The Paintings used in ‘Black Sails’ (Part 13) and Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations”

sagestreet:

So, in case you didn’t believe me when I said there were dick jokes in the paintings, here comes further circumstantial evidence…

In Part 4 of my Black Sails art post series, I pointed out that the entire Admiralty scene in s2ep5 is beautifully choreographed so as to make sure the dialogue is perfectly in sync with all those naval paintings appearing in the frame.

Well, the Admiralty scene wasn’t the only scene that was composed and choreographed so meticulously: The same is true for “James’s homecoming scene” (after three months at sea) in the very same episode.

If s2ep5 is already your favourite episode because of the Big Reveal™, I’ve got a little surprise in store for you: s2ep5 is also a well-choreographed masterpiece.

Let’s start with a painting we haven’t discussed yet:

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It’s Jacob Jordaens’ famous ‘Allegory of Fruitfulness’ from the Wallace Collection:

What’s important to keep in mind is that the whole “homecoming scene” mirrors the overall London storyline: Miranda is the one welcoming James into their home in the screenshot above. This reflects the fact that she was also the first one to welcome James into her bed or, rather, carriage. The above scene mirrors the fact that she was the one who was interested in James first, thus ‘opening the door’ for a future relationship between him and her husband. On the surface of the text, the above scene shows no more than a handshake, yet subtextually it is recapitulating what we already know: Miranda (not Thomas) welcomed James into their relationship first.

We will see that this entire “homecoming scene” is structured in such a way that it mirrors and summarizes the overall London narrative. The whole scene in that sitting room is the London storyline in a nutshell.

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