The Ginevras
Therefore, let there be two Venuses in the soul, the one heavenly, the other earthly.
– Marsilio Ficino
I. “Ginevra de Benci” (da Vinci, 1474)
The earthly Venus in the glint da Vinci put on Ginevra de Benci’s cheek
inspired the motto “VIRTUTUM FORMA DECORAT” (“BEAUTY ADORNS
VIRTUE”) on the back of this portrait. Not bound by the great Chains of Being,
does quantum mechanics explain the lumen naturae any better than this?
The earthly Venus slumbers in the somber colors of Ginevra’s gown and garlands,
in the shadowed landscape and body of water behind Ginevra’s left ear.
The light—through the junipers over her shoulder and wispy juniper leaves (whose
shape mirrors the tendrils of Ginevra’s chestnut hair)—incarnates her.
II. “Ginevra de Benci” (Shane Guffogg, 2011)
So Guffogg opened an art book to da Vinci’s de Benci portrait and had a
coup de foudre. He found a version he could magnify 10,000 times. He gazed
through layers of glaze into the heavenly depths of the burnt-sienna pigments.
He saw electron haloes like stars and found the “heavenly Venus.” He painted
an endless series of Ginevras.//It isn’t a woman he paints, but the shimmer
within ~ all wave, no particle. She’s beribboned with spinning electrons.
The lumens that da Vinci put on her face still power-shine, for he was a rocket
scientist. Da Vinci made an earthly “Ginevra” for the ages; Guffogg fell in
love with her light ~ painting a woman’s essence as heavenly, as immortal.
Notes
Here is a link to an image allowing one to zoom in closely on the Da Vinci portrait: http://www.nga.gov/kids/ginevrazoom/ginevrazoom.htm
Bios:
Coco Owen is a stay-at-home poet in Los Angeles. She has published poems in the Antioch Review, 1913: A Journal of Forms, CutBank, The Journal, Rio Grande Review and The Feminist Wire, among other venues. She was a finalist in several recent book contests, including the May Swenson Poetry Award, and has chapbooks forthcoming from Tammy and dancing girl press. Owen serves on the board of Les Figues Press, and you can read more of her work at www.cocoowenphd.com.
Shane Guffogg received his B.F.A. from Cal Arts and lives in Los Angeles. Guffogg’s work is noted for the use of glazes in the tradition of the old masters, though his subject matter is abstraction. Guffogg founded Pharmaka, a non-profit gallery, in L.A., and was instrumental in starting the downtown Art Walk. His work has appeared in more than 100 shows, and he recently had mid-career retrospectives in Naples, Italy, and St. Petersburg, Russia.