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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
For the record, I’m less certain than ever that I have this right as another Vesuvius piece. But until I actually find anything that does resemble this piece, I’ll leave my former analysis.
APPEARANCE
Seen only once, in room 237, from 71:50-71:57, as the first instance of Jack’s-eye-view begins.
IDENTITY
So there’s this unidentified piece that for a long time I thought was more landscape-sized than portrait-sized. Then I did a little math with the red lines and the wallpaper to discover it is portrait, which narrows the candidacy some, to pieces like the Raffaele Carelli painting you see in at the bottom right. But you can also see the skyline in the piece, which resembles many, many other depictions of the Bay of Naples from this general perspective (purple box). What I’ve since discovered is that there’s a large number of paintings of Naples and Vesuvius (dozens, maybe more), which are all, at the compositional level, identical to the piece in the film, but only if you cut off the rightmost third of the image. See that cluster of images around the green box one (showing the painting in the film stretched out to the size it should be from the front)? Those are some of the best candidates, some of which are by recognized artists, some of which are anonymous, and none of which are exactly what’s in the film. If you took elements from each, you could cobble together the one in the film, which is why I don’t suspect this to be a fabrication (though it could be), but rather a more obscure example of what was clearly a popular assignment at the School of Posillipo in the 1700s.
It was from researching this piece that I identified a different painting in the film, which makes me believe I’ve nailed the subject matter. But until I have my breakthrough (whatever the verdict), check out that other piece.
SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE
Also, there’s a piece I strongly believe to be the work of Alois Arnegger, for reasons that should become clear if you click here. That other work is likely of the Kaiser mountains in Austria. But Arnegger moved to Naples later in life, and composed a few works of that region. His son, Gottfried, painted Naples with much greater zeal, with many works matching the style, if not the exact form, of our piece here. The piece likely by his father is part of a set I call the “Grady Twin Paintings“, the other of which is likely by Orestes de Grandmaison, the painter son of Nicholas de Grandmaison, whose works appear in the film for certain. If this ever turns out to be by Gottfried (and you better believe I’ve looked), that would make for two sets of father-son painters in the film. And one connecting to this father-son room would be rather significant.
There are numerous references to Mt. Vesuvius in the film, a volcano ancient Romans believed was infused with the “genius” of the demigod Herakles. The painting beside this one is by Nadia Benois, the mother of the only actor Kubrick ever directed to Oscar gold, Peter Ustinov, for the 1960 film Spartacus (which Kubrick disowned from his dissatisfaction with the finished product, no doubt owing to his lack of total artistic control). The Spartacus of history helped lead a slave rebellion which lead to an encampment on Mt. Vesuvius. He was defeated 2 years later in nearby Senerchia (about 60km apart, as the crow flies), so I’m wondering if the mystery piece might end up relating to some other detail in Spartacus’s life.
In other words, there’s a few ways that this piece could really help tie the film together.
MIRRORFORM SIGNIFICANCE
It appears while Wendy is explaining to Jack how Danny went into room 237 and was strangled by a “crazy woman”. At that moment, the Benois piece ensnares her eye, and the possible Vesuvius lodges in Jack’s head. I have a lot of thoughts about the mother subtext inherent to Wendy’s painting, explored in the review of that piece. But the mother subtext of the Vesuvius business is possibly even more complex, as this brief intro can attest.
Next art reference: Mandarin Ducks
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 