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REMBRANDT
AND THE FATHER (3)
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REMBRANDT
AND THE FATHER (3)
In Latin, to bless is benedicere, which means literally: saying good things. The Father wants to say, more with his touch than with his voice, good things of his children. He has no desire to punish them. They have already been punished excessively by their own inner or outer waywardness. The Father wants simply to let them know that the love they have searched for in such distorted ways has been, is, and always will be there for them. The Father wants to say, more with his hands than with his mouth: "You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests." He is the shepherd, "feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against his breast."
The true center of Rembrandt's painting is the hands of the father. On them all the light is concentrated; on them the eyes of the bystanders are focused; in them mercy becomes flesh; upon them forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing come together, and, through them, not only the tired son, but also the worn-out father find their rest. From the moment I first saw the poster on Simone's office door, I felt drawn to those hands. I did not fully understand why. But gradually over the years I have come to know those hands. They have held me from the hour of my conception, they welcomed me at my birth, held me close to my mother's breast, fed me, and kept me warm. They have protected me in times of danger and consoled me in times of grief. They have waved me good-bye and always welcomed me back. Those hands are God's hands. They are also the hands of my parents, teachers, friends, healers, and all those whom God has given me to remind me how safely I am held.
Not long after Rembrandt painted the father and his blessing hands, he died.
Rembrandt's hands had painted countless human faces and human hands. In this, one of his last paintings, he painted the face and the hands of God. Who had posed for this life-size portrait of God? Rembrandt himself?
The father of the prodigal son is a self-portrait, but not in the traditional sense. Rembrandt's own face appears in several of his paintings. It appears as the prodigal son in the brothel, as a frightened disciple on the lake, as one of the men taking the dead body of Jesus from the cross.
Yet here it is not Rembrandt's face that is reflected, but his soul, the soul of a father who had suffered so many a death. During his sixty-three years, Rembrandt saw not only his dear wife Saskia die, but also three sons, two daughters, and the two women with whom he lived. The grief for his beloved son Titus, who died at the age of twenty-six shortly after his marriage, has never been described, but in the father of the Prodigal San we can see how many tears it must have cost him. Created in the image of God, Rembrandt had come to discover through his long, painful struggle the true nature of that image. It is the image of a near-blind old man crying tenderly, blessing his deeply wounded son. Rembrandt was the son, he became the father, and thus was made ready to enter eternal life.
注釈:
In Latin, to bless is benedicere, which means literally: saying good things.
「literally」は「文字通りに」。「benediction」は「祝福、(食事時の)感謝の意」で「bene-」はラテン語で「良く」の意。「diction」は「祈りを言うこと」が原意で、英語を母語にする人にはラテン語は知らなくても「benedicere」の意味は類推可能できるので「literally」という言葉が使われたのでしょう。尚、食事の時の短い祈りは「blessing」。
The Father wants to say, more with his touch than with his voice, good things of his children.
「The Father wants to say good things of his children.」は文脈から「The Father wants to bless his children.」の意。「good things of his children」の「of」は「原因・理由・動機」を表します(「die of cancer」と同じ使い方。文法的には「his childrenのためにsay good things (bless)」
He has no desire to punish them.
They have already been punished excessively by their own inner or outer waywardness.
「wayward」はここでは「わがままな(difficult to control)」の意。「waywardness」は、その名詞形。「inner or outer waywardness」は平たく言えば「わがままな考えや行動」。
The Father wants simply to let them know that the love they have searched for in such distorted ways has been, is, and always will be there for them.
「distorted」は「誤った、ゆがんだ(twisted)」。
The Father wants to say, more with his hands than with his mouth: "You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests."
He is the shepherd, "feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against his breast."
"feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against his breast"は聖書からの引用。「群れを養い、御腕をもって集め、子羊をふところに抱く」。
The true center of Rembrandt's painting is the hands of the father. On them all the light is concentrated; on them the eyes of the bystanders are focused; in them mercy becomes flesh; upon them forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing come together, and, through them, not only the tired son, but also the worn-out father find their rest. From the moment I first saw the poster on Simone's office door, I felt drawn to those hands. I did not fully understand why. But gradually over the years I have come to know those hands.
They have held me from the hour of my conception, they welcomed me at my birth, held me close to my mother's breast, fed me, and kept me warm.
「conception」はここでは「妊娠、受胎」。
They have protected me in times of danger and consoled me in times of grief.
「grief」は「深い悲しみ(sorrow, misery, sadness, anguish, pain, distress)」。
They have waved me good-bye and always welcomed me back. Those hands are God's hands. They are also the hands of my parents, teachers, friends, healers, and all those whom God has given me to remind me how safely I am held.
Not long after Rembrandt painted the father and his blessing hands, he died.
Rembrandt's hands had painted countless human faces and human hands. In this, one of his last paintings, he painted the face and the hands of God. Who had posed for this life-size portrait of God? Rembrandt himself?
The father of the prodigal son is a self-portrait, but not in the traditional sense. Rembrandt's own face appears in several of his paintings.
It appears as the prodigal son in the brothel, as a frightened disciple on the lake, as one of the men taking the dead body of Jesus from the cross.
「brothel」は「売春宿」。「disciple」は「弟子」。
Yet here it is not Rembrandt's face that is reflected, but his soul, the soul of a father who had suffered so many a death.
「reflect」はここではは「を映す」。「many a」は「多くの a death」ということで「many」よりも個々を強調する表現。「幾多の」。
During his sixty-three years, Rembrandt saw not only his dear wife Saskia die, but also three sons, two daughters, and the two women with whom he lived. The grief for his beloved son Titus, who died at the age of twenty-six shortly after his marriage, has never been described, but in the father of the Prodigal San we can see how many tears it must have cost him. Created in the image of God, Rembrandt had come to discover through his long, painful struggle the true nature of that image. It is the image of a near-blind old man crying tenderly, blessing his deeply wounded son. Rembrandt was the son, he became the father, and thus was made ready to enter eternal life.