Moebius
Pieter Aertsen, A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms, 1551
Oil on panel, 115.5 x 169.0 cm
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC.In the 16th and 17th centuries it was quite common for theologians to see a slaughtered animal as symbolizing the death of a believer. Allusions to the ‘weak flesh’ (cf. Matthew 16:41) may well have been associated with Aertsen’s Butcher’s Stall where - like on his fruit and vegetable stalls - a seemingly infinite abundance of meat has been spread out.
Pieter Aertsen was one of the first artists to paint “inverted still lifes,” works in which the still-life elements are placed prominently in the foreground, while the narrative elements are relegated to the background. The Butcher’s Stall is Aertsen’s masterpiece in this genre. A feast for the mind as well as the eyes, this remarkably executed painting abounds with rich symbolism. The juxtaposition of the precisely rendered meats and other foods with the Holy Family in the background symbolically links food for the body with the spiritual “bread of life”- food for the soul, represented by the Christ child and the bread, offered by Mary to the poor family. In presenting a visual metaphor that encourages the viewer to consider his spiritual life, this work also anticipates the symbolic religious meanings present in seventeenth-century Dutch vanitas still lifes. Aertsen’s Meat Stall was clearly a famous work in its own day, judging from the number of contemporary versions that exist. In both style and subject matter, the Butcher’s Stall is the direct antecedent of the impressive Market Scene on a Quay by Frans Snyders.(Submitted by joel-rosenburg)
obon:
“What is Cob?”
Cob is a traditional building technique using clay, sand, straw and water- wet enough to shape, yet dry enough to build up without forms. The clay acts as the glue, while the sand gives strength to the mixture and the straw gives the walls tensile strength once hardened into place. It dries to a hardness similar to lean concrete and is used like adobe to create self supporting, load bearing walls. A cob house is essentially monolithic. This with it’s curved walls gives them greater strength in earthquakes. Earth is an abundant resource that can produce beautiful and sustainable homes with a minimal footprint.
Most of the materials used for building an earth house are unprocessed, natural and local products such as sand, clay, straw and recycled materials.
Cob invites creativity to be expressed in the process of building your space. Because cob is very flexible to work with, you are able to create just about any shape, curves, arches, shelves, benches, niches, fireplaces and ovens.
Earth homes are cool in summer, warm in winter. Cob’s resistance to rain and cold makes it ideally suited to cold, rainy climates like the Pacific Northwest, and to desert conditions.
History of Cob
COB is not a new material it is a building material that has been around for centuries. The word cob comes from an Old English root meaning a rounded mass or lump. It was started in England around the 13th century from other types of earth building techniques like adobe, sod, rammed earth, straw-clay, and wattle-and-daub just to name a few. Thousands of cob houses have weathered rainy England for hundreds of years.. Earth is probably still the world’s most common building material. With recent rises in the price of lumber and increasing interest in natural and environmentally safe building practices, cob is enjoying a renaissance. In this age of environmental degradation, dwindling natural resources, and chemical toxins hidden in our homes, doesn’t it make sense to return to nature’s most abundant, cheap and healthy building material?
What are the advantages of building with cob?
- Cob is gentle on the planet. Earth is non-toxic and completely recyclable, creates no waste, and requires minimal tools to construct.
- “Buildability” – Cob homes are owner built. It is easy to learn, cob is a very flexible and forgiving medium.There is obviously, quite a bit of labor involved but if time is not a factor, a house of this type could be built with just a couple of workers. Basic carpentry, plumbing and electric skills are required.
- It is Affordable and Inexpensive – The walls of the home are made entirely of natural resources that are available under your feet.
- Fire proof
- Cob is very durable and requires little upkeep
- Energy Efficiency – A cob house provides a large amount of thermal mass. This helps keep the house cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It is ideal for passive solar homes.
- Fun – If you like playing in the mud, this is the house for you. Seriously, this is an excellent style of house to build for those with imagination. You can be very creative with the walls of your house. Also a Safe building material with kids.
