西班牙人

V. M. 希利尔（仲秋　译）

V. M. 希利尔（1875—1931），美国著名儿童教育家、科普作家，创建了卡尔弗特教育体系。他为孩子们编写了一套趣味盎然的历史、地理、艺术读物，即《写给孩子看的世界历史》《写给孩子看的世界地理》《写给孩子看的艺术史》。本文选自《写给孩子看的艺术史》，该书写于20世纪二三十年代。

This article is about Spain. But Im going to begin by telling you about Crete， which hasnt anything at all to do with Spain. Crete is an island south of Greece. It belongs to Greece and the people of Crete speak the Greek language. Sometime about the middle of the fifteen hundreds there was born in Crete a baby who was to become a celebrated painter. You have never heard of his name and couldnt pronounce it if you had. Ill tell it to you just to show you， but dont try to remember it， for this painter is never spoken of except by his nickname. Here is his real name—Domenico Theotocopuli.

He was a mysterious kind of man and no one knows very much about his life. He seems to have left Crete and gone to Venice to study art under the great Titian. The next we hear of him he has bobbed up in Spain and settled in the city of Toledo. In Spain he remained and in Spain he died in 1614， but he always thought of himself as a Greek rather than a Spaniard， and he signed his most important paintings in Greek letters. The Spaniards could hardly be expected to call him Domenico Theotocopuli any more than you are expected to. They just called him “that Greek fellow” or “the Greek”， which in Spanish is El Greco.

本文主要聊西班牙。不过在介绍西班牙之前，我要先说一说克里特岛，一个跟西班牙一点关系都没有的小岛。克里特岛是位于希腊南部的一个岛，属于希腊。岛上的人说希腊语。大约在16世纪中期的时候，克里特岛有一个婴儿出生了，他后来成为远近闻名的画家。不过我估计你从来没听说过这位画家的名字，而且就算听说过也不一定能读得准。现在我就告诉你他的名字吧，他的全名叫多梅尼科·狄奥托科普里。但这个名字你不用费力去记，了解一下就行，因为人们从来不叫他的全名，而只叫他的昵称。

多梅尼科·狄奥托科普里是一个神秘的人，所以没有人确切地了解他的生活到底是什么样子的，只知道他后来好像离开了克里特岛，去威尼斯跟着伟大的画家提香學习绘画;后来我们再听到他的消息时，他已经突然出现在了西班牙，在托莱多城定居。此后他就一直待在西班牙，直到1614年在西班牙去世。尽管他在西班牙居住的时间很长，但是他一直把自己视为希腊人，而不是西班牙人，他在重要作品上的签名也都是希腊名。西班牙人并不习惯叫他多梅尼科·狄奥托科普里，就像你一样。西班牙人都以昵称叫他埃尔·格雷考，意思是“那个希腊人”或者“希腊伙计”。

El Greco painted pictures that are so different from other artists paintings that you may think they are not beautiful when you first see them. All his people are too long and thin to be like real people， and the colors are used differently from the colors in most paintings.

When you see a picture by El Greco you must remember that he is not trying to make you see a picture of things as they would look in a photograph. His paintings of men and scenes represent the spirit （or the idea）， which is a different thing from what you would see with your eyes if you looked at real men and scenes. This is hard for many people to understand. They think a painting should always show you exactly what the real things look like. But a camera can do that just as well as an artist， and so many artists sometimes paint， like El Greco， not what they see but what they think will look best as a picture.

When El Greco died the man who was to become the greatest Spanish painter of all was still only a boy of fourteen. It seems strange to us that he is called by his mothers name instead of by his fathers. It was just an old Spanish custom. I dont expect you to remember this painters entire name， because it was Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez. What you have to remember is the Velasquez part， for that is what he was called. Velasquez was born in the city of Seville in 1599.

埃爾·格雷考的画与其他画家的画很不一样，第一眼看上去你可能会觉得不好看。他画中的人物都是又瘦又长，看起来都不太像真人了，而且他画作的颜色也和其他画家的很不一样。

在欣赏埃尔·格雷考的画时，千万要记住他的画作并不像照片一样在单纯地向我们展示画中的景物。埃尔·格雷考画中的人物和景致其实是想要表达一种精神、一种思想。所以这就与你用眼睛单纯去看真人、真景时的感觉是不一样的。不过很多人会觉得这一点很难理解，因为他们觉得画出来的东西就应该是事物完完全全本来的样子。不过如果只是这样的话，照相机也可以做得和画家一样好，不是吗？其实有许多画家有时也像埃尔·格雷考一样按照他们的审美来画画，而不是像照相机一样单纯地定格景物。

下一位就要给你介绍西班牙最伟大的画家了，他在埃尔·格雷考去世时还只有十四岁。奇怪的是他随的是母姓，而不是父姓，其实这是西班牙的一种古老习俗。这位画家的全名你也不用记，因为实在是太长了，他的全名叫迪迭戈·罗德里格斯·德席尔瓦·委拉斯开兹。人们都叫他委拉斯开兹，你也只要记住他的这个名字就行了。1599年委拉斯开兹出生于西班牙的塞维利亚。

Word Study

celebrated /'sel?bre?t?d/ adj. 著名的;闻名的

He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.

bob up突然冒出

The dark head of a seal bobbed up a few yards away.

settle /'setl/ v. 定居

She settled in Vienna after her fathers death.

