V. M. 希利爾（仲秋　譯）

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》，該書寫于20世紀(jì)二三十年代。

This article is about Spain. But Im going to begin by telling you about Crete， which hasnt anything at all to do with Spain. Crete is an island south of Greece. It belongs to Greece and the people of Crete speak the Greek language. Sometime about the middle of the fifteen hundreds there was born in Crete a baby who was to become a celebrated painter. You have never heard of his name and couldnt pronounce it if you had. Ill tell it to you just to show you， but dont try to remember it， for this painter is never spoken of except by his nickname. Here is his real name—Domenico Theotocopuli.

He was a mysterious kind of man and no one knows very much about his life. He seems to have left Crete and gone to Venice to study art under the great Titian. The next we hear of him he has bobbed up in Spain and settled in the city of Toledo. In Spain he remained and in Spain he died in 1614， but he always thought of himself as a Greek rather than a Spaniard， and he signed his most important paintings in Greek letters. The Spaniards could hardly be expected to call him Domenico Theotocopuli any more than you are expected to. They just called him “that Greek fellow” or “the Greek”， which in Spanish is El Greco.

本文主要聊西班牙。不過在介紹西班牙之前，我要先說一說克里特島，一個(gè)跟西班牙一點(diǎn)關(guān)系都沒有的小島?？死锾貚u是位于希臘南部的一個(gè)島，屬于希臘。島上的人說希臘語(yǔ)。大約在16世紀(jì)中期的時(shí)候，克里特島有一個(gè)嬰兒出生了，他后來成為遠(yuǎn)近聞名的畫家。不過我估計(jì)你從來沒聽說過這位畫家的名字，而且就算聽說過也不一定能讀得準(zhǔn)。現(xiàn)在我就告訴你他的名字吧，他的全名叫多梅尼科·狄奧托科普里。但這個(gè)名字你不用費(fèi)力去記，了解一下就行，因?yàn)槿藗儚膩聿唤兴娜?，而只叫他的昵稱。

多梅尼科·狄奧托科普里是一個(gè)神秘的人，所以沒有人確切地了解他的生活到底是什么樣子的，只知道他后來好像離開了克里特島，去威尼斯跟著偉大的畫家提香學(xué)習(xí)繪畫;后來我們?cè)俾牭剿南r(shí)，他已經(jīng)突然出現(xiàn)在了西班牙，在托萊多城定居。此后他就一直待在西班牙，直到1614年在西班牙去世。盡管他在西班牙居住的時(shí)間很長(zhǎng)，但是他一直把自己視為希臘人，而不是西班牙人，他在重要作品上的簽名也都是希臘名。西班牙人并不習(xí)慣叫他多梅尼科·狄奧托科普里，就像你一樣。西班牙人都以昵稱叫他埃爾·格雷考，意思是“那個(gè)希臘人”或者“希臘伙計(jì)”。

El Greco painted pictures that are so different from other artists paintings that you may think they are not beautiful when you first see them. All his people are too long and thin to be like real people， and the colors are used differently from the colors in most paintings.

When you see a picture by El Greco you must remember that he is not trying to make you see a picture of things as they would look in a photograph. His paintings of men and scenes represent the spirit （or the idea）， which is a different thing from what you would see with your eyes if you looked at real men and scenes. This is hard for many people to understand. They think a painting should always show you exactly what the real things look like. But a camera can do that just as well as an artist， and so many artists sometimes paint， like El Greco， not what they see but what they think will look best as a picture.

When El Greco died the man who was to become the greatest Spanish painter of all was still only a boy of fourteen. It seems strange to us that he is called by his mothers name instead of by his fathers. It was just an old Spanish custom. I dont expect you to remember this painters entire name， because it was Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez. What you have to remember is the Velasquez part， for that is what he was called. Velasquez was born in the city of Seville in 1599.

