A Soirée of musical pleasure

Etienne Jeurat (1699-1789)

oil on canvas

 

How were the old times? Jeurat, appointed Garde des tableaux du roi à Versailles at his time was a well to do accomplished society-man in the midst of the culture. Culture the old way is celebrated in soirées where one would converse and make music. The passive concept of watching t.v. or going to the cinema now so prominent for everyone to be the common man was at the time not revolutionized yet. Mozart would come to the court and entertain the nobles in exchange for a bed and a golden watch. He lived partly on selling those gifts as it was not noble to work for the money at all. Those were the days that culture came before everything as the religion of the pious man. Art as such was a celebration of the natural time of God of devout people in honor and loyalty to the nobles. It was the belief of the time later overhauled as being false or falsified as it was not in respect of the common interest but an exploit. In fact the classical soul of harmonizing with natural time and its loyal compassionate conscience was lost (or never really properly cultured) in this century that introduced mean time just before the revolution which, as with all time-reform, heralded great social upheaval. So this time is not lost, it has only been covered by the ignorance of mechanical time and its political pragmatics. Smart with natural time and harmony, musically at least, the intelligent can easily retrieve it without suppressing the commons.

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© Time Art Gallery/hall 3