When Velasquez had grown up and had painted for some time he decided to go to the capital of Spain， Madrid. The king saw some of his work and liked it， and so the next year Velasquez was sent for and moved to Madrid for good. There he became the kings painter. We know very well what this king of Spain looked like， because Velasquez painted many pictures of him. The king was PhilipⅣ. The first thing you notice about Philip is his very large mustaches which curl up to his eyes. They must have been a nuisance， for Philip had to put leather cases on them at night to keep them shaped right. I wonder what the king looked like when he got his fancy mustaches caught in the rain！

Almost all the portraits of the king and his nobles show a wide stiff white collar that sticks out from around each mans neck. King Philip was very proud of this kind of collar， and for a very special reason—he invented it himself！ He was so proud of his new invention that he had a great celebration after which there was a solemn procession or parade to church to thank God for such a blessing.

Here is a portrait of a little girl that Velasquez painted， the Princess Marguerite. She was a daughter of King Philip.

Velasquez was very different from El Greco in his painting. El Greco painted things as he wanted them to look， to give his idea of them. El Greco used his imagination instead of putting down on canvas just what he saw with his eyes. But Velasquez painted objects to look like the real objects. We call a painter who does this a realist， because he paints only what he really sees.

當委拉斯开兹长大成人并开始作画后，他就计划去西班牙的首都马德里发展了。当时的西班牙国王看了委拉斯开兹的一些作品之后，非常喜欢，第二年就把委拉斯开兹迎接到了马德里，让他成为国王的御用画家。我们能清楚这位西班牙国王的长相也要归功于委拉斯开兹，因为他为国王画过许多画像。当时的西班牙国王是腓力四世。你要是看到腓力四世的画像，一定会先注意到他的胡须，因为那胡须卷得满脸都是，一直到他的眼睛。每天晚上睡觉的时候，腓力四世都要用一个皮套把胡须给套起来，这样才能保持胡须的造型。腓力四世一定对这些胡须又爱又恨。我在想要是他这些精心卷好的胡须被淋了雨，那会是个啥模样？

委拉斯开兹画中的人物，不论是国王还是贵族，他们的脖子上都有一个又宽又硬的白色领圈。腓力四世为这个白色领圈而自豪，因为一个非常特殊的原因——这领圈是他的发明。为此，他专门举行了一场盛大的欢庆活动，活动结束后他还带领臣民举行了一场隆重的游行活动，之后到教堂感谢上帝的恩赐。

下面是一张委拉斯开兹创作的小女孩的肖像画，画中的小女孩就是腓力四世的女儿马格丽特公主。

委拉斯开兹的绘画风格与埃尔·格雷考的很不一样。埃尔·格雷考按照自己想要的效果作画，经常在画中添加自己的想法，所以他更多的是用他的想象力作画，而不是机械地把看到的东西画下来。但是，委拉斯开兹却完全是按照事物真实的样子在画。委拉斯开兹这样的画家叫“写实主义画家”，因为他们只是把眼见的事物如实地画下来。

When Rubens came to Madrid， the king asked Velasquez to show him the art treasures of Spain. Rubens and Velasquez got along together very well. Rubens admired Velasquezs paintings and Velasquez admired the work of Rubens.

Velasquez wanted to see the famous paintings of the great Italian artists and so he got permission from the king to make trips to Italy， where he made copies of some of the paintings of Tintoretto， Michelangelo， and Titian.

And here is a picture of Aesop， who wrote the fable of “The Fox and the Grapes” “The Dog in the Manger”， and other famous fables.

Of course the picture is not of the real Aesop. Velasquez just painted the picture as he thought Aesop might have looked， for Aesop himself lived two thousand years before Velasquez.

Velasquez has been called the painters painter， because so many painters have admired and praised his work. He was one of the greatest of the Spanish painters， greater than El Greco and greater than the next Spanish painter Im going to tell you about， whose name was Murillo.

Murillo， like Velasquez， was born in Seville. He went to Madrid， where Velasquez encouraged him in his painting and got him permission to study the paintings in the kings picture gallery. After two years there， Murillo went back to live in Seville. He was still poor and unknown.

About that time the Franciscan friars， or monks， in Seville were looking for an artist who would decorate one of their buildings with paintings. They wanted to get some famous artist， but they had too little money to pay a famous artists prices. So they decided to let Murillo do the work. Murillo painted eleven pictures for the friars and every one liked them so much that he was asked to do more pictures than he could possibly paint.

