Monday, January 22, 2018

Carl Goebel - watercolors

Salvete omnes,

Carl Goebel - Viennese Austrian painter, watercolorist, who depicted genre scenes of the XIX century Europe, especially of the Austrian empire (remember that since 1849 it became Austria-Hungarian Empire).
Below it is Belgrade in the XIX century, true that there are very few horses visible, but the colorful scenery and human types are present, giving this capital of Serbia a very Near Eastern character (more than 400 years of the Ottoman domination would have done it).
I have been to Belgrade a few times, great city.
 A peasant stable with a peasant horse and its working tack
 Carriage horses getting a break with a grey getting a new set of shoes
Smithy in the winter
 The nomads of XIX century Central and Eastern Europe - the Gypsy (today it is used more politically correct their own name  Roma or Romani , which is kind of strange, since e.g. in the English speaking world they use  names like Poles or Polish for the Polish people, instead of using our own name Polacy/Polki - :) , nota bene I love the old name they used for us - Polonians, just lovely) - one of their traditional occupations was trade in horses, but also the art of horse stealing and illicit trade across the international borders.
In the Polish legal history annals there are tons of stories about Gypsy banditry, thievery and mischief, but we also have a saying <kowal zawinil cygana powiesili> Blacksmith committed a crime but they hung the Gypsy; a little proverb about the scapegoat who was sacrificed for the sins of others . Nota bene love this saying by Mark Twain - There are many scapegoats for our sins, but the most popular is providence.

fortune telling was another Gypsy 'occupation' and quite popular with the gentry, peasantry or town folks. I enjoy the look on the boy's face as he looks lovingly at the horse he holds for the two ladies that came for some divination and magic..

 Sables with some Oriental looking horses
 In Poland 'cyganska muzyka,'   Gypsy music and song, is popular, and some of the artists hold national acclaim and popularity.

and back to less exotic XIX century Europe, just this little delightful rendering of an Alpine water mill, with women doing laundry in the creek

enjoy
ps
one of my most favorite films of all time - Табор уходит в небо or Gypsy wagon camp escapes to Heaven -   (release title in English is odd, isn't it? - Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven  )  it is about the Gypsy passion for horses, women, music (eg Евгений Дога - Яблоко (Табор Уходит В Небо) - look for it on youtube) and love.

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