Monday 3 October 2011

Le Berceau de la Confédération


Le Berceau de la Confédération (Cradle of the Confederation) was painted by Charles Giron in 1901 and hangs in the Federal Palace in Berne.  I hadn't realised, until I looked it up, that it's a mural and enormous.  It measures 11.5 metres by 5 meters (38 feet by 16).


I think this picture from Wikipedia gives a better idea of the size because it shows the setting.  The scene is Lake Uri, part of Lake Lucerne.  In the high resolution picture you can see a fish on the topmost ledge on the left which the artist painted as an April Fool's joke because the parliament building opened on 1 April.  He also painted the clouds as a naked woman with an olive branch to symbolise peace, but I don't see that at all.
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8 comments:

  1. I would have a hard time concentrating on business with a view like that !

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  2. How true, Karen, I hadn't thought of that!

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  3. I've just had a message from Carol H to say that she can see the naked woman but not the fish. I had another look at the high resolution image (using the link) and this time I found the naked woman waving the olive branch. She has wings, as well she might, sitting on a cloud. The fish isn't so easy to see, on the cliff ledge.

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  4. I saw the cloud woman and noticed her wings too! And I saw the fish. I love that the artist put these almost subliminal images in, how witty. It is massive, isn't it?

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  5. I like the hidden images too, Emm. :)

    I'm just wishing now that I'd adjusted the colour of my scan. It looks very different.

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  6. I often find images look different on different computers. I post what looks like a nice post on my home PC and get to work and the images are too dark or are yellow. It is weird.

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  7. I noticed the woman, and after some time I also noticed the fish. Nice post!

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