Hi, ATS members!
You know, that I sometimes like to bring you some historical paradoxes. Now again this case))) So!
Here is a 16th century painting by two Flemish artists Cornelis van Dahlem and Jan van Vechelen:
To begin with, we will consider the work without any analysis, let's take a look at it with a simple philistine glance. So, in front of us is a room
in pleasant, soft shades, with which the Dutch worked, everything is traditional here. Artists convey perspective well, it is clear where the
foreground goes into the background, the picture is full of characters and a variety of actions.
The essence of these actions, however, is not very clear to me. The first impression is this: people cut off their heads and plant cabbage instead.
Strange, but even stranger - not bloodthirsty at all. It's amazing how such a plot can be almost pleasing to the eye. It is devoid of realistic
details, there is no blood, torment and pain.
The title of the picture reads like this: "The Legend of the Eklo baker." But how this relates to what is happening is not entirely clear. It's all
about local mythology. The fact is that the Dutch have a legend, quite harmless and popular in the 16th century.
According to her, if a person did not like his appearance, he could change it. To do this, you just need to go to the bakery in the city of Eklo and
ask to bake a new head to replace the old, ugly one.
Of course, then you will have to cut off your head and put it in the oven, make your face again from butter and flour. And so that in the absence of a
head the body does not yearn and hurt, a head of cabbage is temporarily applied in its place.
However, there is a threat in this simple ritual: if the head is badly baked, the person will then have difficulty thinking, and if, on the contrary,
overheats, he will become reckless.
The artists showed all the stages of working on a new face, look at the sequence of actions: the head is detached, folded into a wicker basket, a head
of cabbage takes its place, and then a new head. In the background there is a huge oven in which specimens are baked, bakers in white aprons and
turbans scurry about the room, and through an open door we see a cozy street in the Belgian city of Ecklo.
My question is: How true is the image? How realistic was it in the 16th century? And how does this correspond to modern transgender surgical changes
in the human body?
Thanks.