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Last week, I was in Bruges. We were standing in front of yet another unbelievably stunning painting by the Flemish artist Hans Memling, in a 12th century hospital built specifically for the poor, when my daughter said: "Oh no. Another picture of Jesus. Did they ever paint anything else?"
上周我去了布魯日，在一家12世紀(jì)專門為窮人建造的醫(yī)院里，我們正欣賞著佛蘭德藝術(shù)家Hans Memling的一副驚世畫作，我女兒突然說，“我了個(gè)去，又是耶穌像，他們還能畫點(diǎn)別的么?！?/div>
"Source": "I had to laugh. Although I knew that most artists of the 15th century were obliged to paint religious scenes and that these were some of the best ever painted, I shared her complaint. For the last hour we'd gone from one brilliant depiction of the infant Jesus to another, without a profane image in sight. The whole town was saturated in a heavy religious culture. The accumulative effect was becoming monotonous - even oppressive.
我只能笑笑。我對此深有同感，雖然我知道，15世紀(jì)的藝術(shù)家們不得不去畫那些宗教場景，即便有些是存世畫作中最好的。最后一小時(shí)，我們看了一幅又一幅小耶穌的精彩畫像，全無半點(diǎn)褻瀆之意。整個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)浸淫在一種濃厚的宗教文化氛圍中，日積月累之后略顯單調(diào)甚至沉悶。
Which got me thinking: if someone who believes in what's being depicted in these paintings is struggling to connect with their spiritual content, perhaps all this rich culture is obscuring rather than enhancing the story that inspired it. Is it possible to find the original spark of faith in it - or has it been snuffed out by the weight of tradition and history. Could I even spot the difference?
我不由得想，如果相信畫中場景的人難以與畫作精神內(nèi)涵取得共鳴，恐怕這豐富的文化不但沒能突出畫中的故事，反而使其面目模糊。能否在其中發(fā)現(xiàn)最初那一星半點(diǎn)的信仰呢？又或者，這種信仰是不是最終被傳統(tǒng)和歷史的厚重感給抹殺了呢？我能看出這兩者的差別來嗎？
