艺术的力量（2006）

Now, everyone knew the militia men in this painting weren't real soldiers.
真正的战争正在前线艰难的进行着
The real war was being slogged out somewhere beyond the frontiers.
这些不过是些玩具士兵 阿姆斯特丹的老爹军团
These were toy soldiers, Amsterdam's dad's army.
然而 老总们却喜欢沉醉于自己的战士形象
Still, they like to preserve the fiction of the citizen soldier.
他们会认为自己是在为捍卫阿姆斯特丹的自♥由♥而战
They like to think they'd be there to defend the freedom of Amsterdam.
拍马屁可是伦勃朗的拿手好戏
Rembrandt's great idea is flattery.
但这次拍马的目的已经不仅仅是令老总们感到自己是如何的年轻英俊
Now, it's not the kind of flattery that's going to make them younger
实际效果可比这重要多了
or better-looking, it's much more important than that.
这幅作品透出的那种恭维无疑带有童话式色彩
It's the flattery of the entire fairytale idea behind the painting.
一群身着盛装的布料商人在周末大玩士兵游戏
The idea that a bunch of overdressed textile men
这个想法成为了现实
playing at toy soldiers on Sundays were the real thing,
无疑这些人的内心深处都有着尚武的冲动
that they were actually alive with martial energy.
所以伦勃朗通过动作而非姿势把这种冲动表达了出来
So instead of having them pose, Rembrandt has them in action.
以往都是通过（盔甲之类的）装饰作为表达手段
He transforms them in that way from mere human ornaments
但是伦勃朗用的却是行军 射击和击鼓的侦察员
into marching, shooting, drumming guardsmen.
所以当心潮激昂脉搏喷张之时
So just how do you capture that instant
画家是如何捕捉到这个时刻的呢
when your pulse goes whoosh with excitement?
看来 伦勃朗一定是做了个深呼吸
Well, Rembrandt takes a deep breath, he has a what-the-hell moment
抱个“管他呢”的态度 然后就去寻找这个时刻去了
and he goes for it.
他摈弃了人挨人的模式 采用前后排列的动感方式
He changes the usual side-by-side format into a back-to-front action,
所以那些公♥司♥老总们仿佛是直冲我们而来
so that the company of the officers and men are coming right at us,
黑暗深渊的门口衬托出了3-D效果
3-D from the deep, dark doorway,
伴随着强烈的光芒
right up to the picture frame and into our own space,
直逼画面边缘仿佛要破框而出
blazing with light.
看看那个直逼画外的长矛
Look at that spear poking into our space.
伦勃朗一定知道
Rembrandt knows that rough painting
再粗糙的画面也会比任何文字描述
can actually convey the illusion of a three-dimensional object
更能表现出物体的3-D幻觉效果
better than any literal description.
画中的上尉名叫弗朗斯·班宁·库克
The captain's name is Frans Banning Cocq.
旁边是他的中尉威廉姆·范·鲁顿布鲁克
Next to him is his lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch.
班宁·库克是行动号♥令的发出者
Banning Cocq is giving the signal to move.
所以他的命令下达就像是中尉帽子上的一道阴影
So his order falls as a shadow on the coat of his lieutenant.
士兵们如在弦之箭蓄势待发 矛缨飘飘欲飞
They're off, already in motion, the tassels are flying.
乍一看 “夜巡”的画面仿佛是一团糟 不是吗
At first sight, The Night Watch seems merely chaotic, doesn't it?
但是这实际上是对处于约束状态下的混沌力量的赞美
But actually it's a hymn to noisy energy contained by discipline.
自♥由♥与秩序 在这里得到了完美的统一
Freedom and order, miraculously held together,
我认为伦勃朗应该抓住了那些荷兰人心中的想法
much as I think Rembrandt thought the Dutch themselves did.
那是他们得以成功的秘密 也是阿姆斯特丹的荣耀
That's the secret of their success. That is the glory of Amsterdam.
但是那些荷兰人真的了解这些吗
But did they see it, the Sunday soldiers?
除了空虚与自身的需要之外
Did the men who actually paid for the picture get beyond vanity,
为这幅画买♥♥单的人真的了解到了真实的自我吗
beyond their need for a realistic depiction of themselves?
