Ali Smith - How to be both

Vulcan, and so on, the Falcon said waving his hand (cause he had no notes with him and had forgotten his order of gods).

VULCAN AND SO ON, the boy said.

At the top of the new wall we were to paint lifesize gods arriving all through the year: at the bottom we were to paint lifesize scenes of Borse’s year, with the seasonal work of a common year and the illustrious Borse always at its centre.

In the middle, though, between these, there was a broad blue sky space planned.

(When I heard this I was pleased, cause I’d quality azzurrite from Venice.)

As if floating in this blue, like clouds, the Falcon wanted a frieze of astrologicals: he wanted 3 figures for each month, one symbolizing each 10 days.

GOD TAKES PLEASURE, the boy announced. AS WE KNOW. IN GIVING US THINGS. ARRANGED IN 3s. SO TO CORRESPOND. EACH MONTH WILL BE. SPLIT INTO 3. GODS THE TOP. SKY IN THE MIDDLE. EARTH DOWN BELOW. EACH BLOCK OF SKY. AT THE CENTRE. OF EACH MONTH. WILL ALSO BE. SPLIT INTO 3.

The gods, the stars, the earth, the Falcon said.

THE GODS THE STARS THE EARTH, the boy on the table shouted at us. THE GODS THE STARS THE COURT. THE GODS THE STARS OUR PRINCE. GOING ABOUT THE WORLD. A WORLD HE’S MADE. PEACEABLE AND PROSPEROUS. IN HIS GENEROSITY. IN HIS SPLENDOUR. IN HIS WHITE GLOVES. THE SEASONS FRUITFUL ROUND HIM. THE WORKERS HAPPY ROUND HIM. THE PEOPLE FULL OF JOY. ABOVE THIS, SKY. ABOVE THAT, GODS. IN TRIUMPHANT ARRIVALS. ON THEIR CHARIOTS. SURROUNDED BY. THEIR ASSOCIATED SYMBOLS. AND USUAL ATTRIBUTES. THE DESIGN FOR THIS. CAN BE FOUND. IN THE ANTEROOM. BEHIND THE EAST WALL. STUDY IT CLOSELY. DO NOT DEVIATE. FROM ITS INSTRUCTION. OR ITS EXAMPLE. OR ITS DEMONSTRATION. IN ANY WAY.

And for this, the pickpocket at my side said. We’re to be paid. Only 10 pence per. Bloody square foot.

I made a note to myself to ask the Falcon about my rate of pay: the Falcon, when the speech was done, put his arm round my shoulder and took me over to show me my own wall.

Borse departing on hunt — here, he said. Borse dispensing justice to aged loyal infidel — here. Borse presenting gift to Court Fool — here. St Giorgio day palio — round about here. Gathering of poets — up there. Gathering of university scholars, professors and wise men — up over there. Representation of the Fates — here. Spring image, fertility kind of thing, use your imagination — that area there. Apollo — there. Venus — there. Minerva — there. All in chariots. Minerva will need unicorns. Venus will need swans. Apollo will need Aurora driving and he’ll need a bow and arrow. He’ll also need a lute and the delphic tripod and the snakeskin.

I nodded.

Illustrate the gods from the poems, he said.

I will, I said none the wiser.

Now, he said. The decans. For the 3 decans of each month, check the schema in the anteroom. For instance, as the schema shows, and this is very important, Francescho. The first decan of Aries should be dressed in white. He should be tall, dark, powerful, a masterful man of great good power in the world. He is to be the guardian not just of the room but of the whole year. He should be standing next to a ram to symbolize the constellation. And next to that please put a figure which stands for youth and fruitfulness, holding, say, an arrow, for skill and for aim. A self-portrait maybe, Francescho, your own fine face, what do you say?

He winked an eye at me.

And over here, April, one of the decans should hold a key. Make the key large. And over here … and here … on and on he went, and one should have the feet of a camel and one should be holding a javelin and a baton and one should be holding a lizard, and …

There was no space left in all the requirements for asking about payment.

But I knew my work would speak for itself and bring when done its own due.

I began with May and Apollo: I worked hard on the horses: I invented 4 falcons all sitting on a birdframe: I added the bow and the arrow but had to give a standing girl minstrel the lute (cause Apollo’s hands were already full with the bow, the arrow and the black hole of the sun which I made a little like a black seed, a burnt walnut or the anus of a cat, which is what the sun looks like if you look too long at the sun).

What was a delphic tripod?

I painted a 3-legged stool with a snakeskin draped over it.

When he saw it, the Falcon nodded.

(Phew.)

I painted all the citizens of the Ferara court, not as they looked now but as an infinite crowd of babies swarming out of a hole in the ground as if conjured from nothing, replicating by the second and all as naked as the day they were born, their teething rings around their necks on cords their only jewels and adornments, their arms cordially through each others’ arms as they went their passeggiata.

When he came up on the scaffolding and saw this the Falcon laughed out loud: he was pleased enough to drop his hand to my breeches to take hold of me where something or nothing should be.

Ah! he said.

I’d surprised him.

He sobered.

I see, he said.

But he put his arm round my shoulder in a brotherly way, and I liked him all the more, the thin scholarly Falcon.

You caught me out. It’s not at all what I expected after the dishevelled state of my maid when you came to my house that day, he said

(cause when I’d come to his house and drawn for him the running torch bearer, and the girl at the door had been sent finally to assure me of employment and dispatch me, I’d asked her could I borrow her cap just to have a look at and she’d taken it off, then I’d backed her gently further into the house off the street so no one could see us and I’d asked her kindly to take off some other things for me just to have a look at, which she smiling did, then I’d kissed her cause I should in the places bared, which she’d liked and had kissed me back and before I’d left she’d tied the cap sweetly in jest about my head and said you make a very handsome girl, sir ).

So you’re a little less, Francescho, than I believed, the Falcon said now.

A very little thing less only, Mr de Prisciano, I said, and no less at all when it comes to picturemaking.

No, you’re talented, true, all the same, he said.

Exactly the same, I said. No less.

I said it with passion but he wasn’t listening: instead he slapped the side of his own leg and laughed.

I’ve just understood, he said. Why Cosmo calls you it.

( Cosmo? talks of me? )

Cosmo calls me what? I said.

You don’t know? the Falcon said.

I shook my head.

That Cosmo, when he talks of you, calls you Francescha? the Falcon said.

He what? I said.

Francescha del Cosso, the Falcon said.

( Cosmo.

I forgive. )

A mere court painter, I said. I’ll never be. I’ll never do anyone’s bidding.

Well but what are you right now, the Falcon said, but a court painter?

(It was true.)

But at least I’ll never knowingly choose to be in the pay of the flagellants, I said

(cause I knew Cosmo to be making a lot of money with the images asked of him by some).

The Falcon shrugged.

The flagellants pay as well as anybody else, he said. And have you seen his St Giorgio for the cathedral organ? Francescho. It’s sublime. And — didn’t Cosmo train you? I thought you’d been apprentice to Cosmo.

Cosmo? Train me ? I said.

Who then? the Falcon said.

I learned by my eyes, I said, and I learned from the masters.

Which masters? the Falcon said.

The great Alberti, I said. The great Cennini.

Ah, the Falcon said. Self-taught.

He shook his head.

And from Cristoforo, I said.

Da Ferara? the Falcon said.

Del Cossa, I said.

The brickmaker? the Falcon said. Taught you this?