Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Saint of the Month: John Wycliffe


John Wycliffe
The Trial of Wyclif by Ford Maddox Brown, the 360th ranked artist of all time.

AKA: Wyclif, Wycliff, Wiclef, Wicliffe, Wickliffe.  He lived before people were too stressed about orthography.
Feast Day: October 30 in North America; December 31 in other Anglican communities.

Really Existed? Sure.  Dude hung out with John of Gaunt.
Timeframe: from the late 1320s to 1384.
Place: England. 

Credentials: Honored as a saint in the Anglican Churches.
Martyrdom: Posthumous only.

Patron Saint of: I don't think Anglican saints have portfolios of patronage.
Symbolism: I don't think they have symbolism, either.

Today is the feast day of John Wycliffe according to the litergical calendar of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church of the United States. In the Church of England and the Episcopal churches of Australia and Brazil, he's honored on New Year's Eve. In Catholicism, for reasons that will become apparent, he's not venerated at all. But that's OK. The concept of sainthood isn't confined to Catholicism, and the Michael5000 Calendar of the Saints is nothing if not ecumenical.  Mind you, an Anglican wouldn't generally pray to a saint and ask them to advocate on their behalf to God, unless they were at the tippy-top of the very most lofty pinnacle of the High Church.  For your average Anglican, a saint is simply a person worthy of respect and contemplation because of their good deeds or character.

If you have a good grounding in British history or traditional Western Civ, the name of John Wycliffe will be at least a little familiar. Within the English-speaking world, he was probably the most important of the religious dissidents of the Middle Ages. As a priest, theologian, and professor of religion at Oxford, he was openly critical of the wealth, worldliness, and ostentation of the clergy. I've read that he was an early forerunner of Protestantism, and I've also read that the ideas of 14th century guys like Wycliffe had nothing to do with Protestantism, and it's a big anachronistic mistake to confuse the two. So yeah, basically he was an early forerunner of Protestantism.

Famously, he oversaw a translation of the Bible into English, and this sounds like a big deal -- the sacred text of Christianity, now available to the common folk! Except, when you think about it, almost none of the common folk could read. Those that could, could usually read in Latin as well as they could in English.  (Nor was this, contrary to what I imagined, the first translation of the Bible into English; turns out there were several already around.)  I suspect that what Wycliffe and his team wanted to do was have Bibles handy that could be read out loud to the common folks who didn't understand Latin.  If I'm right, it almost more of a CD than it was a book, although I may be losing control of my metaphor a bit at this point.

In addition to his belief that the Bible should be available in local languages, Wycliffe believed in predestination and the separation of church and state. This, and his belief that the church should be divested of all its property so that the clergy could be spiritually enriched by poverty, did not universally endear him to the ecclesiastical hierarchy. He likely survived mostly because he was under the protection of some powerful secular leaders, including John of Gaunt, one of the best-connected power brokers in history and the guy who pretty much ran England in the late fourteenth century. Wycliffe's notion that the Church should hand over all of its property to the state -- you can see where this line of thinking would have some appeal to Gaunt.

After he turned fifty, Wycliffe seemed to stop caring much what folks thought of him (it happens!) and began going beyond criticism of clerical excesses. He came out against popular lay practices like the use of holy images and the veneration of saints, and then began to attack even closer-to-the-bone aspects of religious practice like the notion of transubstantiation, the need for the sacraments, and the existence of the Papacy. This was radical stuff indeed.  Although some folks found it thrilling -- enthusiastic followers of the radical Lollard movement that it inspired would be persecuted and executed horribly for generations to come -- the high-placed supporters that had protected Wycliffe began to find him a little too hot to handle.

Remarkably, however, Wycliffe managed to keep out of harm's way for long enough that he could drop dead of a stroke at the end of 1384. Eventually, his books would be burned; indeed, eventually he himself would be posthumously excommunicated, declared a heretic, dug up, and ceremonially put to the flames. The way I see it, though, if you're going to be burned as a heretic, having it happen a few decades after you die takes a lot of the sting out of the experience.

But where are my manners? John Wycliffe was opposed to the veneration of saints, and here I am going on about him in the context of his sainthood. We'll respect the man's sensibility by keeping it brief, and I'll wish you a happy day of his feast. If you like, you can do like John and meditate on the virtues of dissent and reform.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

The Ladder of Art -- Week #45


Cast your votes for up to four of these seven artists by Friday November 2.  For clarifications, consult the Ladder of Art FAQ.