据伦勃朗的学生范·侯克斯特拉♥登♥而言
According to Rembrandt's pupil, van Hoogstraten,
画中有些人有点儿发抖
some of the sitters were less than thrilled.
那倒不是因为气愤 只不过是有点不知所措 你仿佛能听到他们在说
Not outraged, just a bit bewildered. You can almost hear them saying,
应该没事的 毕竟他可是伦勃朗啊
''Well, it's got to be good, it's a Rembrandt, after all,''
我能对艺术知道多少呢 但是看起来（艺术）有些糟糕
and, ''What do I know about art? But to me it does look a bit of a mishmash.''
但是气氛从温暖变得有些冷了
Let's just say that the climate went from warm to tepid.
也许伦勃朗感受到了 也许他没有
Perhaps Rembrandt felt it, perhaps not.
但是自从成为荷兰的绘画金童之后
But for the first time since becoming the golden boy of Dutch painting,
头一遭伦勃朗的一个资助人却对他的作品日渐不爽
one of Rembrandt's patrons is so unhappy with the painting,
他拒绝支付薪水
he simply refused to pay.
如果是别的老牌资助人倒也罢了
And not just any old patron either,
可他是安德里斯·德·格拉夫 此人能量不可小视
but Andries de Graeff, a man from whom jobs and prestige flowed.
我们并不确切的知道他为什么如此不爽
We don't know exactly what it was that offended de Graeff so much,
但是我们猜测可能是因为伦勃朗的画风越来越自♥由♥化
but we can guess, with Rembrandt painting ever more freely,
当然这对于一个老古董来说是难以接受的
it didn't quite match de Graeff's stately self-image.
为了得到薪水 伦勃朗不得不采取行动
To recover his money, Rembrandt had to resort to something
伦勃朗一定是感到被羞辱了
he must have found deeply humiliating.
于是一个由同侪组成的仲裁委员会成立了
An arbitration committee of his peers,
他们会来评判伦勃朗的作品
who sat in judgement on the quality of his painting.
但是这就好像是伦勃朗突然放了个臭屁
But it was Rembrandt who all of a sudden seemed to be giving off a bad smell.
然后变幻无常的财神就被熏跑了
The smell of someone from whom the fickle goddess fortune was shying away.
不知道你有没有这样的经历
Have you ever felt, at the top of your form,
当你处于人生的顶峰时
at the height of your powers,
一种奇怪但又清楚的感觉告诉你风向就要变了
an odd but distinct sense that the winds just change direction,
但是随后的情形会不会更厉害呢
that it's blowing a bit chillier now?
他不再得到订单 开始负债累累
The portrait commissions dry up, the house is loaded with debt
他的妻子Saskia也因结核病濒临死亡
and, inside the house, Saskia is deathly ill with TB,
她的身体遭受着咯血的摧残
her body wracked by spasms of bloody coughing.
他们一家不再对死亡感到陌生了
Death was no stranger to their family.
伦勃朗夫妇已经埋葬了三个孩子
Saskia and Rembrandt had already buried three of their children.
只有他们的儿子蒂图斯活了下来
Only the boy, Titus, was alive.
在16♥4♥2年6月5日
On the fifth of June, 16♥4♥2,
一个公♥证♥人被召来记录Saskia的遗嘱
a notary was called to the house to record Saskia's will.
九天后 Saskia也死了
Nine days later, she was dead.
一块布简单的包裹着她的尸体
Her body was wrapped in a simple cloth
一小段默默的队伍把她送到了边远的苏格兰教会
and in a silent little procession it was taken to the outer kirk for burial.
许多年前在这座房♥子的某处 伦勃朗曾经为爱妻作过画
Somewhere in this house, Rembrandt pulled out a portrait of her
二人开始了共同的人生旅程
that he'd begun many years before, at the playful start of their life together.
不管怎么说这都不太寻常
It's unusual for many reasons.
因为这是唯一一幅没有微笑的肖像
One of the only paintings in which there's not a trace of a smile.
她的头扭向一边显出侧面
Her head is turned in profile,
非伦勃朗式的轮廓显示出珐琅质的锐感
the outline un-Rembrandtian in its enamel-like sharpness.
但是他最后一次为爱妻戴上了珠宝与精美的衣物
But for the last time, he's loaded her with fabric and jewels.
