(lights up on Leveaux, like a lecturer, with a pointer. He speaks to an imaginary audience seated behind the actual audience.)
This little known work by one of the Early Renaissance Masters expresses a love of the natural that is nurtured by an understanding of the supernatural. An ironic reconciliation of science and theology during a period notorious for its religious intolerance, witchhunts and other ethical recriminations.
"The P. of the V.M.---"
I'm sorry, "of the Virgin Mary Feeding the Dinosaurs" is a wonderful folkloric image.
The Virgin, awash with inspirational glow, extends a palmful of lifegiving manna toward the
Tyrannosaur. Cherubim and shepherds hover about the docile T. Rex, perhaps soothing it,
perhaps feeding off of its raw animal energy, while other Dinosaurs -- here an Allosaurus, here an
Iguanodon, and this possibly a Pterodactyl -- gather to feed at the well of her generosity.
Note the graceful contrapunto of the Virgin, later appropriated by Michelangelo. And the
exquisite detail in the features of the central dinosaur. Structurally, the composition is similar to
The Nativity with the Mother at its center and the animals surrounding as witnesses to the
heavenly moment.
But here, the Christ child is replaced with the most terrible of the terrible lizards,
Tyrannosaurus Rex!
(lights out)
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