Top Five Artists Destroyed by Politics
by Bethany on 10/02/12 at 9:00 am
Many have been destroyed by politics, but there are a few instances in which particular bon vivants who seem associated with the lightest and frothiest of social entertainments wind up in the machinery of politics. You already know some of the most famous stories: Socrates compelled to imbibe Hemlock, those ruined by the communist witch hunts of the McCarthy Era, etc. But here are a few cases you may not know about. It’s almost like they were in a movie and suddenly someone switched reels from Airplane! to Saving Private Ryan.
Nothing a spot of tea can't help, right?
5. Sen no Rikyū: Widely revered as one who perfected the Japanese tea ceremony, he rose to the pinnacles of Japanese court influence during the late 16th century. He became a close confidant of the Shogun Toyotomo Hideyoshi. However, for reasons still unknown, Hideyoshi abruptly commanded him to commit ritual suicide: “Rikyū’s last act was to hold an exquisite tea ceremony. After serving all his guests, he presented each piece of the tea-equipage for their inspection, along with an exquisite kakemono, which Okakura described as ‘a wonderful writing by an ancient monk dealing with the evanescence of all things.’ Rikyū presented each of his guests with a piece of the equipment as a souvenir, with the exception of the bowl, which he shattered, uttering ‘Never again shall this cup, polluted by the lips of misfortune, be used by man.’ As the guests departed, one remained to serve as witness to Rikyū’s death. Rikyū’s last words, which he wrote down as a death poem, were in verse, addressed to the dagger with which he took his own life:
Welcome to thee,
O sword of eternity!
Through Buddha
And through Daruma alike
Thou hast cleft thy way.”
Enjoy the good things while you can . . .
4. Madame du Barry: Louis XV’s mistress, Madame du Barry was highly influential and celebrated during Louis XVth’s reign. Born an impoverished, illegitimate child, she ascended to the greatest heights at court. During the French Revolution, she became a victim of The Terror. Some attribute the decreased popularity of the guillotine to her. Unlike so many others, who wanted to go with dignity and not give in to the ridicule of the rabble, she cried and begged as she was taken to the guillotine. Her plaintive last words, “One moment more, Mr. Executioner, I beg you!” reached the crowd, who became ashamed of the pleasure they had been taking in the executions. Madame du Barry had never been one who was hated in her heyday, and her joie de vivre had been greatly praised in her youth. Seeing a harmless old woman in such distress caused people to lose their taste for La Guillotine, particularly since she had been a commoner and had not been known for any cruelty. Or so the simplistic tale goes.
"Lovers all are soldiers, and Cupid has his campaigns": Portrait of Ovid by Luca Signorelli.
3. Ovid: Author of The Metamorphoses, the collection which serves as our sole extant source for many of the most famous Greek and Roman myths, was exiled from Rome by Caesar Augustus, for reasons that remain unclear. Ovid was a clever, urbane old man and his exile to what is today Romania exercised a powerful effect on his writing and creative flair.
What would Beau do?
2. Beau Brummell: You know him, but he’s not just the guy they sing about in Young Frankenstein. He’s the first celebrity, famous for being famous. More importantly he’s the guy who invented the suit. Yes, someone invented the suit! If it weren’t for him, men would still be wearing puffy shirts and knee high pants with white hose, like people wore before Beau Brummell came along. Picture King Louis XVI. Everyone dressed like Brummell, talked like him, invited him to all the best parties. He was like the Oprah of the Regency Period. But it wasn’t enough. The Regent, later George IV, got annoyed with Beau for some reason, and it took a little while, but he fell out of favor, eventually becoming so burdened by debts he had to flee to France, land of the puffyshirts, where he died in exile, insane and penniless.
"Yet each man kills the thing he loves . . ."
1. Oscar Wilde: The quintessential bon vivant, Wilde was both the life of the party and a literary genius. But he was destroyed after running afoul of his lover’s father, the Marquess of Queensberry. His friends begged him not to go to court against the Marquess, who was powerful and wealthy, but Wilde insisted. He ended up imprisoned in a Victorian jail for 2 years for “gross indecency” and lost his fortune, his family, his social position, and his health. He died at age 46 of an ear infection that had run rampant in his body while he was living in some of the bleakest prison conditions imaginable.
Quincy Lehr
Feb 12th, 2012
For the sake of exactitude, let’s note that Brummell’s insanity and death were due to tertiary syphilis.
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