看起来他总是喜欢为妻子穿上织物
It's as if he can't stop draping her.
但是这一次Saskia穿上了皮草披肩
But Saskia pulls the fur cape around her,
仿佛是要挡住死亡的冰冷气息
as if to ward off the chill of mortality.
但是太晚了
But it's too late.
终于 Saskia离他而去了
Well, then, Saskia had gone
这就像是一口叮当作响的大钟突然停止
and it was as though a peal of bells had abruptly stopped.
我们知道在16♥4♥2年
It's too easy, we're told, to say that in that year, 16♥4♥2,
对于伦勃朗来说 他的生活他的工作发生了翻天覆地的变化
everything changed for Rembrandt, for his work.
从生命中解读艺术的内涵实在是令人感伤
That's the sentimental, romantic version to read art from life.
但是 有一些事情在伦勃朗身上发生了
But, you know, something really had happened to Rembrandt,
那是华丽的终结（即自♥由♥创作方式的终结）
an end to flamboyance,
他放弃了对外界喧闹的生活秀的戏剧性质的掌控
an end to his theatrical mastery of the outward, noisy show of life.
他仿佛把抛却了人世间的凡俗
It was as though he'd turned down the volume of the world
进入了宁静的内心世界
and switched on an inner quiet radiance.
不再有夸大的姿势
The big gestures melt away.
取而代之的是简单朴素
and are replaced by a tender simplicity.
他的作品不再是展示富有和权力的媒介
Instead of a portrait gallery of the rich and powerful,
靠在窗台上的女仆
a maidservant leaning on a sill,
外在与内心
caught between inside and outside,
左手在拨弄着项链
the left hand toying with her necklace.
在这幅作品里
Here, too, in his drawings,
只不过是寥寥几笔
just a few summary lines here and there
就构成了一幅作品
that manage to conjure up an entire scene.
这个见面礼可不小 难道你不这样想吗 这让我们可以和他一起共同完成作品
It's a huge compliment, don't you think, making us his partner in completion,
也让我们享受到怀疑带来的好处
giving us the benefit of the doubt
我们可不想类似于烦琐的文字描述之类的作品
that we wouldn't want anything so boring as the literal details.
尽管评论家不再把伦勃朗看作是前卫派画家
The problem though was that Rembrandt's critics didn't see him as offensively avant-garde.
而是令人生厌的古董派
They saw him as offensively old-fashioned.
这是为什么呢 因为文化大气候发生了变化
Why? Because of a cultural sea change.
复杂化第一次在荷兰被视为重中之重
For the first time in Holland, sophistication seemed far more important
简朴与虔诚开始退居二线
than simplicity and piety, the qualities the Dutch like to think
荷兰人惯于思考的品质把他们带出了同西班牙之间的战争阴霾
had brought them through their war against Spain.
但如今和平又回来了
But now, peace had been declared
到了十七世纪五十年代 这种迹象已经是显而易见了
and by the 1650s there was a perceptible sigh of relief.
所以随着伦勃朗的作品日渐隐晦
So just as Rembrandt's paintings were getting darker,
阿姆斯特丹的心情却日渐轻松愉快
the mood of Amsterdam was lightening and brightening.
谨慎的穿着磨盘似的环领的先辈们
The founding fathers and mothers, modestly dressed in millstone ruffs,
已经为子孙们让了道路
had given way to their children.
他们是爱炫耀的一代 令人惊愕的猩红色 还带着头巾装成熟
The peacock generation, gorgeous in screaming scarlets and coiffed to the nines.
其中许多人都会把出国作为教育的一部分
Many of them had been sent abroad as part of their education
归国时都急于把一堆全球流行的事物带回家
and had come back eager to import cosmopolitan stylishness
而他们的国家的公民却都很朴素
to the homespun republic.
他们喜欢奢华 要向意大利人看齐
They weren't interested in austerity, they wanted to be like the Italians,
他们也向往柱子（意大利建筑特色）
they wanted pillars.
伦勃朗所有的黑褐色与浅橄榄棕色调的作品
All Rembrandt's murky browns and golds,
穿着吊带袜 松弛的乳♥房♥♥都令他们感到无趣
those garter marks and flabby breasts were a downer.
这我们都了解 对吧