埃爾·格雷考的畫與其他畫家的畫很不一樣，第一眼看上去你可能會(huì)覺得不好看。他畫中的人物都是又瘦又長(zhǎng)，看起來都不太像真人了，而且他畫作的顏色也和其他畫家的很不一樣。

在欣賞埃爾·格雷考的畫時(shí)，千萬要記住他的畫作并不像照片一樣在單純地向我們展示畫中的景物。埃爾·格雷考畫中的人物和景致其實(shí)是想要表達(dá)一種精神、一種思想。所以這就與你用眼睛單純?nèi)タ凑嫒?、真景時(shí)的感覺是不一樣的。不過很多人會(huì)覺得這一點(diǎn)很難理解，因?yàn)樗麄冇X得畫出來的東西就應(yīng)該是事物完完全全本來的樣子。不過如果只是這樣的話，照相機(jī)也可以做得和畫家一樣好，不是嗎？其實(shí)有許多畫家有時(shí)也像埃爾·格雷考一樣按照他們的審美來畫畫，而不是像照相機(jī)一樣單純地定格景物。

下一位就要給你介紹西班牙最偉大的畫家了，他在埃爾·格雷考去世時(shí)還只有十四歲。奇怪的是他隨的是母姓，而不是父姓，其實(shí)這是西班牙的一種古老習(xí)俗。這位畫家的全名你也不用記，因?yàn)閷?shí)在是太長(zhǎng)了，他的全名叫迪迭戈·羅德里格斯·德席爾瓦·委拉斯開茲。人們都叫他委拉斯開茲，你也只要記住他的這個(gè)名字就行了。1599年委拉斯開茲出生于西班牙的塞維利亞。

Word Study

celebrated /'sel?bre?t?d/ adj. 著名的;聞名的

He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.

bob up突然冒出

The dark head of a seal bobbed up a few yards away.

settle /'setl/ v. 定居

She settled in Vienna after her fathers death.

When Velasquez had grown up and had painted for some time he decided to go to the capital of Spain， Madrid. The king saw some of his work and liked it， and so the next year Velasquez was sent for and moved to Madrid for good. There he became the kings painter. We know very well what this king of Spain looked like， because Velasquez painted many pictures of him. The king was PhilipⅣ. The first thing you notice about Philip is his very large mustaches which curl up to his eyes. They must have been a nuisance， for Philip had to put leather cases on them at night to keep them shaped right. I wonder what the king looked like when he got his fancy mustaches caught in the rain！

Almost all the portraits of the king and his nobles show a wide stiff white collar that sticks out from around each mans neck. King Philip was very proud of this kind of collar， and for a very special reason—he invented it himself！ He was so proud of his new invention that he had a great celebration after which there was a solemn procession or parade to church to thank God for such a blessing.

Here is a portrait of a little girl that Velasquez painted， the Princess Marguerite. She was a daughter of King Philip.

Velasquez was very different from El Greco in his painting. El Greco painted things as he wanted them to look， to give his idea of them. El Greco used his imagination instead of putting down on canvas just what he saw with his eyes. But Velasquez painted objects to look like the real objects. We call a painter who does this a realist， because he paints only what he really sees.

當(dāng)委拉斯開茲長(zhǎng)大成人并開始作畫后，他就計(jì)劃去西班牙的首都馬德里發(fā)展了。當(dāng)時(shí)的西班牙國(guó)王看了委拉斯開茲的一些作品之后，非常喜歡，第二年就把委拉斯開茲迎接到了馬德里，讓他成為國(guó)王的御用畫家。我們能清楚這位西班牙國(guó)王的長(zhǎng)相也要?dú)w功于委拉斯開茲，因?yàn)樗麨閲?guó)王畫過許多畫像。當(dāng)時(shí)的西班牙國(guó)王是腓力四世。你要是看到腓力四世的畫像，一定會(huì)先注意到他的胡須，因?yàn)槟呛毦淼脻M臉都是，一直到他的眼睛。每天晚上睡覺的時(shí)候，腓力四世都要用一個(gè)皮套把胡須給套起來，這樣才能保持胡須的造型。腓力四世一定對(duì)這些胡須又愛又恨。我在想要是他這些精心卷好的胡須被淋了雨，那會(huì)是個(gè)啥模樣？

委拉斯開茲畫中的人物，不論是國(guó)王還是貴族，他們的脖子上都有一個(gè)又寬又硬的白色領(lǐng)圈。腓力四世為這個(gè)白色領(lǐng)圈而自豪，因?yàn)橐粋€(gè)非常特殊的原因——這領(lǐng)圈是他的發(fā)明。為此，他專門舉行了一場(chǎng)盛大的歡慶活動(dòng)，活動(dòng)結(jié)束后他還帶領(lǐng)臣民舉行了一場(chǎng)隆重的游行活動(dòng)，之后到教堂感謝上帝的恩賜。

