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Washington Post
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
A splendid exhibition looks at small animals, raising big questions
A curious figure from Greek mythology ornaments the top of an elaborate cabinet, made to store shells, small stones and other natural curiosities. He is muscular and wields a large club and is almost certainly Hercules. The creature he is battling is more mysterious. The lower body looks to be the Nemean lion, slain by Hercules as part of his atonement for having murdered his wife and children, but it is topped by what appears to be the several heads of the Hydra, another beast slaughtered by the hero. 'Blurring boundaries was absolutely fascinating to them,' says Stacey Sell, who along with Alexandra Libby and Brooks Rich curated the National Gallery of Art exhibition 'Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World' in which the cabinet is displayed. By 'them' she means the Dutch and Flemish artists of the late 17th and early 18th century, who were processing a sudden surge of knowledge about the natural world into images that blur the boundaries between art and science, curiosity and fear, literal truth and fanciful imagination. It is a splendid show and while it is not huge — it features some 75 prints, drawings and paintings, most of them quite small — it feels like just the right show at just the right moment. The National Gallery has even installed a pop-up gift shop outside the exhibition entrance, a sign that its leaders anticipate popularity. The National Gallery was once a leader in exhibitions of Dutch art from the golden age, but that ended with the retirement in 2018 of Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., the long-serving and greatly esteemed curator of northern baroque paintings. Now it's back with a show that is focused and smart, bringing together virtuoso miniature paintings with samples including preserved insects and taxidermy borrowed from the Smithsonian. The side-by-side comparison of painted and real life is part of the pleasure of the show, but even more engaging are the dualities and contradictions raised by the cabinet that features that strange image of Hercules. Near the mythical hero on the top of the decorative wooden box of drawers are astonishingly lifelike metal casts of beetles and a lizard, molded from the actual bodies of the creatures. Also featured in the exhibition are examples of lepidochromy, the process of using actual butterfly wings to 'print' an image of a butterfly. Using real insect wings to leave an impress of color, or the actual bodies of animals to cast their three-dimensional likeness, may feel like cheating, shortcuts to absolute verisimilitude that distinguishes these works from actual art. But the artists on view, including Joris Hoefnagel, Jan van Kessel the Elder, Albrecht Dürer and Wenceslaus Hollar, had no need to 'cheat.' They could build up verisimilitude freehand just as easily as someone else could 'print' a butterfly (the process involved pressing the wings onto a sticky page until the colors transferred). Viewers of these printed works would certainly have prized their accuracy, but perhaps something else was going on, too. Creating an image was a way of understanding the natural world, the horizons of which were expanding as European powers colonized the Americas, Africa and Asia. But it was also about taming it and owning it, and the direct impress of the actual creature on the page or the metal suggests a literal sense of ownership. Animals could be made up in the mind — like the Nemean-Hydra figure — but they could also be physically owned, in the menageries of wealthy collectors, and in the small drawers of cabinets like this one. Throughout the exhibition, fear goes hand in hand with wonder. Creatures, dead or alive, brought back from the colonies were expanding knowledge of the world, breaking down old categories and systems of thought. The first room is devoted to Hoefnagel's four-volume survey of the animal kingdom called 'The Four Elements,' which included some 300 meticulous and breathtaking watercolors made late in the 16th century. Hoefnagel was borrowing the classical elements — air, water, earth and fire — for his basic taxonomy, and insects for some reason fell into the 'fire' category. This was part of an inheritance, both classical and Christian, that was at times useful and often a distraction from actually looking at the world. Stories like that of Noah's ark provided a convenient template for making images of animals cohere into a meaningful visual narrative. But these painted creatures carried the legacy of Aristotle along with mounds of medieval misinformation, often with an incrustation of religious moralizing. An inscription on Hoefnagel's painting of a hedgehog (a European animal that appears along with a guinea pig from the New World) references the old parable of the fox (which has multiple tricks to survive) and the hedgehog (which has only one, rolling itself into a ball). Long before Isaiah Berlin wrote a famous 1953 essay allegorizing this duality, painters like Hoefnagel were interpreting it with Latin inscriptions that suggest that the hedgehog's limited and purely passive form of defense is a greater strength than the manifold wiles of the fox. 