John Singer Sargent
oil on canvas
1880
Clark Art Institute
An inordinate love of ritual can be harmful to the soul, unless, of course, in times of great crisis, when ritual can protect the soul from fracture.” Thus passes into silence one of the most influential and mysterious characters in the history of Ambergris
Is this from the Vandermeer book?
Yeah. « City of Saints and Madmen » Reminded me of the pic on a few levels
Definitely. I didn’t even know ambergris was a thing outside the book. Gross word, ok book tho. I wish there would a been more about the mushroom-people cult. And this painting definitely gives me mushroom-people vibes.
It’s also a really gross substance! Gross all around. Apparently very important and expensive, but gross.
I still love the fact that most things coming out of a whale are revolting, but very occasionally they make an extremely expensive scent nugget. Apparently it forms around a blockage or sharp object in the whale’s digestive tract, such as a squid beak.
Check this Smithsonian article from 2012 out:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-gruesome-history-of-eating-corpses-as-medicine-82360284/
Yum
“A woman holds part of her elaborate garment over a silver censer to capture the perfumed smoke of smoldering ambergris. A waxy substance extracted from whales, ambergris was used in some religious rituals and was also said to have aphrodisiac qualities. Sargent began this painting in Tangier, with a model posed on the patio of a rented house, but he completed it in his Paris studio. The finished painting presents a fantasy for Western eyes, combining details of costume and setting adapted from different regions across North Africa.”
https://www.clarkart.edu/ArtPiece/Detail/Fumee-d-ambre-gris-(Smoke-of-Ambergris)-(2)