Last Week's Results

1. Canaletto: 6
1. Holbein: 6
3. Judd: 3
3. Lam: 3
3. Poliakoff: 3
6. Marini: 2
7. Jones: 0



This Week's Contest



Domenico Beccafumi
c.1486 - 1551
Italian

Tournament Record: Placed 391st. Tied with André Beauneveu, lost to Bouguereau and Jasper Johns. 13 votes for, 23 against (.361).






Benvenuto Cellini
1500 - 1571
Florentine

Tournament Record: Placed 390th. Beaten by Cézanne and Philippe de Champaigne. 8 votes for, 14 against (.364).





Serge Poliakoff
1906 - 1969
Russian; worked in France

Tournament Record: Tied for 399th. Lost to Sigmar Polke and Antonio del Pollaiolo. 7 votes for, 13 votes against (.350).
  • Tied for Fourth in Week #42.
  • Tied for Third in Week #43. 
  • Tied for Third in Week #44.





Wifredo Lam
1902 - 1982
Cuban; worked in France

Tournament Record: Tied for 401st. Lost to Frantisek Kupka and Thomas Cole. 8 votes for, 15 votes against (.348).
  • Placed Third in Week #41. 
  • Tied for First in Week #42. 
  • Tied for Third in Week #44.





Donald Judd
1928 - 1994
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 405th. Lost to Frida Kahlo, beat Allen Jones, and lost to Gwen John. 13 votes for, 25 votes against (.342).
  • Tied for Second, Week #40. 
  • Placed Fourth, Week #41. 
  • Tied for Fourth, Week #42.
  • Tied for Third, Week #43. 
  • Tied for Third, Week #44.







William Merritt Chase
1849 - 1916
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 439th. Beaten by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and Christo. 6 votes for, 14 votes against (.300).
  • Placed Second, Week #26.
  • Tied for First, Week #27.
  • Placed First, Week #29.
  • Placed First, Week #31.
  • Tied for Second, Week #33. 
  • Tied for Second again, Week #34. 
  • Tied for First, Week #35. 
  • Placed First in Week #37. 
  • Placed First in Week #39. 
  • Placed First in Week #41. 
  • Tied for First in Week #43.





Charles-François Daubigny
1817 - 1878
French

Tournament Record: Placed 505th.  Lost to Salvador Dali and Aelbert Cuyp. 4 votes for, 26 votes against (.133).
  • Finished First in all of the even-numbered Ladder Weeks #2 - #20.
  • Tied for First, Week #22. 
  • Placed Third in Week #24. 
  • Tied for First, Week #25.
  • Tied for First, Week #27. 
  • Tied for Second, Weeks #29 - #32. 
  • Tied for Second, Week #33.
  • Tied for Second again in Week #34. 
  • Tied for First, Week #35.
  • Tied for Second, Weeks #37 - #40. 
  • Placed Second, Week #41. 
  • Placed Third in Week #42. 
  • Tied for First, Week #43.






Cast up to four votes in the comments by Friday morning!

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The Songs of the Fifty States: South Dakota


Harvey Dunn, Dakota Woman.

South Dakota!

Size: 196,350 km2 (17th)

2018 Population: 882,235 (46th)

Population Density (new!): 4.42/km2 (46th)

Statehood: 1889 (39th or 40th).

American Human Development Index: 5.09 (27th)

Art Mecca:

Well, there's no reason to be coy about it, you know as well as I do that there's no city in South Dakota that attracts art fans in the way that a Paris or Florence or St. Petersburg does. What South Dakota has is Brookings, home of the University of South Dakota, home of the South Dakota Museum of Art.  Brookings is dead center north-to-south, and about fifteen miles from the eastern border.  I checked.

The SDMA collection focuses on South Dakota artists, Native American art, and, if I'm reading this right, linens.  I'm sure it's great!  I'd probably visit if I were spending the weekend in Brookings, if I weren't distracted by other attractions in the "Brookings Great Eight" such as the Children's Museum of South Dakota, the Brookings County Outdoor Center, the SDSU Dairy Bar, or Nick's Hamburger Shop.  In fact, it would definitely be my second pick of the Brookings Great Eight!



Michael 5000's South Dakota

First Visited: September 5th, 1993 (16th)
Most Recently Visited: October 22, 2018 (17th)

First Run In: 10/21/18 (25th).
Best Run: 4.46 miles, Big Stone City (by night), 10/21/18.

Raced In: No.

Have Admired the Visual Arts In: No.
Have Slept Overnight In: Yes.

