Athena: Allegory of Good and Bad Government

Augustine,

I can't fully move on to "acceptance" yet...so I'm moving past my stages of grief after watching a series of clips from all my favorite Late Night hosts tonight. My grieving and frustration are not over, but I want to go on a related but distinct 'tangent' this evening.

I'm reading Putting Art (Back) In Its Place by John Skillen this week, and it's been this wonderful reminder of my time in Italy. Dr. Skillen led our trip and taught us so much about all of this wonderful public art in Orvieto, Florence, Siena, and Rome; he mentioned then that he was working on a book, and I've been waiting for it to come out ever since.

I'm not quite ready to review the book yet, but I have been meditating on one piece, something I remember fondly from my time there, "The Allegory of Good and Bad Government" by Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Pictured below is one piece, but it's important to know that it's in a room in the room where the council of Siena used to meet. On the left wall is the "Bad Government" side, city, and country--where you can see the effects of bad leadership. On the right wall in the city and countryside flourishing as a result of the "Good Government" depicted here.

"The Allegory of Good and Bad Government" (x)

I could talk about the virtues, the allegorical figures in the painting, the flow and movement in both directions. The way the art was situated...but instead I'm leaving this video (at the bottom), because it does a fair job of that in about 10 minutes (I think we talked about it for at least 1-1.5hrs when in Siena).

Instead, I just want to say mostly that I'm meditating on it. I'm thinking about what exactly my role should be as a citizen of a government--whether that government is good or bad...or more likely, a mixture thereof. I want to think about what this would look like in our day...in government, in education, in church. What virtues would we have seated next to government (would they be seated? would they be more active?) I want to sit in silence and reflect, and then incorporate those reflections into my conversations as well as my actions. I want to share this painting with other people so that we can discuss these things. I want to send this video and painting to all of my students (and maybe I will) and have them reflect on their own views of government, so that I can see what's important to them.

I want to be challenged by this as well as using it to challenge others. I want to create space for time and reflection, because it feels like everything in our culture is pushing against that. And maybe, because I do want to escape just a little bit, and if I imagine myself back in this room in Italy, maybe I'll find some answers there.

+Athena