2022年经济学人 掠夺艺术品是为了留下伤口

Books and Arts -- Book Review

文学与艺术——书评

Conflict and culture -- Booty haul

冲突与文化——满载战利品

Plunder¹. By Cynthia Saltzman.

《战利品》，辛西娅·萨尔茨曼著。

In September 1797 Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops stripped a huge 16th-century painting by Paolo Veronese from the wall of a Venetian monastery².

1797年9月，拿破仑·波拿巴的军队从威尼斯一座修道院的墙上夺走了一幅由保罗·委罗内塞创作的16世纪巨幅油画。

Rolled around a wooden cylinder³ and packed into a crate⁴ smothered⁵ with tar⁶, “The Wedding Feast at Cana” was shipped to the Louvre.

这幅《加纳的婚礼》被卷在一个木制圆筒上，装进一个涂满沥青的板条箱里，被运到了卢浮宫。

Plundering⁷ art was designed “to rattle⁸ foes” and “leave a wound close to their hearts”, writes Cynthia Saltzman.

辛西娅·萨尔茨曼写道，掠夺艺术品是为了“让敌人惊慌失措”，并“在他们心中留下伤口”。

Her perceptive⁹ book traces Napoleon’s systematic¹⁰ gathering¹¹ of artistic¹² treasures as he conquered Italy, focusing on Veronese’s masterpiece.

她的书极具洞察力，追溯了拿破仑在征服意大利时有计划地收集艺术珍品的过程，重点关注了委罗内塞的杰作。

“The Wedding Feast” depicts¹³ Jesus turning water into wine at a party in Galilee.

《加纳的婚礼》描绘了耶稣在加利利的一次宴会上把水变成酒的情景。

Veronese sets his version in aristocratic Venice.

委罗内塞将他这一版本设定在贵族威尼斯。

Marble columns and balustrades frame a boisterous¹⁴ cast of 130 life-size figures in sumptuous¹⁵ brocade and pearls.

大理石柱子和栏杆上勾勒有130个真人大小的人物，装饰着华丽的锦缎和珍珠。

Servants swarm¹⁶ around the guests; onlookers¹⁷ throw flowers into the air. At the centre of the dining table sits Jesus, his head encircled by a halo of golden light.

仆人们簇拥在客人周围；旁观者将鲜花抛向空中。餐桌中央坐着耶稣，他的头顶环绕着一圈金色的光晕。

For this vast work—a “wonder of the world”, as Giacomo Barri put it in 1671—Veronese was paid a third more than Tintoretto was for his “Crucifixion” a couple of years later.

贾可莫·巴里在1671年称这部巨作为“世界奇迹”，委罗内塞画这幅画获得的报酬比几年后丁托列托创作《基督受刑》的报酬高出三分之一。

Napoleon engineered his quarrel with Venice.

拿破仑精心安排了他与威尼斯的争端。

When a French ship tried to sail unauthorised into the lagoon¹⁸ in April 1797, the Venetians opened fire.

1797年4月，当一艘法国船只试图在未经授权的情况下驶入环礁湖时，威尼斯人开火了。

Several soldiers were killed; war was declared.

几名士兵阵亡；战争开始。

Venice soon surrendered.

威尼斯很快就投降了。

According to a treaty drawn¹⁹ up by Napoleon, the city promised to hand over 3m francs, five warships²⁰, 500 manuscripts and 20 paintings.

根据拿破仑起草的一份条约，威尼斯承诺上交300万法郎、5艘军舰、500份手稿和20幅油画。

A French art committee selected the works.

一个法国艺术委员会选出了这些作品。

Even amid the somewhat excessive detail of battle campaigns and negotiations²¹, the book keeps sight of the rich personalities²² linked by the painting.

尽管对战争和谈判的细节描写有些过多，这本书还是保留了与这幅画相关的丰富的人物形象。

Veronese was a “first-draft”, speedy painter, rarely making mistakes or alterations²³ (Titian, by contrast, was a ponderous²⁴ reviser).

委罗内塞是一位“初稿”画家，作画速度很快，很少出错或进行修改（相比之下，提香则是一位喜欢不断修修改改的人）。

After meeting Napoleon in 1796, a Venetian governor described him as “a vain man who believes he is superhuman”.

