MICROSTORY OF ART

MICROSTORY OF ART
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Dedicated to Restitution

(Picture: DS)

Restitution (Interviews with Bruegel VII)

(21.9.2023)

(Picture: DS)

– Mr. Bruegel, what do you think of the above objects? Do these objects have to be restituted?
– Restituted? What does that mean?
– Well, given back to the former owners, and to the cultures these objects might once have belonged to.
– Are these objects to be regarded objects of art? Or are these objects even to be regarded to be living objects?
– Living objects? What does that mean?
– Well, objects that, due to certain magic rituals, have been loaded with a certain mystical vitality, so that these objects might be regarded to be living objects. And such objects might have an extraordinary meaning for individuals or for the cultures to which these individuals might belong to.
– Well, I don’t know if this definition might apply to all these objects, but yes, some of these objects might meet such definition.
– Which ones?
– Well, I am not an expert, but I would say that the horse certainly once may have had a certain function as a living being.
– I might agree. Certainly the horse. But what about the other objects?
– I feel a bit uneasy to answer such questions, since, not claiming to be an expert…
– Neither am I. But let’s focus on the horse. To which former owner this horse might be given back? Or to which culture?
– Well, I suppose to a culture in which the horse might have a special meaning, as, for example, in the Chinese culture?
– I agree. But why not to the Western culture, in which, certainly, the horse had magical powers too?
– Do you think, the horse might once have belonged to a king?
– Yes, indeed. Or to a queen. Don’t you think so too?
– Yes, certainly. This is a possibility. Perhaps even a strong probabiliy. So you think that we would have to look out among the royal families of Europe, to instigate restitution of this object? But let me think… Are not these families exactly the families responsible for the looting of other cultures?
– Well, some of them, certainly. Do you think the former owner of the horse might be responsible for the stealing of the other objects?
– I don’t know if the definition of stealing… Perhaps rather: acquisition of these objects?
– Well, we don’t know. But what about the Habsburgians? Perhaps they are responsible here as well for all we see here.
– Please spare me for once with your Habsburgian complex, Mr. Bruegel. But certainly: let’s follow the hypothesis that the horse once might have belonged to…
– Charles Quint?
– Why not. Well, I don’t know. We have to check the paintings by Titian that showed him on horseback. And from that, we might research further back. I am willing to do that, given that you might take over the research of the other objects.
– Yes, certainly. And in the end we will be expert for any kind of such objects, might they be magical objects, or objects of art (loaded with some magic or not).

MICROSTORY OF ART
ONLINE JOURNAL FOR ART, CONNOISSEURSHIP AND CULTURAL JOURNALISM
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