CHANGES

The charms of the two elder were more than common, but the beauty of the youngest was so wonderful that the poverty of language is unable to express its due praise. The fame of her beauty was so great that strangers from neighboring countries came in crowds to enjoy the sight, and looked on her with amazement, paying her that homage which is due only to Venus herself. In fact Venus found her altars deserted, while men turned their devotion to this young virgin. As she passed along, the people sang her praises, and strewed her way with chaplets and flowers. This homage to the exaltation of a mortal gave great offense to the real Venus. Shaking her ambrosial locks with indignation, she exclaimed, "Am I then to be eclipsed in my honors by a mortal girl? In vain then did that royal shepherd, whose judgment was approved by Jove himself, give me the palm of beauty over my illustrious rivals, Pallas and Juno. But she shall not so quietly usurp my honors. I will give her cause to repent o...

  I and the Village is an oil on canvas painting by the Belarusian-French artist Marc Chagall created in 1911 The significance of the painting lies in its seamless integration of various elements of Eastern European folktales and culture, both Belarusian and Yiddish. Painted the year after he moved to Paris, expresses his memories of the place. He shows people and animals living side by side, their mutual dependence signified by the line connecting the eyes of peasant and cow. For the Hasidim, animals were humanity’s link to the universe, and the painting’s large circular forms suggest the orbiting sun, moon (in eclipse at the lower left), and earth. A man with a green face and wearing a cap jovially encounters a goat, or is it a sheep? On the cheek of the animal is a picture of a goat being milked. In the background, a man walks down a traditional Russian street with a scythe over his shoulder, while an upside down woman plays the violin. In the foreground, the green-faced man’s ...