在1796年与拿破仑会面后，一位威尼斯总督将他描述为“一个自认为是超人的虚荣之人”。

An envoy²⁵ saw him as “anything but good-looking”.

一位使节认为他“长得跟好看沾不上边”。

Napoleon’s own claims to intellectual prowess—“a singular thing about me is my memory”—are put in perspective; he ranked 42nd out of 58 in his final military exam.

拿破仑自己所声称的智力非凡——“我唯一的独特之处就是我的记忆力”——确是如此；在他最后一次军队考试中，他在58名考生中排名第42位。

Jacques-Louis David’s portrait of 1805 obsequiously²⁶ shows him charging across the Alps on a virile²⁷ white horse.

1805年，雅克·路易斯·大卫奉承地画了一幅肖像画，画中的拿破仑骑着一匹雄壮的白马，正跃过阿尔卑斯山。

Ms Saltzman says he rode a donkey on the steepest parts.

萨尔茨曼女士说，他在最陡峭的地方也是骑驴子的。

She is very good on Napoleon’s justifications²⁸ for theft.

关于拿破仑为偷窃辩护的这一段，她写得非常好。

The French, he said, were doing Europe a favour by rescuing these Italian masterpieces from neglect and obscurity.

拿破仑说是法国人解救了这些被忽视的默默无闻的意大利名作，这是在帮欧洲的忙。

Previously²⁹ only a few could see them; at the Louvre they would be on display to everyone.

之前只有少数人能看到它们；如今在卢浮宫，它们将面向所有人展出。

“Spoils of war” became “a public good”, Ms Saltzman writes.

萨尔茨曼写道，“战利品”变成了“公共物品”。

Meanwhile Napoleon and his wife, Josephine de Beauharnais, dipped into the hoard³⁰ to decorate their properties.

与此同时，拿破仑和他的妻子何塞芬·德·博哈奈把手伸向了这些藏品，用来装饰他们的房子。

After his defeat in 1815, France returned only half the artworks stolen from Italy.

1815年拿破仑战败后，法国只归还了一半从意大利偷走的艺术品。

“The Wedding Feast” was not among them, the Louvre’s boss claiming it would not survive the journey.

《加纳的婚礼》不在其中，卢浮宫的领导声称这幅画经受不住旅途的折腾。

Ms Saltzman ends with the painting’s life thereafter, including its influence on Vincent van Gogh and John Ruskin, and its concealment³¹ from the Nazis³² in assorted³³ chateaux.

萨尔茨曼女士在书的结尾描述了这幅画此后的命运，包括它对文森特·梵高和约翰·拉斯金的影响，以及它被藏在各式城堡里以躲避纳粹的搜查。

Recently it has hung opposite, and in the shadow of, the “Mona Lisa”—a poignant³⁴ end to an absorbing story of conflict and culture.

最近，它被挂在《蒙娜丽莎》的对面，笼罩在《蒙娜丽莎》的阴影之下。这是一个关于冲突和文化的引人入胜的故事的辛酸结局。

1 plunder   

vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠

参考例句：

• The thieves hid their plunder in the cave.贼把赃物藏在山洞里。
• Trade should not serve as a means of economic plunder.贸易不应当成为经济掠夺的手段。

2 monastery   

n.修道院，僧院，寺院

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• She was appointed the superior of the monastery two years ago.两年前她被任命为这个修道院的院长。

3 cylinder   

n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸

参考例句：

• What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
• The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。

4 crate   

vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱

参考例句：

• We broke open the crate with a blow from the chopper.我们用斧头一敲就打开了板条箱。
• The workers tightly packed the goods in the crate.工人们把货物严紧地包装在箱子里。

5 smothered   

（使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制

参考例句：

• He smothered the baby with a pillow. 他用枕头把婴儿闷死了。
• The fire is smothered by ashes. 火被灰闷熄了。

6 tar   

n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于

参考例句：

• The roof was covered with tar.屋顶涂抹了一层沥青。
• We use tar to make roads.我们用沥青铺路。

7 plundering   

掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The troops crossed the country, plundering and looting as they went. 部队经过乡村，一路抢劫掳掠。
• They amassed huge wealth by plundering the colonies. 他们通过掠夺殖民地聚敛了大笔的财富。

