Kate and Liv, future art historians? (edited)

Saturday afternoon brought our family's first visit to the Hôtel-Dieu, the former hospital in Beaune that dates back to 1443.  I had visited here back in 1993, but John, the kids, and Jay and Judy had never seen it. It is a beautiful place, meticulously maintained and used over the last half millennium (and then some!).

The hospital has some good history. From the official website:  "The Hôtel-Dieu was founded on 4 August 1443, when Burgundy was ruled by Duke Philip the Good (Philippe le Bon) . The Hundred Years War had recently been brought to a close by the signing of the Treaty of Arras in 1435. Massacres, however, continued with marauding bands ("écorcheurs") still roaming the countryside, pillaging and destroying, provoking misery and famine. The majority of the people of Beaune were declared destitute.

"Nicolas Rolin, the Duke's Chancellor, and his wife Guigone de Salins, reacted by deciding to create a hospital and refuge for the poor. The hospital (known as the Hôtel-Dieu) received its first patient on 1st January 1452. Elderly, disabled and sick people, with orphans, women about to give birth and the destitute have all been uninterruptedly welcomed for treatment and refuge, from the Middle Ages until today."

And from an article in Burgundy Today: "Right up until the 20th century, the sick were cared for by the Sisters of the Hospices de Beaune in the magnificent building. Its reputation spread far and wide and it became known as the 'Palace of the Poor'."

Palace indeed:

 

  

  

 

 

It is truly one of those places you must see to fully appreciate. And what needed to be heard to be fully appreciated were the constant stream of questions from Kate and Liv about EVERYTHING they saw along the way.

For example, when viewing this magnificent stained glass in a chapel at the far end of the room used by the poor, some (and just SOME) of the questions asked by my curious four year olds included:

Who is that holding Jesus? If she's Mary, why isn't she wearing blue (they actually listened to one of my earlier answers about how Mary often is depicted in art wearing blue)? Who is the guy in red climbing up the cross? What do you mean "tempt"? Is that red man naughty? How long would it take to die on a cross? What are those three naked ladies doing in the bucket (that one I couldn't answer)? Why are there fairies (angels?)...

 

There were more. Far, far more questions than this. Each answer only brought out more questions, and eventually, because I was starting to lose my patience, I suggested we move along. Well, we moved along to the room where the wealthy patients were treated.

Included in that room were some creepy 17th century medical instruments, which led to lots of questions of leeches, bloodletting, and if Dr. Steeves would ever do that to them (no, I assured them).  The art in that room --

-- also grabbed their attention. Their questions this time: who is that man in the big hat (me, translating from the French... hmmm... looks like Saint Hugo, maybe, curing two children of plague.) What's the plague? How did he cure them? What are the other pictures? (I translated the titles, which included new concepts such as casting out demons and raising people from the dead. Good times for the literally minded, I tell you.)

The hospice is most famous for a piece of art called the Last Judgment, painted by Rogier van der Weyden. With its image of Jesus watching St. Michael weigh souls on the last day, deciding who would go off to the beautiful sunny buildings of paradise on the left and who would fall painfully into the flames of hell, well, you can imagine some more good questions were necessary.

 

  

  

Why is Jesus holding a plant and a sword? Why is an olive branch a symbol of peace? Could any plant be a symbol of peace? Why is Jesus carrying a symbol of peace and a sword (which, from all of their pirate play with their brother, they know is REALLY good for making war). Who are those people coming out of the ground? Why were they in the ground? Why does St. Michael get to weigh people? Why isn't Jesus weighing them? Who are those people watching? Will they be weighed later? Why are those people rolling into hell? Why does hell have flames? Is that Joseph across from Mary (nope... St. John, I think). Well, where is St. Joseph then?...

At one point, I gave up, and told them to just go ask their father. So they did... and went to him with a much shorter stream of questions. He reported back that they had asked what those people did that St. Michael decided they should go to hell. John said he was tempted to tell that "most of them were little girls who didn't clean up their messes", but somehow restrained himself. Instead he held Katie up a few times to look through the moving magnifying glass that had been positioned just in front of those who were suffering the most horribly and answered her questions about the various torments.

Alas, before long they turned around and came straight back to me. Thankfully, just as the newest round of questions were starting, Judy came up in that amazing grandmotherly way and distracted them (by pointing out a nearby, old-fashioned toilet... which thankfully turned out to be just as fascinating as the Last Judgment!).

So... I don't know if this was the universe's way of paying me back for my own childhood full of similar queries, or for a career full of asking other people an endless stream of questions... I don't know if it means they will be future art historians or maybe it's all just a part of being four.

 

 

But it was a good reminder to me (once I had restored my patience with a lovely glass of Burgundy red) that they ARE learning, and listening, and they are old enough to go to interesting places, too. I think sometimes I don't give them enough credit... and maybe too quickly brush away suggestions of outings that are "too grown-up" for them.

Clearly -- if they can handle the Last Judgment, they can handle almost anything.