Собещаков Юрий Михайлович : другие произведения.

The Judgment of Cambyses

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  • Аннотация:
    Почти две тонны наличных на сумму 8 миллиардов рублей, 13 элитных квартир в престижных районах Москвы, дюжина парковочных мест и четырнадцать объектов недвижимости в Московской области. На 2016 год это был коррупционный рекорд. Ниже английский вариант размышлений автора, стоящего в перед картиной "Суд Камбиса" в музей живописи бельгийского Брюгге.
  Foreword.
  
  On September 10, 2016, Colonel Zakharchenko, who was the head of the anti-corruption department in the financial and banking service, was accused of bribery, abuse of office, and obstruction of justice. He was subsequently arrested by officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
  
  During the investigation into the Zakharchenko case, investigators found that 13 condos and 14 villas in the elite districts of Moscow were in his possession. They also found four luxury cars in his garages and one hundred and thirty-million dollars in cash lying on the floor in one of his apartments.
  
  
   Story.
  
  Paris. May 2016.
  
  During my visit to the Louvre, I complained to the curator of the hall of Flemish painters in my terrible French about my inability to find Jan van Eyck's painting "Madonna of Chancellor Rolin".
  
  "I have been to the Louvre before," I added. "And I am certain that it should be here somewhere, among the other masters of the early Renaissance period, but it's not."
  
  The tall, slender woman, around forty-five years old, looked at me with interest, got up from her chair and asked in English:
  "That sounds a bit strange. Out of thousands of paintings by great masters adorning the richest museum in the world, you are looking for this particular painting by Jan van Eyck. Why Jan van Eyck?"
  "Because van Eyck painted it seventy years before Leonardo da Vinci painted his Mona Lisa. Van Eyck outpaced the Italians by a century. Especially in detailing the background of his works of art."
  "Are you by any chance Russian?" the curator surprised me with her question.
  "And you?" I replied, and we both chuckled. No wonder, two compatriots in the center of Paris trying to discuss high art in languages foreign to both of us.
  
  Afterwards, I discovered that my interlocutor was a PhD in Art History. She had switched her job at the storage department of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg for a curator position at the Louvre a few years ago. This also clarified her strong reaction to my inquiry about the "Madonna of Chancellor Rolin". It turned out that this specific painting by van Eyck was the topic of her doctoral thesis.
  
  Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy the opportunity to view the painting, as the hall showcasing it was closed for restoration. Nonetheless, my conversation with the erudite lady about Flemish primitives ignited a curiosity within me to visit the historic Belgian city of Bruges, where the renowned master Jan van Eyck once lived and worked, and eventually passed away.
  
  
  Bruge. September 2016.
  
  Having thoroughly enjoyed the works of my favourite artist and admiring the skill of his fellow Flemish contemporaries, Hans Memling and Jan Provost, I stopped before the diptych painting titled "The Judgment of Cambyses." These two panels, placed side by side, were created by another local master, Gerard David, commissioned by the elder of the city of Bruges at the end of the fifteenth century.
  
  The astute leader of the preeminent banking and trading hub of medieval Europe had commissioned the artist to portray the legendary tale of King Cambyses passing judgment on a corrupt judge, as recounted by Herodotus in the fifth century BC. However, the ruler had specifically requested that the Persians be depicted in clothing that was contemporary to the medieval era.
  
  "Accusing the judge Sisamnes of bribery," wrote Herodotus in his "Histories", "King Cambyses of Persia ordered to skin the living servant of justice, tan the skin, then cut straps from it and stretch them over the chair on which the king's deputy had previously sat. But the king did not stop there. After his order was carried out, he appointed the son of the corrupt judge to take his father's place.
  
  "Every time you make a decision in someone's favour, look at the seat on which you are sitting and the armrests on which your hands lie, and remember how your benefactor ended his life," Cambyses admonished the young judge.
  
  When Gerard David finished his work, the elder of the city ordered to hang the diptych painting in the most prominent place in the town hall, in the very hall where court hearings were held. For three centuries, these two panels hung in plain view of judges and citizens who visited the hall, impressing generations of Flemish people with a simple truth: punishment is inevitable and it will be merciless.
  
   Afterword.
   I stood before the "Judgment of Cambyses" just a day after the news broke about the millions of dollars discovered with the "modest" anti-corruption fighter, Colonel Zaharchenko. As I examined the details of the execution, I asked myself if Zaharchenko and his ilk were aware that their ill-gotten millions would eventually lead to their own gruesome fate - having their skin methodically peeled off layer by layer to upholster chairs in the very offices from which they were arrested in handcuffs, would they still takes bribes by millions?
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