Art of the Natural World: Inspired by Shir ha-Shirim

Shir ha-Shirim uses nature to describe love – ultimately the love

between God and B’nai Yisrael

Let’s see how other cultures use nature

Song of Songs 2:8-9

• 8 Hark! my beloved! behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.

• 9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart; behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh in through the windows, he peereth through the lattice.

א; ח• ה ב� ה-ז� נ� י, ה   קול דודים-- ר ה� ל-ה� ג, ע� ל� ד� �מעות. ב� �ג ל-ה� ץ, ע� פ� ק� �מ

י, או ט• ב �צ י ל ה דוד   דומ�ה ה-ז� נ� ים; ה ל י� א� ר ה� ע'פ� �ל

נו-- ל� �ת ר כ� ד, אח� עומ�לנות, ח� ן-ה� יח� מ ג �ש מ�

ים. כ ר� ח0 ן-ה� יץ מ צ מ�

Storage jar from the Chalcolithic period, 8000-2000 BCE, found in modern day Iran

Vessel stand with ibex support, 2600-2350 BCE. Mesopotamia. Copper inlaid with shells and lapis lazuli

Vessel terminating in the forepart of a stag,ca. 15th-13th century BCE, silver inlay with gold

Humans have often responded to the lushness of the spring landscape:

• 11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

• 12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

• 13 The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines in blossom give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

ר; יא• ב� ו, ע� ת� �ס ה ה� נ� י-ה   כך לו. ל� ף ה� ל� ם, ח� ש� ג� ה�

ץ, יב• אר� או ב� �ר ים נ נ צ� נ   ה�קול �; ו יע� ג יר ה מ ז� ת ה� ע�נו. צ� �אר �ע ב מ� �ש תור, נ ה�

, יג• יה� ג� ה פ� ט� �נ ה ח� נ� א� �ת   ה�נו �ת ר נ� ד� מ� �ים ס נ פ� �ג ה� �ו

ך( י לכי )ל� ; קומ יח� ר�ך.  י-ל� כ �י, ול ת פ� י י� ת י� �ע ר�

Song of Songs 2:11-13

Song of Songs 2:14-15

• 14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.’

• 15 'Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom.'

ע, יד• ל� ס� י ה� ו� �ג ח� �י ב ת   יונ�י ינ א �ר ה, ה� ג� ר� �ד מ� ר ה� ת� ס� �ב

י נ יע מ �ש יך, ה� א� �ר ת-מ� א�ב, ר� ך ע� י-קול� ך:  כ ת-קול� א�

ה.  או� יך נ� א� �ר ומ�

ים--טו• ל ע� Aנו, ש זו-ל� Bח   א�ים ל �ב ח� �ים, מ נ ט� �ים ק ל ע� Aשר. ד� מ� �ינו, ס מ� ר� �ים; וכ מ ר� �כ

Ti hunting Hippopotami, relief from the mastaba of Ti, 2450-2350 BCE, Old Kingdom

Hippopotami were symbols of chaos in Egypt, so Ti is shown

here defeating chaos

Fowling Scene with Nebamun, an Egyptian nobleman, 1400-1350

BCE, New Kingdom, Egypt.

Spring Fresco, 1650 BCE, the world’s first true landscape. Minoan art, Akrotiri, Thera, modern day Greece

Note the

doves

The Lover/Israel as an Enclosed Garden

• 12 A garden shut up is my sister, my bride; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

• 13 Thy shoots are a park of pomegranates, with precious fruits; henna with spikenard plants,

• 14 Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.

• 15 Thou art a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and flowing streams from Lebanon.

ל יב• ה; ג� ל� י כ� ח'ת עול, א0 ן נ�   ג�תום. ן ח� י� �ע עול, מ� נ�

ים, יג• מונ ס ר ד� �ר יך פ� ח� ל� �  שים, ר פ� �ים:  כ ד ג� �י מ ר �ם פ ע

ים. ד ר� �ם-נ עמון, יד• נ� ק �ה ו נ� כ'ם, ק� �ר כ� �ד� ו �ר   נ�

ה; מ'ר, בונ� �י ל צ� ל-ע0 ם, כ� עי אש� ל-ר� ם, כ� לות, ע ה� א0 ו�

ים. מ ש� �בים טו• ר מ� א� �ים, ב נ ן ג� י� �ע   מ�

נון ב� �ן-ל ים, מ ל �ז נ' �ים; ו י . ח�

Song of Songs 4:12-15

Second Style Wall Painting, from the Villa of Livia, Augustus’ wife, Primaporta, Italy, ca. 30-20 BCE.

In ancient Rome, the rich could enjoy spring gardenscapes all year

with these trompe l’eoil walls

Master of the Upper Rhine, Garden of Paradise, ca. 1415

Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, ca. 1482, Renaissance Italy

The Swing by Jean-HonoreFragonard, 1767

Rococo art of the 18th century focusedon the aristocratic

class at play in lush landscapes and

gardens

The beloved is like a kingly palace in a majestic setting:

• 5 Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes as the pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim; thy nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.

• 6 Thy head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thy head like purple; the king is held captive in the tresses thereof.

ן; ה• ש� ל ה� ד� �ג מ �ך, כ אר� ו�   צ�בון, �ש ח� �כות ב ר� �יך ב ינ� ע�

ך פ� ים--א� ב ת-ר� ר ב� ע� ל-ש� ע�י נ� �ה פ נון, צופ� ב� �ל ל ה� ד� �ג מ �כ

ק. ש� מ� ד�

ל, ו• מ� �ר כ� יך כ� ל� ך ע�   ר'אש�ן:  מ� ג� �אר ך כ� ת ר'אש� ל� ד� �וים. ט ה� �ר ך, אסור ב� ל� מ�

Song of Songs 7:5-6

During the early 19th century, America imagined itself kingly and majestic as well

• WHOEVER has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains. They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling

up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country. Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains, and they are regarded by all the good wives, far and near, as

perfect barometers. When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky, but, sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits,

which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory. – Description of the Catskill Mountains in “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving

The Hudson River School in America

The painters did in art what the writers did in literature

The Hudson River School, Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak, 1863, by Albert Bierstadt, one of the school’s founders

Twilight in the Wilderness, 1860, Frederic Edwin Church, another Hudson River School artist

Thomas Cole, The Ox Bow, 1836, from the Hudson River School in America