'I wrap myself in virtue,' says the hedgehog, which suggests that passivity in the face of power is a good thing, which undoubtedly it is if you are the one with the power. These kinds of inscription were reflexive thinking, a bit like rolling the mind up in a ball when faced with the immense task of making sense of new worlds. Looking back at this period from the far side of the dwindling Enlightenment, it is too easy to think of the classical and Christian traditions as a nuisance to be waved away by scientists and philosophers creating a new world of rationalism. But these tiny works, in many cases marvels of observation and analysis, remind us that the Renaissance was never just about suppressing old forms of magical thinking, but rather, accommodating them into new forms of rational discovery. Perhaps the presence of Hercules next to realistically rendered insects and reptiles isn't an accidental mash-up of the mythological and the scientific, but an honest affirmation of the brutal struggle to tame these systems of thought into something compatible and sustainable. (Spoiler alert: We have largely failed in this endeavor.) The story of this art cannot be told without engaging with colonialism, and the curators deserve heroic commendation for doing so at a moment when the Trump administration is policing language and attempting to scrub history of any chapters embarrassing to those who have benefited from the legacies of oppression. Colonialism didn't just provide the raw material for these works; it offered the basic mental paradigm for making sense of it. Exploring the world and Christianizing it were conjoined into one worldwide labor. The boundary between knowing and owning was blurred. In many cases, the shells, fossils and animal samples that made it into European cabinets of curiosity were first gathered by people working under colonial duress and perhaps enslaved. 'For many Indigenous communities, animals and plants are sacred relatives,' reads the wall text in one room of the show. So, collecting specimens had at least a dual nature: gathering knowledge for one people while dispossessing meaning from another. The last room of the show features a new film by Dario Robleto, 'Until We Are Forged: Hymns for the Elements.' The title refers to Hoefnagel's rare and invaluable book of animal miniatures. The film is an ecstatic, 43-minute paean to the work done by institutions like the National Gallery to preserve and pass on the legacy of art and knowledge, which takes on cosmic and spiritual significance. Museums, where the treasure of colonialism is stored, are transformed into places of empathy and connection. 'Every fragment of the past raises questions: What right do we have to forget?' asks the narrator of the film in a long string of existential queries. 'Can we repair our legacies of destruction and harm? What new sensitivities must we invent to bridge the gap of loneliness that keeps life apart?' It's a smart film and its message is very necessary at the moment, but it will also divide audiences. Some may find the rhetoric too superheated and ostentatiously poetic (think Ken Burns on steroids). Others, more cynical to be sure, will disagree with the very premise of a moral dimension to the museum world. But they are not likely to see the film unless actively searching for something to find objectionable. One object not to missed is a collaboration with curators from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History made to imitate a painting by Van Kessel, the grandson of Jan Brueghel the Elder, and a masterful painter of miniatures. The collage of real things helps make sense of the image, in which there is more conceit and artifice that one might think, including a curiously abstract space in which there are shadows, but no background or sense of up or down, just a white emptiness that makes each sample seem separated by 'the gap of loneliness.' I confess the collage unnerved me. The samples are held in place with pins, a standard procedure for displaying insects. To 'pin it down' is now colloquial for demanding a clear, unequivocal statement, definition or answer from someone. Clarity, offered freely, is a kindness to others, but to pin down an idea is often a form of aggression. The thing pinned down must be inanimate or dead, and then becomes a possession. The only thing missing is life itself, which was of course the reason we tried to pin it down in the first place. Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World. Through Nov. 2 at the National Gallery of Art. 202-737-4215.