Counties Visited: 25/66 (20th)
% Complete: 37.9% (32nd)



Mrs. 5000's Counties Visited: 13/66 (tied for 32nd)
% Complete: 19.7% (41st)
Mrs.5000 First Visited: July 2, 1973 (order unclear)
Mrs.5000 Most Recently Visited: October 22, 2018 (8th)



Atlas of All Roads Traveled




Plans and Aspirations

I like the Dakotas pretty well.  I don't have any immediate plans to visit, but they are certainly fetchingly along the route of any really epic road trip to, say, Minneapolis, Chicago, or the Canadian cities.

--

Friday, October 18, 2019

The Ladder of Art -- Week #44


Cast your votes for up to four of these seven artists by Friday October 25.  For clarifications, consult the Ladder of Art FAQ.




Last Week's Results

1. Daugbigny: 9
1. Chase: 9
3. Judd: 4
3. Poliakoff: 4
5. Koons: 2
6. Hamilton: 1
7. Soulages: 0



This Week's Contest



Marino Marini
1901 - 1980
Italian

Tournament Record: Tied for 392nd. Lost to John Martin and Masaccio. 9 votes for, 16 votes against (.360).





Allen Jones
b. 1937
British

Tournament Record: Tied for 392nd. Lost to Jacob Jordaens and Donald Judd. 9 votes for, 16 votes against (.360).





Hans Holbein
1497ish - 1543
German; worked in Britain

Tournament Record: Tied for 392nd. He, Hans, lost to Winslow Homer and Gerrit van Honthorst. 9 votes for, 16 votes against (.360).





Serge Poliakoff
1906 - 1969
Russian; worked in France

Tournament Record: Tied for 399th. Lost to Sigmar Polke and Antonio del Pollaiolo. 7 votes for, 13 votes against (.350).
  • Tied for Fourth in Week #42.
  • Tied for Third in Week #43.





Wilfredo Lam
1902 - 1982
Cuban; worked in France

Tournament Record: Tied for 401st. Lost to Frantisek Kupka and Thomas Cole. 8 votes for, 15 votes against (.348).
  • Placed Third in Week #41. 
  • Tied for First in Week #42.





Donald Judd
1928 - 1994
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 405th. Lost to Frida Kahlo, beat Allen Jones, and lost to Gwen John. 13 votes for, 25 votes against (.342).
  • Tied for Second, Week #40. 
  • Placed Fourth, Week #41. 
  • Tied for Fourth, Week #42.
  • Tied for Third, Week #43.






Canaletto
1697 - 1768
Italian (Venetian); also worked in England

Tournament Record: Placed 448th. Beat Robert Campin, then lost to Caravaggio and Alexander Calder. 7 votes for, 17 votes against (.292).
  • Placed First in Week #24. 
  • Placed First again in Week #26. 
  • Placed First again in Week #28. 
  • And again in Week #30. 
  • And again in Week #32. 
  • And again in Week #34.
  • And again in Week #36. 
  • And again in Week #38. 
  • And again in Week #40. 
  • Tied for First in Week #42.





Cast up to four votes in the comments by Friday morning!

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Element of the Month: Selenium!

October's Element of the Month:

Selenium!
Se
34

Atomic Mass: 78.971 amu
Melting Point: 221 °C
Boiling Point: 685 °C

You may remember that a few Elements back, when we were chatting about Tin, the idea of "allotropes" came up. We talk about allotropes when an element can take more than one form without changing state -- if it has two different forms it can take that are both solids, for example. Tin, for instance, can be a bright, shiny, useful, malleable metal, or -- if you get it too cold, for instance -- can be a dull, grey, hateful, useless powder.

Selenium, October 2019's Element of the Month, is all about the allotropes. If you isolate it through a chemical reaction and just dry it out or whatever, you get kind of a red powder. It's not a silvery-grey metal! But then, Selenium is not a metal. It is, in fact, what chemists call a "non-metal." It's like Sulfur, for instance. Indeed, Selenium is right under Sulfur in the periodic table, and they hang out together a lot in the mineralogical sense, so it's not surprising that it forms a similar sort of powder, except that it's a sober brick-red instead of Sulfur's irrepressibly cheerful yellow.

But let's say you melt elemental Selenium quickly. Whoa! It morphs into "beads," which are these little semigloss black pellets shaped like oversized red blood cells. Or, if you put it into a solution and evaporate out the solution, you can get one of three kinds of bright red crystals. If you heat it up slowly, it might morph into a dull grey allotrope.


The Centerfold!