当鲁本斯来到马德里时，腓力四世让委拉斯开兹带着他参观西班牙的艺术珍品。鲁本斯和委拉斯开兹相处得非常融洽，而且相互都对对方的作品非常欣赏和推崇。

后来，委拉斯开兹想要看意大利伟大画家的著名作品，他得到国王的许可之后，就去了意大利游历。在意大利他临摹了很多大画家的作品，比如丁托列托、米开朗基罗和提香等的画作。

右边这幅画画的是伊索。伊索写了很多有名的寓言故事，比如《狐狸与葡萄》《马槽中的狗》等。

但是这幅画中的人物并不是伊索本人。伊索生活的年代比委拉斯开兹早了两千多年，所以，这幅画是委拉斯开兹按照自己的想象创作出来的伊索形象。

委拉斯开兹被人们称为“画家中的画家”，因为很多画家都非常崇拜和欣赏他的画。他是西班牙画家中最伟大的一位，比埃尔·格雷考还要优秀，甚至也比接下来我要给你介绍的西班牙画家牟利罗更杰出。

牟利罗与委拉斯开兹一样，也出生在西班牙的塞维利亚，后来他去了马德里。在马德里，委拉斯开兹鼓励牟利罗学习绘画，还帮助他获得了在国王画室学习绘画的机会。两年后，牟利罗学成回到塞维利亚，但是当时他还是个无名小画家，生活也很窘迫。

也就在那个时候，塞维利亚的圣方济隐修院的修士们，恰巧在找可以为他们的一座建筑作画的画家，他们希望请著名的画家来画，但是他们没有充裕的钱来请著名的大画家作画，于是他们选择让牟利罗来作画。牟利罗为这座隐修院画了十一幅画，大家都很满意，所以后来找他画画的人也慢慢多了起来。

Then Murillo painted eleven pictures for another building. These were even better than the first eleven， and made him famous.

Another picture that Murillo painted has a story told about it that shows how lifelike it is. The picture is of a priest with a spaniel at his feet， and the story is that when a live dog saw the painted spaniel he thought it was a real spaniel and growled at it. It reminds us of the story of the birds who pecked the grapes in Zeuxiss picture. I dont believe it can be a true story because a dog cant be fooled by a picture the way he can by a mirror.

Murillo was very good at painting babies and Madonnas. His Madonnas generally have dark hair and eyes. Here is a picture that children seem to like. It shows the baby Christ and little Saint John getting a drink of water out of a seashell. The little lamb in the corner of the picture looks as if he were thirsty and wanted a drink， too.

Murillo was so successful at selling his pictures that he made a large fortune， but he was a very generous man and gave much money to the poor. He had once been poor himself， and he knew how much they needed help.

One day when he was old he was getting up on a scaffolding to paint the higher parts of a large picture， when he stumbled and fell. He was so badly hurt that he never got well and the picture was left unfinished.

The people of Seville never forgot their famous painter and even today in Seville they call any beautiful picture a “Murillo”.

接著，牟利罗又为另一座建筑画了十一幅画，这次画的比之前的那十一幅更好，这让他一举成名。

牟利罗有一幅名画，因为画得非常生动，还引出了一个关于这幅画的故事。牟利罗的这幅画画的是一位神父，神父的脚边站着一只西班牙猎犬。据说有一只小狗看到这幅画时，以为画中的猎犬是真的，竟然对着画“汪汪汪”地叫了起来。这让我们想起宙克西斯画中的葡萄被鸟儿啄食的故事。不过，我觉得这只小狗的故事不是真的，因为我见过的小狗从来不会以为图画中的狗是真的狗，它们只有在照镜子时才会以为镜子里有另一条真的狗。

牟利罗很擅长画幼儿和圣母马利亚，他笔下的圣母都有着乌黑的头发和明亮的双眸。上面这幅图小朋友看了都会喜欢的。图上画的是小耶稣和小圣约翰用贝壳取水喝的样子。画中的一边还有一只羊羔，这只羊羔急切地看着他们，好像很想喝一口水似的。

牟利罗成名后靠卖画赚了很多钱，他非常慷慨，有钱后经常资助穷人。因为他自己曾经就很穷，所以他知道那些穷人是多么需要帮助。

牟利罗晚年时，有一天爬到一个脚手架上去画一幅巨大的画作的上半部分，结果失足摔了下来。牟利罗摔得太厉害了，之后再没好起来，而那幅画也就一直没有画完。

但是塞维利亚的人从来都没有忘记过这位画家，直到今天，塞维利亚的人仍然把漂亮的绘画叫作“牟利罗”。

Word Study

moustache /'m?st??/ n. 上唇的胡子;髭

noble /'n??bl/ n. 出身高贵的人;贵族成员

solemn /'s?l?m/ adj. 庄严的;隆重的

parade /p?'re?d/ n. 游行

decorate /'dek?re?t/ v. 装饰

They decorated the room with flowers and balloons.

lifelike /'la?fla?k/ adj. 逼真的;生动的;栩栩如生的

growl /ɡra?l/ v. 低声吼叫

peck /pek/ v. 啄; 啄食

stumble /'st?mbl/ v. 绊脚