Zendoodle Thursday - The Polecat and the Snake

I decided I couldn't really class this as a Zendoodle since I started off with very clear intentions about what I was going to draw, however, I will post it under the "Zendoodle Thursday" title for the moment.

This drawing was inspired by a conversation on G+ based around this painting by Jan Pauwel Gillemans (1618-1675) the Elder:

The painting is called "Still Life with Fruit, a Parrot & Polecats"

More information can be found on the V&A website.

Along with the painting, there was an extract of the poem "The Gyres", by Yeats:

Conduct and work grow coarse, and coarse the soul,
What matter? Those that Rocky Face holds dear,
Lovers of horses and of women, shall,
From marble of a broken sepulchre,
Or dark betwixt the polecat and the owl,
Or any rich, dark nothing disinter
The workman, noble and saint, and all things run
On that unfashionable gyre again.

I learnt that these kinds of paintings are often not simply still lives, but heavy with symbolism.

We briefly discussed the symbolism within in the painting, particularly of the Polecats.

It was mentioned that in Shakespeare's day, polecats represent harlots and in the past have been associated with Hecate and therefore considered evil.

Perhaps the quarrelling of the polecats amidst the gluttony hints at the underlying evils of greed. 

Maybe they represent how the world has been created perfectly, as the still life is laid out beautifully, everything in it's place, but they are those that are not satisfied with what they have and end up messing it up and causing trouble.

And what is the parrot's role in all this? Is he berating the Polecats or egging them on?

And what of the grapes, that appear like huge glistening pearls? Are they there to be eaten or merely as a symbol of something else...pearls often represent purity and spiritual transformation. Do they represent some kind of alternative to the greed and gluttony? 

It is even right to attribute negative symbolism to animals? Is any animal inherently evil? And if we associate it as such, does this affect its chances of survival in a world where all nature is struggling to for it's place as humans overrun, pollute, kill and displace them?

So all this pondering and insight has been generated by a post and a painting on G+ and since I am somebody that does not consider myself to be particularly well educated or knowledgeable, these kinds of conversations with those that are, are a real gift to me.

I thank those wonderful gentlemen, and the artist and Yeats for enriching my life and inspiring me.

<