Selenium was discovered by Jöns Jakob Berzelius, last seen in these pages discovering Thorium, and Johan Gottlieb Gahn, who was last seen letting his friends Torbern Bergman and Carl Wilhelm Scheele get all the credit for his discovery of Manganese. Gahn was a young fellow of 29 when he came up with Manganese, but by the time he and Berzelius found a reddish impurity in their sulfuric acid factory he was 72 years old. You might think a man of his years would be thinking in terms of a legacy in the annals of chemistry, but no -- once again he punted on the publishing and let Berzelius handle the write-up. He just didn't like publishing.  That's why Berzelius, like Bergman and especially Scheele, remains a well known figure in the history of science today.  All Johan Gottlieb Gahn ever did is foster the industrial revolution in Sweden and make massive bank.

Updated Score:
Carl Wilhelm Scheele - 26.9K Wiki Article
Jöns Jacob Berzelius - 21.1K Wiki Article
Torbern Bergman - 7.5K Wiki Article
Johan Gottlieb Gahn - 3.5K Wiki Article

The grey allotrope of Selenium is a semiconductor, meaning it has a moderate conductivity to electricity that can be controlled in various useful ways. It is also photoconductive, which means it becomes more conductive to electricity in brighter light. Which frankly sounds crazy, but apparently it's true. In fact, it's not even unique, which is why Selenium isn't in nearly as much demand in today's electronics industry as it used to be. Other semiconductors and photoconductors are cheaper and more efficient. That leaves Selenium with various niche applications, but you know what we do with half of the volume we produce of it? We put it in commercial glass, which stains it just a little bit red. That sounds like a terrible idea, except for that there are iron impurities in glass-making silicon that tend to make it just a little bit blue-green. Getting the red in there evens out the tone to what we read as a nice, neutral clear.

You need a little bit of Selenium for your enzymes and what-not to function properly, but you are getting enough. Don't go out of your way to get more, or you'll give yourself selenosis, which would be a real drag.


Selenium, an art print by Spanish illustrator Alvaro Cubero, who
sells his work here.




Saturday, October 12, 2019

The Ladder of Art -- Week #43


Cast your votes for up to four of these seven artists by Friday October 18.  For clarifications, consult the Ladder of Art FAQ.





Last Week's Results

1. Canaletto: 6
1. Lam: 6
3. Daubigny: 5
4. Judd:
4
4. Poliakoff: 4
6. Gentile da Fabriano: 3
7. Sickert: 1



This Week's Contest



Jeff Koons
born 1955
American

Tournament Record: Placed 395th. Beat Willem de Kooning before losing to Krøyer and Raoul Hausmann. 13 votes for, 25 votes against (.342).






Pierre Soulages
Born 1919
French

Tournament Record: Placed 396th. Lost to Sodoma; beat Snyders, then lost to Spilliaert. 11 votes for, 20 votes against (.355).






Richard Hamilton
1922 - 2011
British

Tournament Record: Placed 397th. Lost to Wilhelm Hammershoi, beat Philip Guston, lost to Barbara Hepworth. 12 votes for, 22 votes against (.353).





Serge Poliakoff
1906 - 1969
Russian; worked in France

Tournament Record: Tied for 399th. Lost to Sigmar Polke and Antonio del Pollaiolo. 7 votes for, 13 votes against (.350).
  • Tied for Fourth in Week #42.





Donald Judd
1928 - 1994
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 405th. Lost to Frida Kahlo, beat Allen Jones, and lost to Gwen John. 13 votes for, 25 votes against (.342).
  • Tied for Second, Week #40. 
  • Placed Fourth, Week #41. 
  • Tied for Fourth, Week #42.





William Merritt Chase
1849 - 1916
American

Tournament Record: Tied for 439th. Beaten by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and Christo. 6 votes for, 14 votes against (.300).
  • Placed Second, Week #26.
  • Tied for First, Week #27.
  • Placed First, Week #29.
  • Placed First, Week #31.
  • Tied for Second, Week #33. 
  • Tied for Second again, Week #34. 
  • Tied for First, Week #35. 
  • Placed First in Week #37. 
  • Placed First in Week #39. 
  • Placed First in Week #41.





Charles-François Daubigny
1817 - 1878
French

Tournament Record: Placed 505th.  Lost to Salvador Dali and Aelbert Cuyp. 4 votes for, 26 votes against (.133).
  • Finished First in all of the even-numbered Ladder Weeks #2 - #20.
  • Tied for First, Week #22. 
  • Placed Third in Week #24. 
  • Tied for First, Week #25.
  • Tied for First, Week #27. 
  • Tied for Second, Weeks #29 - #32. 
  • Tied for Second, Week #33.
  • Tied for Second again in Week #34. 
  • Tied for First, Week #35.
  • Tied for Second, Weeks #37 - #40. 
  • Placed Second, Week #41. 
  • Placed Third in Week #42.





Cast up to four votes in the comments by Friday morning!