March 2011 – Page 6 – The History Blog

Happy birthday, Michelangelo!

March 6, 2011

Renaissance

Painter, architect, sculptor and all-around Renaissance Man Michelangelo Buonarotti was born 536 years ago today. Since it’s his birthday and he always considered his foremost talent to be in sculpture despite his fame as a painter, for a present I’m making this entry just about his skill as a stone carver.

His affinity for sculpture was established very early in his life. After Michelangelo’s mother died when he was six, he went to live with a stonecutter and his wife which is where he first began to learn how to chisel rock. His father sent him to school for a while after that, but Michelangelo was only interested in art, so by the time he was 13 he was apprenticed to artist Domenico Ghirlandaio. The boy’s genius was immediately clear. The next year, when he was only 14, Ghirlandaio began to pay him artist wages instead of apprentice wages.

He made this when he was 17 attending the Medici’s Humanist academy in Florence:

Michelangelo "Battle of the Centaurs" relief, 1492

It’s the last work he did at the Medici court — Lorenzo died shortly after it was completed — and it’s the first sculpture where the chisel marks are clearly left behind. There’s some debate on whether this was an intentional “unfinished” style or just plain unfinished, but Michelangelo considered it the greatest of his early pieces and it presages the boundary-busting three-dimensionality of his sculptures.

Interesting fun fact about Michelangelo’s sculptural style: since the ancient Greeks, sculptors had chiseled all around a block of stone to create a well-proportioned piece. Michelangelo saw the figure entire trapped in the stone, so he didn’t go around and around. He started at the front and carved all the way to the back, liberating the character from its marble prison. He did it with a speed and accuracy that left his contemporaries slack-jawed.

He was so famous that tourists would go see him work just like they’d visit the Colosseum. A French visitor to Rome during the last years of Michelangelo’s life (he died in 1564) described with awe watching the master, now over 80 years old, at work.

He can hammer more chips out of very hard marble in fifteen minutes than three young stonecarvers can do in three or four hours. It has to be seen to be believed. He went at it with such fury and impetuosity that I thought the whole work would be knocked to pieces. He struck off with one blow chips three or four inches thick, so close to the mark that, if he had gone just a fraction beyond, he would have ruined the entire work.

By then he had been chief architect of St. Peter’s basilica for almost twenty years, since 1546. He designed the famous dome. He would die three weeks before his 88th birthday. The dome wasn’t finished yet, but construction on the lower ring of the cupola had begun so he knew it was too late for them to switch plans and his design would be built.

Michelangelo’s fame was such that he was the first artist to have a biography written about him while he was still alive. The first was a chapter in Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists which you can and should read here (first edition published 1550, so long before Michelangelo died.) This site has snippets of Vasari’s biography accompanied by pictures of the works described.

Pompeii exhibit features body casts, vibrating floors

March 5, 2011

Ancient, Museums, Treasures

“Pompeii the Exhibit: Life and Death in the Shadow of Vesuvius” opened Friday at New York City’s Discovery Times Square museum. It boasts the largest collection of plaster body casts ever displayed at one time, plus everyday items like carbonized food and luxury items like elaborate frescoes and statuary.

The body casts were first made by late 19th century archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli. When he was excavating Pompeii, he noticed body-shaped cavities in the volcanic stone. When Vesuvius rained pumice and ash on the town, bodies were trapped. Over time the bodies decomposed, but the cavities that had hardened around them remained intact. Fiorelli figured out he could pour liquid plaster into the cavities, then when the plaster dried, just break the pumice stone that surrounded it.

This method has left us with over a thousand whole-body death masks, basically, of Pompeiian men, women, children, dogs, even a pig, captured at the moment of death. The exhibit includes body casts of an entire family that was found together in a basement room of the House of the Gold Bracelet. The youngest child of the family was covered in such fine ash that you can actually make out his eyelashes.

Another cast in the exhibit is not from Pompeii, but from the neighboring town of Herculaneum. It’s a cast of 32 skeletons found clustered together on the seashore in 1982, nine of them children under the age of 12. Pompeii left no skeletal remains, but from 1982 to 2002, 350 skeletons would be found on the Herculaneum beach.