下面是一張委拉斯開茲創(chuàng)作的小女孩的肖像畫，畫中的小女孩就是腓力四世的女兒馬格麗特公主。

委拉斯開茲的繪畫風(fēng)格與埃爾·格雷考的很不一樣。埃爾·格雷考按照自己想要的效果作畫，經(jīng)常在畫中添加自己的想法，所以他更多的是用他的想象力作畫，而不是機(jī)械地把看到的東西畫下來。但是，委拉斯開茲卻完全是按照事物真實(shí)的樣子在畫。委拉斯開茲這樣的畫家叫“寫實(shí)主義畫家”，因?yàn)樗麄冎皇前蜒垡姷氖挛锶鐚?shí)地畫下來。

When Rubens came to Madrid， the king asked Velasquez to show him the art treasures of Spain. Rubens and Velasquez got along together very well. Rubens admired Velasquezs paintings and Velasquez admired the work of Rubens.

Velasquez wanted to see the famous paintings of the great Italian artists and so he got permission from the king to make trips to Italy， where he made copies of some of the paintings of Tintoretto， Michelangelo， and Titian.

And here is a picture of Aesop， who wrote the fable of “The Fox and the Grapes” “The Dog in the Manger”， and other famous fables.

Of course the picture is not of the real Aesop. Velasquez just painted the picture as he thought Aesop might have looked， for Aesop himself lived two thousand years before Velasquez.

Velasquez has been called the painters painter， because so many painters have admired and praised his work. He was one of the greatest of the Spanish painters， greater than El Greco and greater than the next Spanish painter Im going to tell you about， whose name was Murillo.

Murillo， like Velasquez， was born in Seville. He went to Madrid， where Velasquez encouraged him in his painting and got him permission to study the paintings in the kings picture gallery. After two years there， Murillo went back to live in Seville. He was still poor and unknown.

About that time the Franciscan friars， or monks， in Seville were looking for an artist who would decorate one of their buildings with paintings. They wanted to get some famous artist， but they had too little money to pay a famous artists prices. So they decided to let Murillo do the work. Murillo painted eleven pictures for the friars and every one liked them so much that he was asked to do more pictures than he could possibly paint.

當(dāng)魯本斯來到馬德里時(shí)，腓力四世讓委拉斯開茲帶著他參觀西班牙的藝術(shù)珍品。魯本斯和委拉斯開茲相處得非常融洽，而且相互都對(duì)對(duì)方的作品非常欣賞和推崇。

后來，委拉斯開茲想要看意大利偉大畫家的著名作品，他得到國(guó)王的許可之后，就去了意大利游歷。在意大利他臨摹了很多大畫家的作品，比如丁托列托、米開朗基羅和提香等的畫作。

右邊這幅畫畫的是伊索。伊索寫了很多有名的寓言故事，比如《狐貍與葡萄》《馬槽中的狗》等。

但是這幅畫中的人物并不是伊索本人。伊索生活的年代比委拉斯開茲早了兩千多年，所以，這幅畫是委拉斯開茲按照自己的想象創(chuàng)作出來的伊索形象。

委拉斯開茲被人們稱為“畫家中的畫家”，因?yàn)楹芏喈嫾叶挤浅３绨莺托蕾p他的畫。他是西班牙畫家中最偉大的一位，比埃爾·格雷考還要優(yōu)秀，甚至也比接下來我要給你介紹的西班牙畫家牟利羅更杰出。

牟利羅與委拉斯開茲一樣，也出生在西班牙的塞維利亞，后來他去了馬德里。在馬德里，委拉斯開茲鼓勵(lì)牟利羅學(xué)習(xí)繪畫，還幫助他獲得了在國(guó)王畫室學(xué)習(xí)繪畫的機(jī)會(huì)。兩年后，牟利羅學(xué)成回到塞維利亞，但是當(dāng)時(shí)他還是個(gè)無名小畫家，生活也很窘迫。

也就在那個(gè)時(shí)候，塞維利亞的圣方濟(jì)隱修院的修士們，恰巧在找可以為他們的一座建筑作畫的畫家，他們希望請(qǐng)著名的畫家來畫，但是他們沒有充裕的錢來請(qǐng)著名的大畫家作畫，于是他們選擇讓牟利羅來作畫。牟利羅為這座隱修院畫了十一幅畫，大家都很滿意，所以后來找他畫畫的人也慢慢多了起來。

Then Murillo painted eleven pictures for another building. These were even better than the first eleven， and made him famous.