8 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

9 perceptive   

adj.知觉的，有洞察力的，感知的

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• He is very perceptive and nothing can be hidden from him.他耳聪目明，什么事都很难瞒住他。

10 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

11 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

12 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

13 depicts   

描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述

参考例句：

• The book vividly depicts French society of the 1930s. 这本书生动地描绘了20 世纪30 年代的法国社会。
• He depicts the sordid and vulgar sides of life exclusively. 他只描写人生肮脏和庸俗的一面。

14 boisterous   

adj.喧闹的，欢闹的

参考例句：

• I don't condescend to boisterous displays of it.我并不屈就于它热热闹闹的外表。
• The children tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play.孩子们经常是先静静地聚集在一起，不一会就开始吵吵嚷嚷戏耍开了。

15 sumptuous   

adj.豪华的，奢侈的，华丽的

参考例句：

• The guests turned up dressed in sumptuous evening gowns.客人们身着华丽的夜礼服出现了。
• We were ushered into a sumptuous dining hall.我们被领进一个豪华的餐厅。

16 swarm   

n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入

参考例句：

• There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
• A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。

17 onlookers   

n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene of the crash. 在撞车地点聚集了一大群围观者。
• The onlookers stood at a respectful distance. 旁观者站在一定的距离之外，以示尊敬。

18 lagoon   

n.泻湖，咸水湖

参考例句：

• The lagoon was pullulated with tropical fish.那个咸水湖聚满了热带鱼。
• This area isolates a restricted lagoon environment.将这一地区隔离起来使形成一个封闭的泻湖环境。

19 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

20 warships   

军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只

参考例句：

• The enemy warships were disengaged from the battle after suffering heavy casualties. 在遭受惨重伤亡后，敌舰退出了海战。
• The government fitted out warships and sailors for them. 政府给他们配备了战舰和水手。

21 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

22 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

23 alterations   

n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变

参考例句：

• Any alterations should be written in neatly to the left side. 改动部分应书写清晰，插在正文的左侧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code. 基因突变是指DNA 密码的改变。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 ponderous   

adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的

参考例句：

• His steps were heavy and ponderous.他的步伐沉重缓慢。
• It was easy to underestimate him because of his occasionally ponderous manner.由于他偶尔现出的沉闷的姿态，很容易使人小看了他。

25 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

26 obsequiously   

参考例句：

• You must guard against those who fawn upon you and bow obsequiously before you! 对阿谀奉承、点头哈腰的人要格外警惕！ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• When everyone saw the mayor, they all bowed obsequiously – he was the only exception. 所有人见到市长都点头哈腰，只有他是个例外。 来自互联网

27 virile   

adj.男性的；有男性生殖力的；有男子气概的；强有力的

参考例句：

• She loved the virile young swimmer.她爱上了那个有男子气概的年轻游泳运动员。
• He wanted his sons to become strong,virile,and athletic like himself.他希望他的儿子们能长得像他一样强壮、阳刚而又健美。

28 justifications   

正当的理由，辩解的理由( justification的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• If he a vulgar person, she does not have justifications for him. 如果他是个低级趣味的人，她早就不会理他了。
• It depends on their effect on competition and possible justifications. 这则取决于它们对于竞争的影响和可能存在的正当抗辩理由。

29 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

30 hoard   

n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积

参考例句：

• They have a hoard of food in the basement.地下室里有他们贮藏的食物。
• How many curios do you hoard in your study?你在你书房里聚藏了多少古玩？

31 concealment   

n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒

参考例句：

• the concealment of crime 对罪行的隐瞒
• Stay in concealment until the danger has passed. 把自己藏起来，待危险过去后再出来。

32 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

33 assorted   

adj.各种各样的，各色俱备的

参考例句：

• There's a bag of assorted sweets on the table.桌子上有一袋什锦糖果。
• He has always assorted with men of his age.他总是与和他年令相仿的人交往。

34 poignant   

adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的

参考例句：

• His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
• It is especially poignant that he died on the day before his wedding.他在婚礼前一天去世了，这尤其令人悲恸。