Friday 19th December - Love's Passing

Today I will be heading up to see my Dad and give his house a bit of a clean before the family gathering on Christmas Eve.  I like to think of that as being a bit like the counting in Cold Comfort Farm, only with more trifle. Anyway, on with the books!

Love's Passing (1883-4) Evelyn De Morgan

According to Wilhelmina Stirling (Evelyn's sister) and her biography of William De Morgan and his Wife (a title that still irks me) Love's Passing shows two lovers seated at twilight, listening to Love piping a tune. The figure of Love is gloriously rosy, putting to shame the rather lacklustre sky and entirely drawing the attention of the man. However, the woman beside him holds up her hand in warning as she has heard another sound, that of the approach of Old Age and Death who are coming to ruin everything from across the river. T'uh, typical, who invited them?

The verse that inspired the work is by Tibullus and is this:

'List we to Love meanwhile in lovers' fashion;

Death nears apace, with darkness round his brows;

Dull Eld is stealing up to shame our passion; 

How shall grey hairs beseem these whispered vows?

Well, first of all, that's rude. If Old Age (or Dull Eld) wants to be judgy over oldies having a flirt, then it can keep it to itself. Who knew Old Age would be so ageist? How ironic. The passage goes on to imagine dying in your lover's arms and their grief at your funeral. Look, I'm not one to tell you what to read, but have you tried something jollier?

The Poor Man Who Saved the City (1901)

EDM uses the device of an open book in other paintings too, such as in The Poor Man Who Saved the City where the book is open to Ecclesiastes. The implication is that this anonymous man, a diplomat who has saved his city, is forgotten by the partying people in the background, who are too busy to consider who has saved them. The implication is that they are too occupied with the people who claim their might and aggression won the day to realise it was the man who used his wisdom and diplomacy who quietly got the job done. Thank goodness that sort of thing doesn't happen today.

The Gilded Cage (1901-2)

Sometimes in the discarding of the book lies the story - this woman longs to be outside with the party animals and the book that represents her comfortable and affluent life is cast upon the floor. Behind her weary-looking, older husband are books with titles about poetry, music, art and death (apparently a book on medicine but not one with an optimistic title) which the young wife wants nothing to do with. She wants to go out dancing and quite frankly, he should let her as I bet it is difficult to do any reading with her scrabbling at the window. It would put you right off.

I think the message in the many books of EDM is that life is beautiful in the moment but wisdom will tell you the truth of the situation. That truth is not going to be jolly - Death and Old Age are not over the river yet, and the girl is worrying about them. All the truths of mankind are in the books in the Gilded Cage, but all she wants to do is go out and dance. The truth of life is that we will grow old and die, that people will not appreciate you no matter what you do and that our joy on the earth is probably fleeting and unpredictable.  Is it better to know, or better to enjoy that fleeting, joyous moment and be unpleasantly surprised by what follows? Do we really want to be right and miserable? Or is it that it is better to be grimly prepared than ignorant, happy and at the mercy of life and others.  The truth is probably somewhere in between, but unfortunately once that book is open and you have had a little read, there is no going back. I'm not sure that is such a bad thing, unfortunately.

See you tomorrow.