The exhibit doesn’t just greet you at the door with mounds of bodies, though. The idea is to give you a sense of regular life in Pompeii first. You see decorative art like frescoes and mosaics, gladiator helmets, graffiti, even a little sprinkling of erotic art discreetly tucked away in corners.

Then you walk into a bare room and the doors close behind you. A timelapse representation of Vesuvius’ eruption is projected on a screen, displaying an accelerated view of the day and a half from the first pop to the final destruction of the town. As the volcanic action increases, the walls and floors vibrate to keep pace until finally it all goes dark. The walls of the room open, and you find yourself in a dark, blue-lit gallery filled with the plaster body casts.

Sure, it’s gimmicky but I cannot deny it sounds pretty awesome. The tickets are pricey ($25 for an adult). Some part of that is meant to go to maintenance for Pompeii’s crumbling sites, at least.

Here’s a video from Discovery News that shows some of the objects on display.

Mudlarking about the Thames

March 4, 2011

Modern(ish), Treasures

Reuters has a riveting profile of official Society of Thames Mudlark Steve Brooker. Mudlarks are an elite cadre of treasure hunters licensed by the Port of London Authority to search the muddy banks of the Thames in the old city for historical artifacts. Although anybody can scratch the surface of the low-tide shore, the most prime historical real estate — the north bank of the Thames between Westminster and the Tower of London which has hosted docking points for occupiers and traders since Roman days — is reserved for the licensed mudlarks.

The Society of Thames Mudlarks was founded in 1980, but the name and profession go back to the late 18th century. Mudlarks back then were mainly children who scavenged the shore for anything of monetary value. Although they could find enough that was salable to not starve to death and at least they had some degree of independence, it was dangerous, filthy work. Untreated sewage, dead bodies, broken glass: when you’re barefoot and in rags, these are not fun things to have to wade through.

Today’s mudlarks have it comparatively easy. They are volunteers armed with a passion for history and comfy hip waders. They assiduously record everything they find. Any objects more than 300 years old go to the Museum of London to be logged. Most of their discoveries are returned to them after documentation, but particularly important finds are kept for research and display. For instance, one of Steve Brooker’s most compelling finds was a complete ball and chain, sans the leg it once shackled, that is now on display at the Museum of London Docklands.

Brooker is a window-fitter by trade. He is a self-taught expert in the history of London, and a highly valued one.

Kate Sumnall, an archaeologist and Finds Liaison Officer with the Museum of London who is charged with identifying mudlark finds says their work is “phenomenally important”.

“They have made a huge contribution by donating artefacts to us, but also in terms of the knowledge they bring because they have been showing us their finds for such a long time — I often learn from them,” she told Reuters.

“The medieval toys and pilgrim badges (they have found) are two of the key collections where their contributions have really helped change archaeological interpretation of the past.”

Sumnall estimates that the Museum of London gets 500 objects of historical significance a year from the mudlarks, including everything from medieval pottery to Viking decorative mounts to Roman leather shoes. Since the Thames was a garbage dump for as long as there have been people living on its banks, the mudlarks uncover these elements of everyday life from hundreds and thousands of years ago all the time. When they dig through the mud, they’re excavating an extended, intensely varied midden heap.

So even though Britain’s Treasure Act applies to their finds — anything older than 300 years that contains more than 10% gold or silver belongs to the crown which will compensate the finder and landowner for its value — mudlarks aren’t really hunting for that kind of treasure. It’s items that have a clear connection to the past, like the low-value trading tokens that identify their former owners, that inspire excitement.

Not that it’s all fun and games. It’s actually very hard, often dangerous work. The river has extreme tides, so those exposed muddy shores can find themselves filling up with high tide very quickly. Even the fully exposed mud can suck you down like quicksand if it’s thoroughly water saturated.

