Alphonse Mucha: The Bulgarian Tsar Simeon - The Morning Star of Slavonic Literature (Car Simeon Bulharský: jitřenka slovanské literatury), 1923
Oil and Egg Tempera on Canvas (4,80 m x 4,05 m)
Part 4 (out of 20) of the Slav Epic (the rest will eventually be posted and you can find it in this link) by Alphonse Mucha.
As I’ve alluded to in the commentary about previous painting (The Introduction of Slavonic liturgy) the flourish of Slavonic literature and liturgy was short-lived. After the death of Methodius, his followers were persecuted and a part of them took refuge in the court of Tsar Simeon of Bulgaria. Tsar Simeon, originally a monk and a scholar himself, provided them and thanks to him a great number of important Byzantine literature to Old Church Slavonic. Despite rising to the throne through military ranks, Tsar Simeon loved art and the lands of Bulgaria flourished during his reign. His reign is often called the golden age of Bulgarian literature.
The scene we see on the painting is happening in Preslav, the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire during Simeon’s reign. The people on the painting are translating, transcribing and copying foreign scriptures and memoirs of the elderly, so they will never be forgotten. Tsar Simeon himself is the centre of the painting as he is overlooking their work and receiving foreign envoys who came to ask for books and teachers. He’s surrounded by philosophers, writers and scholars. We can also see his guards in the background that allude to Simeon’s military career.
The most important part of the painting is the literature itself. It symbolizes the future of Slavic nations.
Alright, more Mucha on the click-out
Alphonse Mucha - “Documents Décoratifs” Plate 1, 1899
Pictured alongside Mucha’s black & white photograph of his model sitting for the painting.
I’m not sure who put all these photos together but I am grateful that they did!
Job.
Above: Alphose Mucha - Night
You Are Tired (I Think)
You are tired,
(I think)
Of the always puzzle of living and doing;
And so am I.
Come with me, then,
And we’ll leave it far and far away—
(Only you and I, understand!)
You have played,
(I think)
And broke the toys you were fondest of,
And are a little tired now;
Tired of things that break, and—
Just tired.
So am I.
But I come with a dream in my eyes tonight,
And knock with a rose at the hopeless gate of your heart—
Open to me!
For I will show you the places Nobody knows,
And, if you like,
The perfect places of Sleep.
Ah, come with me!
I’ll blow you that wonderful bubble, the moon,
That floats forever and a day;
I’ll sing you the jacinth song
Of the probable stars;
I will attempt the unstartled steppes of dream,
Until I find the Only Flower,
Which shall keep (I think) your little heart
While the moon comes out of the sea.
e.e. cummings
9:51 PM
I haven’t posted in awhile.
More Mucha, because I sometimes pretend I know what he was like.
5:24 PM
One of Alphonse Mucha’s models.
because I can’t get enough of him.
