Episode 9 : le Marchand Georg Gisze par Hans Holbein
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0:03 - 0:04Art...
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0:04 - 0:06ArtSleuth
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0:08 - 0:11A superb Turkish carpet
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0:12 - 0:14Money
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0:14 - 0:17Finely worked gold
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0:18 - 0:20A picture by Hans Holbein
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0:20 - 0:24A young man of the Renaissance?
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0:24 - 0:26Indeed!
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0:26 - 0:30- and he seems to be putting his cards on the table.
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0:30 - 0:31Even his name, Georg Gisze,
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0:31 - 0:34appears several times in the picture
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0:34 - 0:37Below his personal motto:
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0:37 - 0:40“No joy without sorrow”
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0:40 - 0:44on this piece of paper stuck to the wall
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0:44 - 0:49and again on this letter
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0:50 - 0:54And yet, what a contrast between this show of wealth
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0:54 - 0:57and his disconcerted or appraising look,
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0:57 - 1:02which almost suggests we are invading his privacy.
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1:02 - 1:08And what a contrast between these precious, richly worked objects
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1:08 - 1:11and the rough wall of the cramped wooden box
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1:11 - 1:14in which he seems confined!
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1:14 - 1:18What is Holbein telling us about him
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1:18 - 1:21with all these knick-knacks ...
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1:21 - 1:24… and what is he hiding from us?
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1:24 - 1:27Episode 9 : Holbein - *Le Marchand Georg Gisze*
*Le Monde mis en boîte* -
1:28 - 1:31Part 1. New Era, new Merchants
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1:32 - 1:36The thing that strikes us at once is the emphasis on correspondence:
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1:36 - 1:38Not only is Gisze shown
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1:38 - 1:41…in the act of opening a letter…
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1:41 - 1:44… but most of the objects have the same connotations:
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1:44 - 1:46The letters pinned on the wall,
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1:46 - 1:52The dispenser with string to fasten them securely
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1:52 - 1:57or the strips of parchment with their ready-for-use seals.
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1:57 - 2:00Holbein wants us to notice them,
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2:00 - 2:03and even distorts Gisze’s arm
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2:03 - 2:05to let us see them clearly.
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2:06 - 2:10Moreover, these letters are perfectly legible.
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2:10 - 2:16...that Gisze is a London-based merchant,
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2:16 - 2:19in constant touch with his family
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2:19 - 2:23and other merchants in northern Europe.
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2:24 - 2:27But although the picture identifies him as a merchant,
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2:27 - 2:29we have no way of knowing what he deals in!
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2:29 - 2:32Indeed, these massive keys are the only sign that he has - somewhere - …
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2:32 - 2:36…goods locked away in a warehouse.
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2:36 - 2:42The one thing Gisze really lets us see is his collection of official seals
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2:42 - 2:44the motif is reversed,
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2:44 - 2:49and will only show correctly when impressed on wax
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2:49 - 2:54and another, larger one is attached to a precious ball of amber.
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2:56 - 2:59The letters from other merchants
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2:59 - 3:02are signed with strange pictograms,
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3:02 - 3:05… and the seals themselves are everywhere.
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3:06 - 3:09So why this obsession with signatures?
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3:09 - 3:12The fact is, Gisze is one of a new breed of merchants.
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3:13 - 3:16Instead of hauling his wares from one European fair to the next,
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3:16 - 3:20He has an office in London,
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3:20 - 3:22at the Steelyard, where the German merchants congregate,
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3:22 - 3:25and where he represents his family,
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3:25 - 3:30one of the most powerful in Danzig…
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3:30 - 3:33a town belonging to the Hanseatic League, an association of merchant cities,
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3:33 - 3:37which dominates European trade.
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3:37 - 3:39Success for these great international merchants is a matter of being in the right place
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3:39 - 3:45to know, for example:
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3:45 - 3:47that the Baltic towns have a surplus of cheap fish ...
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3:47 - 3:51… which England needs to feed the countless workers
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3:51 - 3:54... who make the cloth
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3:55 - 3:58she must sell on the continent.
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3:58 - 4:02Gisze succeeds…
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4:02 - 4:05…because he knows about supply and demand …
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4:07 - 4:10… and how to put sellers and buyers under contract.
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4:10 - 4:13But these seals are also based on the runic alphabet,
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4:14 - 4:17and have talismanic value,
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4:18 - 4:20since a vital part of coming out on top in business is coming out on top when Fortune spins her wheel:
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4:20 - 4:22after all, the ship he loads with goods
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4:22 - 4:25may return from her voyage with huge profits …
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4:25 - 4:28but may also go down - and drag him with it!