Brooker’s adventures larking about in the mud of the Thames are being televised. Mud Men airs on the UK History Channel and it sounds way too cool to end up on the US schedule. Brooker takes a radio personality with him on his digs, and visiting experts provide commentary on the finds and historical context. We get Ax Men instead. :blankstare:

Hawass resigns; looting far worse than initially stated

March 3, 2011

Ancient, Looting, Modern(ish), Social policy

The New York Times reports that as of today, Zahi Hawass has resigned his position as Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities. The position and ministry were created by former President Hosni Mubarak to form part of a new putatively reformist cabinet, but since Hawass had been Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (in substance Egypt’s dictator of antiquities) for 20 years, it didn’t seem to alter his job description very much.

After Mubarak was deposed, Hawass became a target for protesters. Hundreds of unemployed archaeologists held a rally at the Ministry of Antiquities gates protesting the corruption and nepotism rife in the ministry. The tourism industry is a huge foreign cash cow for the country, protesters pointed out, but there is no public accounting of where it all goes.

Zahi Hawass gave intimations he might take this step in a phone interview on Tuesday when he said his ministry was incapable of protecting Egypt’s ancient sites and museums, a full 180 from his earlier statements downplaying the looting in the wake of the protests that brought down Hosni Mubarak’s government.

In a telephone interview he said that thieves on Monday had broken into two warehouses near the pyramids of Giza that held artifacts excavated in the early 20th century. It was not yet clear what had been taken. He said that the police were no longer protecting Egypt’s monuments and that his own staff was unarmed and unable to stop attacks.

“During the revolution nothing happened, but after the revolution many things are happening everywhere,” Mr. Hawass said. “People building houses, taking archaeological land, excavating at night — it’s like a nightmare, and I don’t know what I can do.”

The decision also comes in the wake of an allegation of misconduct far worse than self-promotional dishonesty. Apparently, Egyptian Manager of Antiquity Locations Nour el din Abdel Samad alleged in an interview (YouTube of interview in Arabic here, a translation that I can’t vouch for here) that Hawass had pocketed the money from fictitious building projects. He also suggested that Hawass covered up, and possibly profited from, thefts of artifacts from the Cairo Museum. He then tied it all together with some Zionist conspiracy stuff that is pretty unhinged, so who knows what’s fact and what’s fiction.

Hawass responded with a blog post in which he responded to the accusations by saying that they only strengthened his resolve to remain on the job.

Throughout this ordeal, there have been people who have been completely dishonest, and have tried, through their statements, to make the situation worse, in some cases by accusing me (in vague terms) of various inappropriate or even illegal behaviors. Of course, as even these people themselves know, none of these accusations has any basis in reality. When I was first appointed Minister of Antiquities Affairs, I thought my tenure might be very short, given the political situation. I did not care; I was only glad that the antiquities service had finally been given independence, and would no longer be under the Ministry of Culture. However, these attacks have convinced me that it is important for me to stay, so that I can continue to do everything in my power to protect Egypt’s cultural heritage. I have written to Egypt’s attorney general, asking him to look into some of the false accusations that have been made against me. I believe that addressing these issues will help stabilize the Ministry of Antiquities Affairs.

Today Hawass updated his blog again, only this time with a long list of damaged and looted sites that Egypt’s authorities have been unable to secure. He includes dire news of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s storage warehouse storing artifacts from the museum team’s excavation in Dahshur. Hawass reports it was attacked twice and that looters were able to overpower and tie up the guards. The news of his resignation followed.

Since Egypt’s prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, also resigned today, the army has asked the new prime minister, Essam Sharaf, to form an interim cabinet, of course including a replacement for Hawass. We’ll see how it all pans out.

The centennial of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire

March 2, 2011

Modern(ish)

March 25, 2011 will be the hundredth anniversary of the tragic fire at Greenwich Village’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory which saw 146 young men, women and children die burned, or trampled, or from hurling themselves out of the top stories’ windows in a desperate attempt to flee the fire. It was New York City’s largest workplace disaster until 9/11.

A huge crowd of onlookers bore horrified witness to a carnage that even the remarkably swift action of firefighters (it only took them a few minutes to get there and half an hour to put out the fire) could not prevent. The ladders on their engines only reached the 6th floor, and the water pumps of the era weren’t strong enough to force water to the top of the building.

Owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, the Triangle Factory in the Asch Building was notorious for dangerous working conditions. Shirtwaists, women’s blouses that were popular in the late Victorian and Edwardian era, were made in rooms full of young, mainly female immigrants. They were crammed back to back along 75-foot tables. There were work baskets filled with loose cotton scraps in the aisles and on the tables. These were a major fire hazard because loosely-packed pieces of cotton ignite immediately into a blaze; there’s no slow burn or delicate plumes of smoke to warn you.

The owners locked the back exit to prevent workers from absconding with a few bucks worth of fabric or thread, leaving only one way out in case of emergency, plus a rickety fire escape ladder that stopped two stories before the ground. The fire escape ladder would buckle under the weight of the fleeing workers, dropping them to a crushing death.

Blanck and Harris also had an enormously shady record of multiple early morning fires breaking out in two different factory locations. Said early morning fires just happened to coincide with the close of the peak shirtwaist selling season, thus destroying their inventory surplus while more than covering their losses with the payout from their insurance.

In 1909, 400 Triangle Factory employees had walked out, inspiring 20,000 garment workers from all over the city to follow in a general strike on November 23. Blanck and Harris hired prostitutes as scab workers and their pimps and the police to taunt and beat on the picketing workers. When in 1910 the cloakmakers joined the strike, industry and labor leaders signed an agreement that in theory established a grievance system in the garment industry. In practice, unscrupulous owners like Max Blanck and Isaac Harris just ignored it.

In the wake of the horrific deaths, on April 11th Harris and Blanck were indicted on seven counts of second degree manslaughter on the grounds that it was a violation of the Labor Code to keep a door locked during working hours. On December 27th, a jury acquitted of them of all charges, even though multiple witnesses testified that the Washington St. exit door was locked leaving workers with no escape when the Greene St. exit was choked with fire. The owners’ defense attorney, Max Steuer, cast doubt on the testimony by making the main witness, Kate Alterman, repeat her story over and over, then pointing to her repetition of certain words and phrases as the mark of memorization or coaching. He suggested a socialist conspiracy was afoot, a conspiracy that also explained the discovery of the actual locked lock from the Washington St. door 16 days after the fire.

In the end, Blanck and Harris made a tidy profit from the hideous death of 146 people. They filed insurance claims far in excess of their monetary losses and Steuer scared the insurance companies into settling for reimbursement in the amount of $60,000 above the documented loss. Steuer then prevented any of the Triangle Factory fire victims or survivors from collecting any of it. Blanck and Harris made $400 for every dead body.

Twenty-three civil suits were filed against them. They settled those lawsuits on March 11, 1914, almost three years to the day after the fire, with a payment of $75 per dead body. The year before that in the summer of 1913, Max Blanck had been arrested for locking yet another factory door. He got off with a $20 fine and an apology from the judge for having troubled him.

The tragedy of the fire and the sham of an aftermath galvanized the labor movement in New York City. The New York State Legislature created an investigating committee to report on factory conditions and how sanitation and worker safety issues could be addressed. Its 1915 report would be key to New York’s new laws that made the state one of the most progressive in the country in terms of labor relations.

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration, created 60 years after the fire, has a memorial page on its website in honor of the anniversary of the tragedy. The Industrial and Labor Relations School’s Kheel Center at Cornell University has an exceptional collection of photographs and primary sources on the fire and its aftermath.

On Monday PBS aired an American Experience episode about the tragedy entitled Triangle Fire which you can now view online. I saw it and it’s a solid overview, but a little short on details, especially about the aftermath. On March 21st, HBO will be airing its more in-depth documentary Triangle: Remembering the Fire, with the DVD to follow shortly.

If you’re in New York City, there will be a commemoration of the centennial on March 25th at 11 a.m. at the site of the fire, one block east of Washington Square Park in New York City. The building was one of them newfangled “fireproof” structures so it survived the fire even though its contents sure didn’t. It was refurbished and purchased by philanthropist Frederick Brown who donated it to New York University in 1929. Now it’s the Brown Building of Science, and Chemistry and Biology classes are held in it. Two plaques commemorate the victims of the 1911 fire.