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ART OF ROOM 237
BABY LEOPARD ON A ROCK ⎔ DOG, BOY & ST. JOHN RIVER ⎔ FOUR JOHN GOULD BIRDS ⎔ FOX RESTING ⎔ MANDARIN DUCKS ⎔ MYSTERIES ⎔ MYSTERY VESUVIUS ⎔ PORTRAIT OF A FOX: ALERT ⎔ STILL LIFE OF FLOWERS IN A JUG
APPEARANCE
From 71:50-71:57 we see a piece I call the Mystery Vesuvius, as the Jack’s-eye-view moves through the room. Then, at 75:48-75:50 we see a piece behind Jack’s head as he’s fleeing that resembles the works of John Gould, but which I’ve more recently come to suspect might be the work of Alcide D’Orbigny.
IDENTITY
As for the anonymous Naples/Vesuvius piece, I’m less certain than ever that this is what’s in that piece, but for a look at my thoughts on it, head here, where I’ve written on it at length. And for the D’Orbigny piece, head here.
I’m going to leave my analysis of what I considered the closest of the John Gould works, not because I think it’s right – it’s clearly not – but because I’m not 100% on the D’Orbigny, and, as you’ll see, the Gould piece is frustratingly close to being right.
There’s a bird painting near the door that has largely resembled, for me, many hummingbird paintings by John Gould, this being the best example. It depicts the nectarinia gouldiae, a type of sunbird that doesn’t seem to exist anymore, though I was reading that which birds belong to which genus has been a matter of ongoing debate, so I suspect this bird simply goes by a different name now, and might be the Mrs. Gould’s sunbird (named for Gould’s wife, who died at age 37). It’s of minor importance, since this is not the right painting, but many of the sunbird paintings resemble the image in the film (and several birds are named for the departed Mrs. Gould). The nectarinia birds are essential pollinators for Erythrina flowers, which caught my eye since Geryon (of Pillars of Hercules fame) lived on an island called Erythia. Both the name of that island and this flower basically mean “the red one”. Now, I should note that I’ve since discovered a website touting some dozens of books-worth of Gould’s bird art, and I’ve poured through the entire database of hundreds (maybe thousands) of images to no avail. Nevertheless, I would suspect the piece in the film, if not Gould’s, to be by a contemporary with an identical style. It’s possible that database didn’t contain the complete works of Gould, but it did take me some hours to go through. The search continues.
GENERAL 237 THOUGHTS
My strongest feeling is that the art in this room was meant to be harder to ID, if at all. While the majority of artworks I’ve ID’d are by Canadian artists, 237 seems to be more about Europe (past the Colville at the door).
Also, there’s an interesting connecting thread with Johns from outside 237 to inside. Out in the hall you have the John Webbers, at the foyer you have Dog, Boy, and St. John River, and the bedroom bird paintings, as we’ll see momentarily, are by John Gould. Jack is derived from John, so perhaps that’s part of it. Otherwise, we have a kind of “river” of significant Johns in this part of the hotel. And the name “Jack” comes from John, so I suspect that’s part of the inspiration there.
Recall too that the John Webber painting directly outside 237 is of a woman from a cluster of islands that came to be known as the Fox Islands. And here we have two foxes, by a Thompson. And we have a Thomson at the entrance to the building. So, just as the carpet pattern here flows from the entrance wall to the bathroom, it seems more likely that the art here is something of a dead end, or a one-way street. The art we’ve seen before tells us about this art, not the other way around. Like the Boy at the St. John River, we’ve gone as far as we can go. That said, we do have 21 more paintings to look at after this.
Next art reference: The Eruption of Vesuvius in 1774
MAIN PAGE ⎔ SECTION PAGE ⎔ SITE MAP ⎔ GLOSSARY
OTHER MAIN PAGES FOR SHINING ANALYSIS
THE MIRRORFORM ⎔ THE BEATLES ⎔ THE RUM AND THE RED
BACKGROUND ART ⎔ OVERLOOK PHOTOGRAPHS ⎔ GOLDEN SPIRALS
PHI GRIDS ⎔ PATTERNS ⎔ VIOLENCE AND INDIGENA ⎔ ABSURDITIES
THE STORY ROOM ⎔ ANIMAL SYMBOLS ⎔ THE ANNOTATED SHINING
EYE SCREAM 