My wife asked me, as I was working on yet another artist and another Pagina Artis to display his or her work, why are you spending so many hours on artist and their art which she seemed to think was a little peculiar for me to do. When one was done then I had to do another again and again and again. She wondered to herself, "Will there be an end to this obsession?" I saw a look of bewildered puzzlement on her face as no readily given or articulated response came quickly from my lips. This wise Athena then spoke again to me. Senex Magister, you must tell me what is it that intrigues you so much. To add to her confusion and her probable frustration I said in my usual and normal harmonious tone that my deep voice projects so well that "I had no simple answer to such a 'query'." She stood up and said that there must be more, and I looked into her beautiful green eyes as I said, "of course there is".
When you have a chronic illness and disability as I do, you have time and sometimes too much time to consider and ponder on the nature of the world that for some unknown reason you were placed. Why wasn't it the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, or even the nineteenth century? Are we the victims of circumstance or is there an intelligent design in some 'time space continuum' that we simply are not able to understand? I am sure that your answer is just as valid as any I might have. Yet, I do find myself thinking about my own mortality more often than when I was a picture of youthful vitality such as Adonis (would that such a thing could have ever been a possibility).
This has lately ended up with writing normally a poem of some sort. I will never lay claim to being a literary artifex but you will find them emotional or at least I think you will. Iustitia is a right that should belong to Humanity just as Art should.
Lucifera
She brings light to my world where I too
often see the darkness of hopelessness.
It is a darkness that was born out of a gloom that said
what can you do or say that has value of worth.
I was in a torment of such anguished and tortured thoughts
to believe that my efforts would be mere futility.
I cried within a soul torn between despair and hope
thinking that Iustitia had perished and taken away to Dis.
Is she to wander in her own purgatory senseless from her
failure to restore fairness and equity to the law?
The Lethe with her waters of forgetfulness will not appease
the sacrilege suffered by Iustitia at the hands of man.
The value of Justice must be cherished and loved by all
if we wish it to protect the natural rights of our shared humanity.
Lady Diana comes to wipe away my tears and bear her torch of light
to guide our path as you and I restore health and strength
to the true Lucifera of Iustitia.
~ Senex Magister
I don't think I have adequately answered my wife's question though I have been side tracked a bit. When I look at these paintings, I see real people and real places who simply are not in my reality. We too often look at the past and history as if there is some unreal characteristic to it. It is not that we don't believe they existed or some event such as the 'Signing of the Declaration of Independence' happened. They just don't have the physical reality we experience in our lives every day. I remind myself each time I look at one of these paintings that they were real people and real places in time that is essentially no different or less distinct than the life and people I experience. I do wonder what it would be like to speak with them and discover their hopes and ambitions and truly learn what kind of people they were. Not a simple thing to learn from a painting or a portrait but an exciting idea to imagine.
Senex Magister
We are allowing our Pagina Artis to grow and broaden itself by adding a page that I have decided to call 'Persona Historiae' which is going to focus on history as well as individuals who have had an impact on the progress of 'Man' and the way we look at this dialogue between our past and our present. I have several quotes from George Santayana that I hope you will think about as you consider the significance of 'Historia'.
A man is morally free when, in full possession of his living humanity, he judges the world, and judges other men, with uncompromising sincerity.
~George Santayana
Character is the basis of happiness and happiness the sanction of character.
~George Santayana
Our character...is an omen of our destiny, and the more integrity we have and keep, the simpler and nobler that destiny is likely to be.
~George Santayana, "The German Mind: A Philosophical Diagnosis"
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
~George Santayana, The Life of Reason
Last Updated: March 24, 2014
This is one of my more unique pages and I hope both informative and enlightened in its own special way. Yet, as varied as I hope it is - this page caused me to revisit material I have already done and delve into areas about which I still hope to learn much more.
~ Senex Magister
I am first a Dan Brown Fan and since I have spent a little more than the past thirty years in the Washington Metropolitan Area, so I read his Lost Symbol and it held a special interest for me. If you have ever had the opportunity to stand in the Rotunda of the Capitol, I hope you have looked above to appreciate the The Apotheosis of Washington depicted so beautifully in its Dome.
~ Senex Magister
The Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals
~ Senex Magister