Okay, passing forward to the TENIERS and NO TEMPTATION parts of the decoded statement, we move to two works by David Teniers the Younger. Teniers
lived at the same time as Poussin and was in very high circles. One of the more curious aspects of what we're about to discuss here is that once
again we will be looking at two paintings that seem to be of the same location (or theme possibly), but with undeniable changes. The first being
painted in the 1630's (as Poussin's Et in Arcadia Ego was) and the second painted after 1640 (as Poussin's Les Bergers d'Arcadie was). Which kind
of makes the reader think - what happened around 1640???
The decoded message contains "NO TEMPTATION". I believe the "no" is as important as the "temptation" in Teniers' case. Teniers, in the
1630's painted the work entitled
Saints Anthony and Paul in a Landscape.
First let us look at the importance of St. Anthony.
St. Anthony lived ca. 250-350 (he is
reported to have lived to 105 years of age). There are two important facets of St. Anthony's life that should be pointed out relative to the two
paintings by Teniers.
1. St. Anthony founded monasticism. He was basically the first monk. The cloistered life he led is very important when we get to the second
painting concerning his temptation.
2. St. Anthony traveled to Alexandria - the center of teachings that seemed to always be butting heads with that of Constantine's church - two times
in his life. The second time, which was near the end of his life, was to preach against Arianism (not to be confused with Aryanism - this has nothing
to do with purity of race). Arius and MANY OTHER EARLY CHURCH FATHERS believed Christ to NOT be equal to God, but instead a Creation of God
subordinate to His authority - divine in nature, but not equivalent to the Creator. This is very important, because this I PERSONALLY BELIEVE,
points to a FOUNDATIONAL DOCTRINE taught in the Catholic church and in the protestant churches that is FALSE.
Christ himself - in the RED LETTERS of my Bible - recognizes and clearly states his subordinate position to the authority of the Father.
In researching this I've just found out - I'm Arian in my beliefs. Take it for what it is worth, condemn me if you wish, but I try to follow the
words of Christ and he says he is subordinate to the Creator, who am I to argue with it? And who was anybody else who decided to ignore those
words???
This very point - that St. Anthony crawled out of his hole to rail against - could very well be the point the secret surrounds. We could have a
foreshadowing of what it effects in the christian dogma of today.
So the following painting by Teniers is of St. Anthony with his disciple St. Paul (not of the New Testament). At first glance it appears as not much
more than a landscape showing the two saints cloistered away on a cliff. But actually there is much more to this picture - and especially after it is
compared to the later painting by Teniers.
NOTE: Again I point out that these observations are a collaborative effort between nerdling, Mirthful Me and myself. I will try my best to give
credit where credit is due.
The first thing that should be done is to split the painting in half diagonally. As follows:
or as nerdling so succinctly puts it. Split the foreground from the background. Because they truly are two different worlds, as will be detailed
shortly.
In the foreground we have Anthony and Paul discussing their manuscripts. To the immediate right, as nerdling so aptly noticed, we have a grotto - a
church. The church is cast in darkness. Within the church we can see in the shadows a table on which sets a flask sealed with a spherical top.
nerdling also feels he can see the spirit of the crucifixion in the shadows. I will leave that for him to demonstrate on his own. To the far right
is the cross - propped up and beginning to fall over.
Now, let us look at the background, which seems to be intentionally separated from the world in which Anthony and Paul live by a great dark chasm or
river??? (is this the underground stream?). Teniers has used a blatantly different color scheme in this portion of the painting to create a world
that is clothed in color and light compared to the austere darkened world the saints live in. There is a castle that can be seen near the center of
the painting in the distance atop a mountain. nerdling points out that it looks like an owl (wisdom?). Near the middle of this "land" is a naked
figure running along the bank of the stream. nerdling wonders if this could point to Adam or an Adamic nature. It is very unclear.
But the most curious part of this painting is found to the far left of the background. Two men - dressed in
modern-day garb stand atop a
slight knoll overlooking the stream. They appear to be looking at something. A map? A compass? Who knows. But these are extremely anachronistic
figures in two different ways.
1. Anthony and Paul lived in the 300's.
2. Teniers painted this in the 1630's.
Those men are wearing clothes from today. They are sporting haircuts from today. To prove this point I offer a few sketches of the fashions from
Teniers' time:
From 1630:
In 1633 an edict was issued demanding that French men go to plainer clothes. Here are two examples of that "plainer fashion":
But as can be seen in this drawing from 1636 - the French men held to their "frills":
(Above images taken from
www.costumes.org... .)
We will now move to the second Teniers' painting entitled
The Temptation of St. Anthony painted after 1640.
The place in which St. Anthony is depicted is almost identical to that in the first picture. This painting has just a slight shift in perspective (a
few feet to the left from the first one), and therefore centers not on a world separated in the background (in fact he further conceals the
background, most notably the stream and the castle by placing a large tree and building up the mountain), but on the church. The church is now bathed
in light. The table that sat in the shadows of the previously darkened church is now out in the open and St. Anthony actually sits at it. The flask
with the spherical top sits on the table as well as the Arcadian skull. A decapitated ram sits just to the right of St. Anthony. Strange bat-birds
hover over head - one possibly has something (a skull?) A snake slithers across the ground making the sign of Leo (as noticed by nerdling). A broom
is planted in the ground in front of the shed (paganism?) (as noticed by Mirthful Me). The cross is gone and has been replaced with a trough possibly
made from it. From this trough flows the Underground Stream. The temptation of St. Anthony appears to be from the woman (with horns coming out of
her bonnet) pointing toward the stream - the secret knowledge.
And low and behold once again we have two characters that are anachronistic. The two observers? sitting on the ground by the shed. The one in blue
appears to wear boots not reminiscent of 1630's-40's France, but more like military boots of the past century. Even his blue coat appears to be in
line with a modern day parka of sorts. He holds something up to his face (a telescope?, a flute? who knows). But even more bizarre is the figure
sitting to his left. Described has having a monkey's face or a ram's face - or maybe even a gas mask??? But not a human face.
When both paintings are combined (no temptation, and temptation), we find that Teniers tells a story as HE predicts it to unfold. This is our
interpretation of what Teniers is trying to say:
The church which is founded on the cross is in darkness. The secret is hidden in the darkness of the church. But there will be people come from far
in the future who will look for the secret...
when the secret is made public, the cross will be destroyed and the church "enlightened". This enlightenment will come from the Underground Stream.
I left something out. I believe Teniers used St. Anthony, due his founding of monasticism, as a symbol of the negligence that could occur in the
church (i.e. men so buried in a world of study that they ignore what is happening).
[edit on 10-30-2005 by Valhall]
