I'm most curious about the activity portrayed. I see a bent tree (which under other circumstances could be a "marker tree" designating a trail, but not in the middle of an orchard) against which lies an axe. Some limbs have been trimmed off - to what purpose? It's not an effort to remove the tree, which could be easily accomplished more directly. Young trees get bent if they are leaned on by falling deadwood or heavily laden with winter ice; it must have happened some years ago to have the branches emerging from the horizontal segment in a vertical orientation. I get the sense that this tree has been fashioned like this for some practical purpose.
The trees in the ?cherry orchard are painted white to waist level, and the novice appears to be in the process of doing so. Is it the application of a pest repellant? Or does it have a religious significance?
The items on the ground in the orchard are presumably related to the ?Russia Orthodox religion. Perhaps they help explain what's going on.
It's a most interesting painting that tells a story - but I can't decipher what the story is.
I don't think it is an orchard -- I think it is a graveyard, and the man is doing maintenance. He seems to have a bucket of white paint, and he is burning dead branches. The various religious looking "icons" on the ground might be grave markers.
ReplyDeleteI agree. it is a graveyard. looks like the novice cuts the lower branches and paints the trees (with anti-fungal-paint, because of the cutting). he does that every spring. the one he is leaning on is bent because he does it every year and has done it for a long time. always leaning on that tree, since it is the last one left on his tour. and there he makes his fire and rests. his obedience shows in the routine that is also visible in the tree growth.
ReplyDeleteLooks like he's a beekeeper. See the hives in the background? He's pruning the trees to make them flower abundantly, and the smoke from the fire is to calm the bees. I'd guess his "obedience" has to do with having his head in a tree full of freaking honeybees. Oh and he's got a bucket for the honey and what could be a (red) smoke box in the grass on the left left.
ReplyDeleteoh oops yeah i guess the bucket is paint, but i maintain this is a monk tending some fancied-up beehives.
ReplyDeleteA site had a title on the painting in Cyrillic; it translated as "acolyte" instead of servant. Not that that helps. Are those a cat and kitten in the grass to the right?
ReplyDeleteThe other photo, here -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.artlib.ru/index.php?id=11&idp=0&fp=2&uid=901&iid=8717&idg=0&user_serie=0
is a little clearer re details, and that does look like a cat or two on the ground.
After another search, I found one more photo of the painting here -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.litsovet.ru/index.php/gallery.view?gallery_id=7006
with a closeup of the figure, but no further info re the context except the word that Google translates "Novice."
"As the twig is bent, so grows the tree." The bent tree was obedient when it was a novice tree.
ReplyDeleteI believe they are apple trees. That would explain why some are bent (easier access to the apples) and also why they are painted white at the bottom. I understand that it is a form of insect prevention. Lime mixed with water.
ReplyDeleteI would say it is very beatifull, oldtime view of the springtime. The frost damaged or diseased branches are being chopped off and burned, trees are being painted in order to prevent the insects and the man is taking a break :) The branches are usually burned to prevent the spreading of various diseases to other trees.
ReplyDeleteTo be a bit critical - he is painting the trees too late - that has to be done before they bloom, also one cannot burn the branches in the middle of the blooming orchard - the blooms get heat damage and bear no fruits
I think that the bent tree is a metaphor for the novice; don't you think he's rather old to be a "novice"? He and the tree have both been bent from many years of service to the master/owner of the orchard.
ReplyDeleteI think the man has many chores; painting the trees with either a fungus, insect or deer repellant, pruning, bee keeping; you name it, he has to do it. I agree that the tree is probably bent from his many years of using it as his resting place.
Doesn't look like a graveyard to me.
I perceive the "icons" to be pot burners that or stoves that can be lit to keep the trees from frosting.
ReplyDeleteHe certinaly is an attendant to an orchard.
The artist who painted this is alive, and according to a Google search may be on Facebook. Perhaps this post will find its way to him and he can offer some definitive answers. :.)
ReplyDeleteFruit trees are painted white in early spring to prevent the sun's warmth from causeing the sap to rise on an early warm day. If a hard freeze should then come it will seriously damage the trees.
ReplyDeleteFrom eHow
ReplyDelete"The old-fashioned technique of whitewashing tree trunks is an effective way to minimize sun-scald on bark during cold winter months. The winter sun can be bright, and warm daytime temperatures can cause some of the tree trunk's tissues to stir from their dormancy, and look for moisture to grow. Yet the roots are still in cold ground, no moisture to be found, and this causes the tree to dehydrate on its sunny side during the winter."
You also see it on palms in the tropics as an insect repellant
Thank you, Sue.
ReplyDeleteThose who pointed out that he's a beekeeper are correct; for an example of the exquisite crafted beehives you can find in a Russian monastery, look here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Troitsky_Monastery_in_Tyumen-7.jpg
ReplyDeleteAs for the "age" of the novice: Novices can be of any age! Late commitments to the monastic life were not and are not unusual in Orthodoxy, with many pious men entering after their wives were dead or families grown. What is strange instead is that the apparent "novice" is wearing a koukoulion; this is typically reserved for monks of a much higher degree, and I've never seen one used as work wear in a monastery! (My experience, however, is limited.)
The items in the left foreground are stranger: I see a helm, shield and spear there. They may be intended for some symbolic purpose, but I cannot interpret what.
Interestingly, the foreground elements mentioned by Ariston (helm, shield, spear), are NOT PRESENT in this other photo of the painting -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.litsovet.ru/images/galleries/6764/7006/4c7293dc.jpg
??perhaps there are several versions. Or copies.
OK, I'm gonna take a flyer here. I don't think the painting tells a story. I think the artist lived or was staying near a monastery that had an orchard and beehives. It appealed to him visually, so he made friends with the monk who tended the bees and the trees and persuaded him to take a brooding contemplative pose leaning on the tree so he could paint the scene. He added a smattering of other elements that may or may not have been in the actual scene just for visual interest, because he liked how they looked.
ReplyDeleteThe title "The Obedience of the Novice" doesn't mean anything beyond the fact that the monk is doing his assigned tasks in the orchard. Maybe there could be a suggestion that the monk is dreaming of the more exciting life he could be leading if he kicked over the traces, but I think that's reading in.
Don't think there's any heavy symbolism going on. I certainly could be wrong, but I get the sense the artist was just intrigued by the visuals and the romantic-looking monk and wanted to get it all on canvas. It sure is a busy composition, for all its tranquility.
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