Telegraph
12-03-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Cheltenham Festival Day 3 tips: Lucky 15 and accumulator
Day three of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival features two Grade 1 races – the Ryanair Chase at 3.20pm and the Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle at 4pm. Protektorat and Teahupoo are the respective defending champions, but will either be one of your Lucky 15, accumulator or bet365 Super Boost? Read on to see how your selections compare with ours. If you already have a bookmaker account and are looking for a new operator to use for this week's racing, check out our list of Cheltenham free bets that can be used on day three of the Festival. Tips for Cheltenham day 3 1.20 Galileo Dame @ 9/2 with Betfair 9/2 with Betfair 2.00 Nurburgring @ 5/1 with Betfair 2.40 D Art D Art @ 11/1 with Betfair Catch Him Derry @ 14/1 with Betfair 3.20 Fact To File @ 11/10 with Betfair 4.00 Nemean Lion @ 25/1 with Betfair 4.40 Personal Ambition @ 20/1 with Betfair La Malmason @ 20/1 with Betfair 5.20 Sa Majeste @ 8/1 with Betfair Odds provided by Betfair and correct at the time of writing. Each-way selections are highlighted in the analysis below. Cheltenham Day 3 Acca tips Galileo Dame, Nemean Lion and Sa Majeste each-way @ 1,287/1 with Betfair Cheltenham Day 3 Lucky 15 tips D Art D Art, Nemean Lion, La Malmason and Sa Majeste each-way @ 58,968/1 with Betfair If you are looking for a bookmaker to use for day three of the Cheltenham Festival check out our list of betting offers from the UK's best betting sites 1.20, Cheltenham – Ryanair Mares' Novices Hurdle (Grade 2, 2m 1f) Joseph O'Brien-trained GALILEO DAME is the opening tip of day three and she holds very strong claims carrying 10lb less than all of her opponents because of her four-year-old's allowance. So many of these horses are pretty unexposed and inexperienced. But despite her age this cannot be said of Galileo Dame, who was a classy 96-rated middle-distance horse on the Flat who ran in last year's Irish Oaks. Her two seconds over hurdles read well as they were not restricted to her own sex, so today's task should be manageable. Selection: Galileo Dame @ 9/2 with Betfair Go to site > 2.00, Cheltenham – Jack Richards Novices' Limited Handicap Chase (Grade 2, 2m 4½f) NURBURGRING can go well stepped up in trip for today's two-and-a-half-mile contest. He enjoyed a good juvenile season last year when finishing fourth here in the Triumph before winning the Galway Hurdle in the summer. His first couple of runs over fences looked very educational and he would have benefited a lot from them. The return to good ground, reapplication of a hood and being awarded a handy mark based on his hurdles and Flat form are all positives and calculated into his price. 2.40, Cheltenham – Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle (Class 1, 3m) D ART D ART looks tailor-made for this trip after flashing home late to qualify last time out. Staying-on finishes are a trademark of this horse and should help him charge up the Cheltenham form. He looks full of potential and is unlucky not to have more wins to his name – but having been put away since December, today has clearly been the long-term target, so expect him to run his race. The next selection is CATCH HIM DERRY who has notched up three wins in the past 12 months and looked very measured last time out when doing so in the qualifying for today. He needed a significant jump in the weights to make it into this field and did so successfully as he is running off 1lb above bottom weight. The Skeltons know exactly how to prepare a horse for a big handicap win and his progressive season might not be over. 3.20, Cheltenham – Ryanair Chase (Grade 1, 2m 4½f) There is plenty of pace in today's renewal, with Jungle Boogie and Il Est Francais likely to bound along in front and set a frantic gallop. The former is a bit of an unknown quantity, having only run seven races under Rules at the age of 11. The latter, while capable, has blown out on more than one occasion in his career so has it all to prove. This will tee up the race perfectly for the class horse in the field, FACT TO FILE, who will let them lead him into it and will soar on by going up the Cheltenham straight. The Willie Mullins-trained horse won the John Durkin in impressive fashion earlier in the season ahead of the two-time Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs and last year took home the Brown Advisory with ease. While he dropped out tamely of the Irish Gold Cup, today's conditions will be much more suitable for another JP McManus Cheltenham Festival success. 