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4:28 - 4:31This new way of doing business certainly offers him comfortable margins …
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4:33 - 4:35… but he must take risks to secure them.
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4:35 - 4:38Which is why he implicitly boasts on his walls
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4:38 - 4:42of having information which other men do not.
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4:42 - 4:46Is that why he gives us that cautious look?
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4:49 - 4:51Part 2. Time takes all
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4:51 - 4:54But who is he really looking at?
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4:54 - 4:57The picture gives us some clues:
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4:57 - 4:59the clearly visible message at the top, for instance, …
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4:59 - 5:03is aimed at us, the viewers …
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5:03 - 5:07… and tells us that this is indeed what Georg Gisze looked like, that these were his eyes and his cheeks
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5:07 - 5:10at the age of 34
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5:11 - 5:13-no longer so young for a bachelor,
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5:13 - 5:18the regulation status for members of the Steelyard.
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5:19 - 5:23And, as this pocket clock reminds us, time is passing:
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5:25 - 5:29The flowers beside it are not simply there to pretty up the picture.
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5:29 - 5:33Each has a definite meaning:
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5:33 - 5:39hyssop protects against the plague, and tells us that Gisze takes care of his health,
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5:39 - 5:43the carnation symbolises betrothal,
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5:43 - 5:45and the rosemary stands for fidelity.
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5:46 - 5:49So is the portrait a gift for his future wife?
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5:49 - 5:54Three years later, Gizse goes home and marries in Danzig:
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5:54 - 5:57quite possibly, he was already engaged when the portrait was painted.
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5:58 - 6:00X-ray examination has also shown
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6:00 - 6:02that Holbein repainted certain parts of the picture.
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6:02 - 6:03Originally:
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6:03 - 6:07the wall on the right, with all its paraphernalia, was not there,
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6:07 - 6:09and Gisze was looking to the right,
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6:09 - 6:12the side on which - since the earliest pictures of Adam and Eve
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6:12 - 6:15- wives had invariably been placed.
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6:16 - 6:21And so there are many reasons to believe that his portrait was meant to be one of a pair,
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6:21 - 6:23with his wife’s portrait in the traditional position on the right.
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6:24 - 6:27And yet Holbein retouched the canvas
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6:27 - 6:33and confined Gisze within a cramped and cluttered space.
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6:33 - 6:35And the fact that his eight other portraits of Steelyard merchants are rather different:
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6:35 - 6:40makes this even stranger
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6:40 - 6:43There are far fewer objects in this portrait of Dirk Tybis,
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6:43 - 6:46who seems bent on keeping himself to himself.
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6:47 - 6:52Wrapped in his voluminous coat, Herman Wedigh regards us calmly.
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6:53 - 6:59He is obviously sure of his own worth, and needs no props to prove it.
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6:59 - 7:04And Derich Born displays all the pride and arrogance of youth,
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7:04 - 7:07as he looks us straight in the eye, leaning on a balustrade
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7:07 - 7:10in a pose worthy of an Italian prince…
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7:11 - 7:15No other picture in the series is as big or as crowded as the Gisze - in short, as blatantly out to impress!
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7:15 - 7:18Why is Holbein so keen to dazzle us?
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7:19 - 7:23Why is Holbein so keen to dazzle us?
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7:25 - 7:25Part 3. You can’t take it with you!
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7:29 - 7:32Gisze’s portrait was the first in the series, and it has been suggested
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7:32 - 7:36that Holbein was playing the salesman
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7:36 - 7:38- and putting all his wares in the window!
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7:38 - 7:40But this isn’t the whole story.
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7:41 - 7:44Henry VIII has turned against Sir Thomas More, his patron -
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7:44 - 7:49forcing Holbein to quit the court and look to the rising middle class for new clients.
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7:49 - 7:52Portraits of men engaged in their profession were a relatively new thing.
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7:54 - 7:56Previously, portraits distinguishing a class were easy
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7:56 - 8:01noblemen never work, and a fine pair of gloves will label them instantly,
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8:01 - 8:06books for scholars,
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8:06 - 8:09and instruments for scientists.
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8:10 - 8:14Now these new-style merchants, with their new-made wealth,
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8:14 - 8:20also want the world to see the tools of their trade...
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8:20 - 8:25and be left in no doubt that they’ve made it.
