Museum

The Casa Palacio de Carmona houses a collection of master prints, oils, fine furniture, frescos and draperies, that although not of elevated market value, do provide a defined significance and some coherence. Here we outline some depth to the narratives presented by these works.

The Vision of Ezekiel (1600)

Ezequiel: as I was among the captives by the River Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God…. Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating … out of the midst of the fire. Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures… Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord….

Adam and Eve in Paradise (1600)

Ezekiel 28:12-19

“‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty… You were in Eden,the garden of God;… You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you… Your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom… So I threw you to the earth;…So I made a fire come out from you and it consumed you…and I reduced you to ashes on the ground…”

Apollo and Daphne(1649)

Antoine Waterloo (Lille 1609 – Utrecht 1690) and
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18)

Metamorphoses Book I. 452-567

Peneian Daphne was Apollo’s first love, which not blind chance, but Cupid’s savage anger, gave. Arrogant with the serpent having been conquered, Apollo … said, … O silly boy? … do not lay claim to my praises!” Venus’ son said to him, “O Apollo, although your bow may pierce all things, my bow [will pierce] you; …and took up position on the shadowy peak of Parnasus, … drew forth two weapons of differing purposes: this one repels, that one creates love; the one which creates [love] is golden and shines with a sharp point, the one which repels [love] is blunt and has lead under the shaft. The god fixed the former in the Penean nymph, but with the latter one he wounded Apollo’s marrow through pierced bones….

Jupiter sends Mercury to kill Argus

Antoine Waterloo (Lille 1609 – Utrecht 1690) and
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18)

Metamorphoses Book I. 668-688

Now the king of the gods can no longer stand Phoronis’s great sufferings, and he calls his son, born of the shining Pleiad, and orders him to kill Argus. Mercury, quickly puts on his winged sandals, takes his sleep-inducing wand in his divine hand, and sets his cap on his head. Dressed like this the son of Jupiter touches down on the earth from his father’s stronghold. There he takes off his cap, and doffs his wings, only keeping his wand. Taking this, disguised as a shepherd, he drives she-goats, stolen on the way, through solitary lanes, and plays his reed pipe as he goes. Juno’s guard is captivated by this new sound. ‘You there, whoever you are’ Argus calls ‘you could sit here beside me on this rock; there’s no better grass elsewhere for your flock, and you can see that the shade is fine for shepherds.’

Mercury tells the story of Syrinx

Antoine Waterloo (Lille 1609 – Utrecht 1690) and
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18)

Metamorphoses Book I. 689-721

...Among the wood nymphs, the hamadryads, of Mount Nonacris, one was the most celebrated: the nymphs called her Syrinx. She had often escaped from the satyrs chasing her, and from others of the demi-gods that live in shadowy woods and fertile fields. But she followed the worship of the Ortygian goddess in staying virgin. Her dress caught up like Diana … Even so she is deceptive. Pan, whose head is crowned with a wreath of sharp pine shoots, saw her, coming from Mount Lycaeus, and spoke to her.’ … the nymph, despising his entreaties, ran through the wilds till she came to the calm waters of sandy Ladon; and how when the river stopped her flight she begged her sisters of the stream to change her; and how Pan, when he thought he now had Syrinx, found that instead of the nymph’s body he only held reeds from the marsh; and, while he sighed there, the wind in the reeds, moving, gave out a clear, plaintive sound….

Alpheus and Arethusa

Antoine Waterloo (Lille 1609 – Utrecht 1690) and
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18)

Metamorphoses Book I.

. . . ‘I was one of the nymphs, that lived in Achaia,’ …though I never sought fame for my beauty, though I was wiry, my name was, the beautiful. Nor did my looks, praised too often, give me delight. I blushed like a simpleton at the gifts of my body, … I thought it was sinful to please. Tired (I remember), I was returning, from the Stymphalian woods. It was hot, and my efforts had doubled the heat. I came to a river, without a ripple, hurrying on without a murmur, clear to its bed, in whose depths you could count every pebble: you would scarce think it moving. Silvery willows and poplars, fed by the waters, gave a natural shade to the sloping banks. Approaching I dipped my toes in, then as far as my knees, and not content with that I undressed, and draped my light clothes on a hanging willow, and plunged, naked, into the stream. While I gathered the water to me and splashed, gliding around in a thousand ways, and stretching out my arms to shake the water from them, I thought I heard a murmur under the surface, and, …

Venus and Adonis

Antoine Waterloo (Lille 1609 – Utrecht 1690) and
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18)

Metamorphoses Book I.

…Transient time slips by us unnoticed, betrays us, and nothing outpaces the years. That son of his grandfather, sister, now hid in a tree, and now born, then a most beautiful child, then a boy, now a man, now more beautiful than he was before, now interests Venus herself, and avenges his mother’s desire. For while the boy, Cupid, with quiver on shoulder, was kissing his mother, he innocently scratched her breast with a loose arrow. The injured goddess pushed her son away: but the wound he had given was deeper than it seemed, and deceived her at first. Now captured by mortal beauty, she cares no more for Cythera’s shores, nor revisits Paphos, surrounded by its deep waters, nor Cnidos, the haunt of fish, nor Amathus, rich in mines: she even forgoes the heavens: preferring Adonis to heaven.

The Death of Adonis

Antoine Waterloo (Lille 1609 – Utrecht 1690) and
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18)

Metamorphoses Book I.

‘She warned him, and made her way through the air, drawn by harnessed swans, but his courage defied the warning. By chance, his dogs, following a well-marked trail, roused a wild boar from its lair, and as it prepared to rush from the trees, Cinyras’s grandson caught it a glancing blow. Immediately the fierce boar dislodged the blood-stained spear, with its crooked snout, and chased the youth, who was scared and running hard. It sank its tusk into his groin, and flung him, dying, on the yellow sand.

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