We are by nature dual, no-one wholly good, no-one wholly bad. Everyone has access to reason (Pallas Athene); everyone is more or less governed by his appetites (the beast). The figure of the centaur, half man, half horse, symbolises this duality.
The enigmatic figure of Lorenzo de' Medici has for centuries been considered a force for good in Renaissance Florence. In recent times he has been re-evaluated and damned a tyrant. He was neither; he was both; he was a centaur.
It is the time of the Pazzi War, which Lorenzo enters with confidence, but his confidence is undermined by a wife who believes that the disaster befalling the family is the fault of his heresies.
The only choice seems to be ignominious death or glorious death, and he chooses the latter.
Botticelli's painting represents the moment when Lorenzo approached Naples by boat to surrender to the enemy. The centaur symbolizes not Lorenzo but the bestial forces of greed and power which were attacking him. In this painting, Lorenzo is Pallas Athene.
We are by nature dual. The story is told by two narrators, one male, one female, in a duet that weaves and spirals towards its conclusion that, although we are dual, we are one, and when a man and a woman are in harmony, unity reigns.
Published by Godstow Press [ISBN 978-0-9547367-0-5] price £12.50
www.godstowpress.co.uk
The enigmatic figure of Lorenzo de' Medici has for centuries been considered a force for good in Renaissance Florence. In recent times he has been re-evaluated and damned a tyrant. He was neither; he was both; he was a centaur.
It is the time of the Pazzi War, which Lorenzo enters with confidence, but his confidence is undermined by a wife who believes that the disaster befalling the family is the fault of his heresies.
The only choice seems to be ignominious death or glorious death, and he chooses the latter.
Botticelli's painting represents the moment when Lorenzo approached Naples by boat to surrender to the enemy. The centaur symbolizes not Lorenzo but the bestial forces of greed and power which were attacking him. In this painting, Lorenzo is Pallas Athene.
We are by nature dual. The story is told by two narrators, one male, one female, in a duet that weaves and spirals towards its conclusion that, although we are dual, we are one, and when a man and a woman are in harmony, unity reigns.
Published by Godstow Press [ISBN 978-0-9547367-0-5] price £12.50
www.godstowpress.co.uk
