My son occasionally sends me paintings that appeal to him – paintings that resonate in the time in which they were created, in the time which they describe and also in our own time. This is the renowned portrait by Jan Matejko, a Polish romantic, of Stanczyk (1480-1560), court jester to three Polish kings (Aleksander, Sigismund the Old and Sigismund Augustus) and today a national hero of sorts. Word has just arrived that Smolensk has fallen to the Muscovites (1514), but the courtiers continue their festivities in the background, more concerned with their ball than with the course of the war. Only the fool, Stanczyk, is troubled by the news.
Can the painting serve as a metaphorical illustration of the idiotic nonchalance and self-satisfaction of contemporary federal and municipal politicians? Why yes, I believe it can.
Really good at doing fabric, Matejko, don’t you think? You can really feel the heft of that tablecloth.