ByV. M. Hillyer

——V. M. 希利爾（仲秋譯）

V. M.希利爾（1875—1931），美國著名兒童教育家、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。

Probably you have never seen a great painting. Few people have， unless they have been abroad or have visited some of the largest art galleries. All they have seen are small pictures of such paintings. That is about the same as seeing a picture postcard of Niagara Falls instead of seeing the Falls themselves. We know what the Falls look like， so we know what some of the great pictures look like， but thats not the same as seeing the real thing. So you have to use your imagination to understand what a great picture in color is like， when all you can see is a small black and white copy of it.

你可能從沒有見過名畫的實(shí)物。其實(shí)很少有人見過，除非他們出過國，或者去過大型的藝術(shù)展覽館。大多數(shù)人見到的都只是名畫的小圖片。這有點(diǎn)像我們看尼亞加拉大瀑布的明信片也可以大概了解到尼亞加拉大瀑布的模樣一樣，盡管我們沒有真正去過那兒。所以我們通過名畫的圖片也可以基本了解那些名畫是什么樣子的。但是，看圖片和你親眼去看實(shí)物的感覺還是不一樣的。所以，如果你只能看到一張很小的、黑白色的圖片，你必須發(fā)揮你的想象力去理解這幅名畫原本有色彩的樣子。

There lived a man who is called the father of Greek painting. His name is Polygnotus. About two thousand years later， there lived a man who is called the father of Italian painting. His name is Cimabue. Cimabue lived in Florence， which means the City of Flowers. It is in the central part of Italy. There are very few of his paintings in existence， and we are not sure that certain pictures are really his. And you may not see from the paintings we have why he was supposed to be such a great painter.

有一位偉大的繪畫大師，名叫波利格諾托斯，他被人們稱為“古希臘繪畫之父”。在波利格諾托斯之后大約兩千年的樣子，又有一位偉大的繪畫大師出現(xiàn)了，他叫契馬部埃，被人們稱為“意大利繪畫之父”。契馬部埃住在位于意大利中部的佛羅倫薩。“佛羅倫薩”直接翻譯過來是“花城” 的意思。契馬部埃的繪畫作品保存下來的很少，就算是他那些為數(shù)不多的、被保存下來的畫作，我們也不能確定就是他畫的。從那些保留下來的畫作中，你可能看不出他為什么被稱為偉大的畫家。

If Cimabue were painting now， probably he would not be considered great， but in his time he was thought very great， because he was so much better than any other painter had been for a thousand years before him.

如果契馬部埃生活在今天，他可能不會被稱為偉大的畫家。不過，在契馬部埃生活的那個時代，他被認(rèn)為是十分優(yōu)秀的畫家，因?yàn)樗睦L畫作品比在他一千多年前的其他畫家的作品都要好。

When he had finished painting a large picture of the Virgin Mary， it is said the people of Florence thought it so beautiful that they formed a procession and， with trumpets sounding and banners flying， carried the picture through the streets from his house to the church where it was placed.

契馬部埃畫過一幅圣母瑪利亞的畫像，據(jù)說畫作完成以后人們覺得畫得太棒了，于是就為他舉行了一次慶?；顒印Ｈ藗兇抵?，揮舞旗幟，把圣母瑪利亞的畫像從契馬部埃的家里一直抬到教堂，并把畫像存放在那里。

Another picture that Cimabue painted is of a Saint Francis monk. I must warn you not to expect a pretty picture. Very likely you will exclaim， “What an ugly old man！” The circle round Saint Franciss head is called a halo. A halo was painted round the heads of saints to show that they were holy persons. The spots on this saints hands are not an accident. It is said that Saint Francis wanted so to be like Christ that an angel came to him and made on his hands and feet nail holes like those that Christ had received on the cross. These nail marks are called stigmata.

契馬部埃的另一幅名畫畫的是一個圣方濟(jì)修士。我得提醒你，不要期待那是一幅很好看的畫像?？吹疆嬒?，你可能會很驚訝：“這修士真是又老又丑！”這個圣方濟(jì)修士頭頂?shù)墓馊凶鳌肮鈺灐?。圣人畫像的頭頂上一般都有一圈光暈，表示他們是神圣的人物。圣方濟(jì)手上的小黑點(diǎn)并不是不小心弄上去的。據(jù)說圣方濟(jì)非常虔誠，他希望自己能夠像耶穌一樣，有一天一個天使來到他身邊實(shí)現(xiàn)了他的愿望，就像耶穌被釘在十字架上時手掌、腳掌都被釘出洞一樣，天使也在圣方濟(jì)的手掌和腳掌上釘上孔。這種像釘孔一樣的標(biāo)記叫作“圣痕”。