Another picture that Murillo painted has a story told about it that shows how lifelike it is. The picture is of a priest with a spaniel at his feet， and the story is that when a live dog saw the painted spaniel he thought it was a real spaniel and growled at it. It reminds us of the story of the birds who pecked the grapes in Zeuxiss picture. I dont believe it can be a true story because a dog cant be fooled by a picture the way he can by a mirror.

Murillo was very good at painting babies and Madonnas. His Madonnas generally have dark hair and eyes. Here is a picture that children seem to like. It shows the baby Christ and little Saint John getting a drink of water out of a seashell. The little lamb in the corner of the picture looks as if he were thirsty and wanted a drink， too.

Murillo was so successful at selling his pictures that he made a large fortune， but he was a very generous man and gave much money to the poor. He had once been poor himself， and he knew how much they needed help.

One day when he was old he was getting up on a scaffolding to paint the higher parts of a large picture， when he stumbled and fell. He was so badly hurt that he never got well and the picture was left unfinished.

The people of Seville never forgot their famous painter and even today in Seville they call any beautiful picture a “Murillo”.

接著，牟利羅又為另一座建筑畫了十一幅畫，這次畫的比之前的那十一幅更好，這讓他一舉成名。

牟利羅有一幅名畫，因?yàn)楫嫷梅浅Ｉ鷦?dòng)，還引出了一個(gè)關(guān)于這幅畫的故事。牟利羅的這幅畫畫的是一位神父，神父的腳邊站著一只西班牙獵犬。據(jù)說有一只小狗看到這幅畫時(shí)，以為畫中的獵犬是真的，竟然對(duì)著畫“汪汪汪”地叫了起來。這讓我們想起宙克西斯畫中的葡萄被鳥兒啄食的故事。不過，我覺得這只小狗的故事不是真的，因?yàn)槲乙娺^的小狗從來不會(huì)以為圖畫中的狗是真的狗，它們只有在照鏡子時(shí)才會(huì)以為鏡子里有另一條真的狗。

牟利羅很擅長(zhǎng)畫幼兒和圣母馬利亞，他筆下的圣母都有著烏黑的頭發(fā)和明亮的雙眸。上面這幅圖小朋友看了都會(huì)喜歡的。圖上畫的是小耶穌和小圣約翰用貝殼取水喝的樣子。畫中的一邊還有一只羊羔，這只羊羔急切地看著他們，好像很想喝一口水似的。

牟利羅成名后靠賣畫賺了很多錢，他非?？犊绣X后經(jīng)常資助窮人。因?yàn)樗约涸?jīng)就很窮，所以他知道那些窮人是多么需要幫助。

牟利羅晚年時(shí)，有一天爬到一個(gè)腳手架上去畫一幅巨大的畫作的上半部分，結(jié)果失足摔了下來。牟利羅摔得太厲害了，之后再?zèng)]好起來，而那幅畫也就一直沒有畫完。

但是塞維利亞的人從來都沒有忘記過這位畫家，直到今天，塞維利亞的人仍然把漂亮的繪畫叫作“牟利羅”。

Word Study

moustache /'m?st??/ n. 上唇的胡子;髭

noble /'n??bl/ n. 出身高貴的人;貴族成員

solemn /'s?l?m/ adj. 莊嚴(yán)的;隆重的

parade /p?'re?d/ n. 游行

decorate /'dek?re?t/ v. 裝飾

They decorated the room with flowers and balloons.

lifelike /'la?fla?k/ adj. 逼真的;生動(dòng)的;栩栩如生的

growl /ɡra?l/ v. 低聲吼叫

peck /pek/ v. 啄; 啄食

stumble /'st?mbl/ v. 絆腳