A painting by French painter rococo Francois Boucher “The geniuses of the arts.” The size of the picture is 72 x 74 cm, canvas, oil. Geniuses – according to ancient Italian views – the gods-patrons who were at every person from the very moment of his birth and accompanied him everywhere, like the second “I”. In Roman mythology, a genius is a deity, spirit-patron of the family, family, civil community.
Initially personified the masculine principle, the life force. It was also considered as an independent deity, which was born with a man and determined his life path. There were geniuses not only of individuals who determined their will and deeds, but also the geniuses of peoples, legions, assemblies, cities, countries, camps, arts, theaters, and even gods, they sacrificed.
The geniuses of the localities were depicted more often in the form of snakes, and the rest of the geniuses – in the form of people with a cornucopia and a sacrificial bowl in their hands. If the geniuses were depicted during the sacrifice, then according to Roman customs, their head was half-closed to that one: such images of domestic geniuses were found in Pompeii.
The statue of the genius of the Roman people stood at the forum in Rome. The cult of the genius of every emperor was of great importance. Under Augustus in all 14 parts of Rome there were statues of his genius. In various languages of European peoples, the word genius is used in a different sense and with different shades; the French are the most profligate to him, who, in addition to his special personal qualities, he also identifies the spirit of complex and collective phenomena; about the same, but less generously, the English use this word; The Germans tend to limit it to a field of artistic creativity and speculation; the Germans, as well as the Russians, the concept of genius is more demarcated with talent than the French and English.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)