Thanks for the reference, John, but could you please tell us what "bedegones" are? Must be librarian lingo?? I haven't heard of this term nor could I find it in the dictionary or wikipedia.
Looks like a very significant word! Dianne Hummm, scratch a librarian and get more answer than you want ;-) The "Fable of Arachne" is that Arachne committed hubris by claiming she was a better weaver than the patron Goddess of weaving, Athena. Complete text available at Encyclopedia Mythica (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/arachne.html). Current research is that Velazquez named the painting after the fable, which is represented in the scene in the background of the painting. The foreground harkens back to his use of bedegones from earlier in his career. And I'll stop there. John Sandstrom _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ulrike Bogdan Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 11:15 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [fibernet] "weaving" puzzle Hi Holly, I think the Problem is, that Velasquez called the picture: "La Fabula de Aracné" ("The Story of Arachne" you know about Arachne who was a better spinner than Athene and was transformed into a spider by the wrath of the Goddess) and someone in the meantime made the mistake to misnomed it "The Weavers". BTW in German it is called "Die Spinnerinnen" ("The Spinners") best wishes Ulrike from Germany [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