4.00, Cheltenham – Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle (Grade 1, 3m) Last year today's favourite Teahupoo won this competition at short odds. But in the years before, this contest was taken by long-odds outsiders – and today that may also be the case, with Teahupoo not being seen since finishing second to Tuesday's Mares' Hurdle winner Lossiemouth 102 days ago. NEMEAN LION stands out as a horse with untapped staying potential and can make it four wins in a row today upped to three miles for the first time. The Kerry Lee-trained horse was in fact entered into the three-mile Rendlesham at Haydock in February, but they decided that the ground was unsuitable and he was duly pulled out. What was eyecatching that day was the huge amount of market support behind Nemean Lion as his price shortened from 13/2 to 5/2. While he will need more today, this is an underrated horse at a very healthy price. 4.40, Cheltenham –TrustATrader Plate Handicap Chase (Class 1, 2m 4½f) The first pointer for PERSONAL AMBITION was that jockey Ben Jones, who has already tasted victory this week, chose this mount ahead of Shakem Up'arry, who he steered to victory in this race last year off just two pounds lower than his mark today. If that is not confidence enough the horse also has sound form claims, having finished 13 lengths ahead of the current Kim Muir favourite, Johhnywho, in a Grade 2 novices' chase in December. He also showed a lot of class in his hurdling days, beating Tuesday's Arkle winner Jango Baie at Kelso a year ago. All of that suggests his mark of 137 is manageable. The second selection is LA MALMASON, who is trained by the Cheltenham handicap specialist Gavin Cromwell. She won over course and distance in December 2023 in a mares handicap chase, which is a big positive, and she can overcome her lofty mark against geldings today. She beat the geldings at Fairyhouse in December, and the runner she beat in second went on to win comfortably next time out. That was then followed by a gallant second herself over the festive period, proving she is more than capable at this level. Being by Walk In The Park, today's better ground could eke out the necessary improvement to win again. 5.20, Cheltenham – Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys' Handicap Chase (Class 2, 3m 2f) Willie Mullins holds many records at Cheltenham, but one he will not be proud of is that heading into this Festival he had not won a handicap chase. The master trainer campaigns his horses to reach a level above this, and in doing so often blows their handicap marks. But SA MAJESTE still looks very well treated despite two wins and a second from his four chase runs. A mark of 142 is definitely still in his reach. He was sent off 5/1 favourite when disappointing in last year's Coral Cup, but Patrick Mullins can right that wrong today as he faces off against fellow amateur jockeys. What is the Cheltenham Day 3 bet365 Super Boost? bet365 Super Boosts are being announced at 10am every day during the Cheltenham Festival. bet365 will be considerably boosting the price of one selection each day – this will typically be a popular odds-on shot boosted to evens, but you may even get prices like 6/4 or 2/1. Last year three out of the four bet365 Super Boosts were successful. Cheltenham tips: Frequently asked questions What is an accumulator bet? An accumulator or acca is a bet that consists of multiple bets (or legs) that multiply together for bigger odds if they all win. What is a Lucky 15? A Lucky 15 is a bet with four legs that consists of 15 separate bets: four singles, six doubles, four trebles and a fourfold accumulator. What is an each-way bet? An each-way bet is when you not only bet on your horse to win, but you also bet on them to finish in the top designated places in a race (this will vary from race to race and bookmaker to bookmaker). The bet to finish in the places will be a fraction of the win odds (usually 1/5, but sometimes 1/4). What does NAP mean? Nap is short for Napoleon and denotes a tipster's best bet of the day. What does SP mean? SP stands for starting price – a horse's odds when a race begins. What does BOG mean? BOG stands for best odds guaranteed, an industry standard offer. Regarding bets placed after a certain time of day, if a horse's starting price is bigger than the odds you bet on, you will get the larger odds. Click here for the best Cheltenham BOG operators