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8:25 - 8:30But this display of wealth still raises one problem,
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8:30 - 8:34since some people may see Holbein’s Gisze as an example
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8:34 - 8:35- best avoided!
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8:36 - 8:39In fact, the Baltic merchants have a stern religious code
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8:39 - 8:41- and showing off like this may offend them.
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8:42 - 8:47Even religious artworks are being destroyed in some places by Protestants who think them too opulent
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8:47 - 8:49- and as such blasphemous
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8:50 - 8:53Which is why the Steelyard merchants want Holbein
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8:53 - 8:55to paint them a large fresco for their hall, whose subject, “The Triumph of Poverty”
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8:55 - 8:59almost implies that they are asking God’s pardon
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8:59 - 9:01…
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9:01 - 9:04for having their own portraits painted.
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9:05 - 9:08Both merchants and bankers also have a taste for pictures
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9:08 - 9:10…
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9:10 - 9:12which satirise their callings:
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9:12 - 9:15Holbein insists that, love money as we may,
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9:15 - 9:17death will still take it in the end!
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9:19 - 9:21This picture, too, uses caricature to convey the same message:
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9:21 - 9:23money-grubbing avarice
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9:23 - 9:28has permanently deformed the faces of these two grotesque bankers.
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9:30 - 9:32And the wife in this portrait
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9:32 - 9:35seems more interested in making sure that her banker husband gets his sums right
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9:35 - 9:39than in reading her prayerbook,
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9:40 - 9:42even though the man discreetly reflected in the mirror
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9:42 - 9:44is pointing to a steeple outside the window,
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9:44 - 9:47reminding her that eternal salvation is what matters
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9:47 - 9:51- and not this pair of scales, which is used to weigh gold.
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9:53 - 9:55A similar pair of scales turns up in Gisze’s portrait.
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9:55 - 9:58Is this a reference to the scales…
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9:58 - 10:03…on which souls are weighed at the last judgment?
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10:04 - 10:08If it is, Gisze’s soul may already have been weighed,
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10:08 - 10:13since one pan hangs far below the other!
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10:13 - 10:17We can decide for ourselves what this means for him
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10:17 - 10:19…
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10:19 - 10:21- but should always remember
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10:21 - 10:24that “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
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10:24 - 10:26than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven”.
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10:28 - 10:33ArtSleuth next episode : Bruegel – A Merchant looking down on peasants?
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10:33 - 10:40Find more about the series on: www.artsleuth.net
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10:40 - 10:43Written & directed by
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10:43 - 10:45Produced by
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10:45 - 10:47Scientific expert
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10:47 - 10:49Special thanks to
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10:49 - 10:51Voice / English adaptation
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10:51 - 10:54Editing & Visual effects by
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10:54 - 10:56Post-production / Sound
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10:56 - 10:58Music Supervisor
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10:58 - 11:00Music
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11:00 - 11:02Special Thanks – English subtitles : Vincent Nash
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11:02 - 11:02A CED Production
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Not SyncedPortraits of men engaged in their profession were a relatively new thing.
forcing Holbein to quit the court and look to the rising middle class for new clients. -
Not SyncedThey show us...
- Title:
- Episode 9 : le Marchand Georg Gisze par Hans Holbein
- Description:
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"Pourquoi ce marchand qui étale aussi ostensiblement sa richesse semble-t-il nous regarder de façon aussi suspicieuse ?
Plus d'infos sur la série et le projet sur http://www.canal-educatif.fr" - Video Language:
- French
Canal Educatif à la Demande edited English subtitles for Episode 9 : le Marchand Georg Gisze par Hans Holbein | ||
Canal Educatif à la Demande edited English subtitles for Episode 9 : le Marchand Georg Gisze par Hans Holbein | ||
Canal Educatif à la Demande edited English subtitles for Episode 9 : le Marchand Georg Gisze par Hans Holbein | ||
Canal Educatif à la Demande edited English subtitles for Episode 9 : le Marchand Georg Gisze par Hans Holbein | ||
Canal Educatif à la Demande edited English subtitles for Episode 9 : le Marchand Georg Gisze par Hans Holbein | ||
Canal Educatif à la Demande edited English subtitles for Episode 9 : le Marchand Georg Gisze par Hans Holbein | ||
Canal Educatif à la Demande edited English subtitles for Episode 9 : le Marchand Georg Gisze par Hans Holbein | ||
Canal Educatif à la Demande added a translation |