Paulo Coelho
THE PAINTING OF THE TWO ANGELS
Two Tales about Paintings
Purifying the World
In 1476 two men are talking inside a church. They
stop for a few minutes in front of a painting portraying two
angels descending toward a city hand in hand.
“We are living the terror of the bubonic plague,”
says one of them. “People are dying; I don’t want to see
images of angels.”
“This painting is about the plague,” says the
other. “It is a representation of the Golden Legend. The
angel in red is Lucifer, the Evil One. Observe that he has a
small bag attached to his belt: inside it, there is the
epidemic that has devastated our lives and de lives of our
families.”
The man watches the painting carefully. In fact,
Lucifer bears a small bag; however, the angel that conducts
him has a serene, pacific and illuminated look.
“If Lucifer bears the plague, who is this other one
leading him by the hand?”
“That is the Lord’s Angel, the Messenger of
Goodness. Without his permission, Evil could never manifest
itself.”
“What is he doing then?”
“He is showing him the place in which mankind shall
be purified through a tragedy.”
Da Vinci Seeks His Models
Legend says that as he was panting his famous
fresco "The Last Supper," Leonardo da Vinci faced a great
challenge: he needed to portray Goodness - in the image of
Jesus, - and Evil, - in the picture of Judas. One day, as he
listened to a choir, he saw the ideal image of Christ in one
of the young men in the group. He invited him to his atelier
and reproduced his traces into outlines and sketches. Before
the young man left, the artist showed him the idea of the
fresco and praised him for representing the face of Christ.
Three years went by. The “Last Supper” that
adorned one of the city’s most known churches was almost done
– but da Vinci hadn’t found the ideal model for Judas yet.
The responsible cardinal for the church began to
pressure da Vinci, demanding him to finish his work soon.
Paulo Coelho
After many days searching, the painter found a
prematurely aged young man, ragged and drunk, thrown in the
gutter. Bewildered, he asked his assistants to take him to
the church, as he no longer had time to sketch.
The beggar was carried to the church without
understanding what was happening: the assistants kept him
standing, while da Vinci copied the lines of mercilessness,
sin and egoism, so well outlined on that face.
When the work was done, the beggar – somewhat cured
from his hangover – opened his eyes and noticed the fresco in
front of him. And in a mixture of amazement and sadness he
said:
“I’ve seen this painting before!”
“When was that?” asked da Vinci surprised.
“Three years ago, before I lost everything I had.
In a time in which I sang in a choir and the artist invited
me to pose as a model for the face of Jesus.”
THE FACT
Edmund Hillary was the first man to climb the
Everest, the world’s highest mountain. His feat coincided
with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, to whom he dedicated
his conquest and from whom he received the title of “Sir.”
A year before, Hillary had already tried it, failing
completely. Even so, the English recognized his effort, and
invited him to speak to a numerous audience. Hillary began to
describe his difficulties, and in spite of the applauses, he
said to feel frustrated and incapable. At a certain point,
however, he abandoned the microphone, approached a huge
picture, which illustrated his route and yelled:
“Mount Everest, you won me this first time. But I
will win you in the next year, for a very simple reason: you
have already reached your highest, while I am still growing!”
Tradução: Michelle Artimez