Doomscrolling with Gustave Doré

The Family of Street Acrobats:
The Injured Child

Dante and Virgil in the Ninth Circle of Hell

 Since I was already feeling more than a bit Weltschmerz-y, I was determined to refrain from doomscrolling yesterday. REALLY! What’s with my blues action? Oh, just my dear cousin’s death, TAB’s birthday, my own health hassles, no new, fun library books to read and, goddamnit, bras were invented and marketed by a cadre of sadistic, micro-dicked, walnut brained swine. (It was a rough day in Undergarment Land)

So, to keep myself from reading the awful news, I meandered through a few art sites, starting with one on Gustave Doré, the 19th century painter and illustrator.

His style falls somewhere around the intersections of late Romanticism, Orientalism and early Symbolism. Until seeing these two gorgeous pieces, above, I thought he was strictly an illustrator of classic books like Paradise Lost, The Divine Comedy and Don Quixote. His engravings are breathtaking but there’s more!

When I looked at his Dante and Virgil in the Ninth Circle of Hell and The Family of Street Acrobats: The Injured Child, the lush work of Doré’s contemporaries Lawrence Alma-Tadema and John William Waterhouse immediately popped into my head.

Acrobats

Except Doré’s work has grit—it’s beautiful but there’s emotional immediacy and depth. It’s way more than delicately ornamental. Doré died at the too young age of 51.

While artscrolling I also found the 19th century painter Victor Vasnetsov. He’s another contemporary of Doré but looser—reminiscent (sort of) of the Hudson River School.

Back when I was an art student (lo these 500 bazillion years ago) I had no use for any of that pretty 19th century stuff. It was all just way too mannered and foofy for my quasi punk tastes.

Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now
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Sadly, I fell off the art hunting wagon—news fell into my path.

Authorities did not say on Monday whether the child's parents would face charges or clarify how they stored their gun. Mr Drew called the gun's security a "key element" of their investigation.

Virginia law makes it a misdemeanor crime to "recklessly leave a loaded, unsecured firearm in such a manner as to endanger the life or limb of any child under the age of fourteen." (source)

This is about the six year old who took a gun from home and shot his teacher. He’s too young to understand the vast heinousosity of his actions or be held responsible. The parents though…that’s another sad story.

If the parents are white they’ll MAYBE get a slap on the wrist, MAYBE they’ll have to take a gun safety class and they’ll undoubtedly retain custody of the hell-spawn and future Rittenhouse they’ve created and armed. If the parents are Black? I'm guessing things'll be way different.

Will the kid get intensive therapy? Will he be deprogrammed from the Guns-are-the-Answer-to-Everything cult? Is there any justice to be had in this case?
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Did you see? Katie Porter has declared she’s running for the Senate to replace Dianne Feinstein, who hasn’t, BTW, announced her retirement yet. (I know, I know, Feinstein’s a zillion years old and totally should state the obvs already) That’s rude of Porter but, considering California’s currently in the middle of insane death dealing rains, winds and flooding, her proclamation’s timing rises to the clueless level. Could she not have waited even a week? After all, the election’s almost two years off. What’s the rush? Announcing now makes her look out of touch and stone cold.
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What snapped me out of the horrors of life here in Hell? I finally got off my ass and performed some strength and balance building exercises. Finally. Yea me, eh?