, saltimbanque,Comme tu danses, tu pirouettes,Au milieu des passantsTu te moques des banques,Des gens sérieux, des faux prophètes,Car toi tu vis tambour battant.
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Weaving through the corridors of art history, the echo of Picasso's name resonates with an undeniable charisma. Pablo Picasso, the paragon of modern art, left a vivid imprint in the annals of creativity with his revolutionary oeuvre. A crown jewel in this diverse portfolio is his masterwork, the "Family of Saltimbanques".
"Family of Saltimbanques" represents a transformative period in Picasso's artistic career - the Rose Period. A time brimming with the warmth of color and more optimistic themes, it marked a shift from his earlier Blue Period's melancholic hues and subjects.
"Family of Saltimbanques" brings forth a troupe of itinerant circus performers - the Saltimbanques. The sheer poignancy of this composition resides in its delicate balancing act between the ostensibly cheerful lives of circus performers and an undercurrent of existential isolation. The exquisite dynamics of this artwork offers an open invitation for us to explore, to dissect, and to embrace its intricacies.
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i’ve been obsessing over this tiktok video of Gustave Dore’s Les Saltimbanques that i even wrote a one shot based off of it
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