"Hosting Wine Guests"
by Klaus Strubelview biographyAcademic Painter of Fine Art / Art Historian
For ages, monks in their
different Orders have represented the highest level of culture. They were the keepers of science, education, inventions, literature, fine art, music
and - whom we also know of as agriculturists, - as developers of world famous champagne and excellent wines
In the beginning, the Brothers
produced their wines for the use in their monasteries, their Holy Sacraments and festivities. In the late 18th and mainly in the 19th century, their
wine products became so popular that they sold them to the public too, so they had to make room available for their visitors in one of their wine
cellars. This gradually led to the establishment of real wine taverns where the Brothers offered rustic food, wine tasting seminars and, of course,
sold all wine related goods there.
These wine taverns became popular gathering places, where one could meet professional wine merchants,
huntsmen and rangers, priests and bishops, also tourists and the public.
Here, we are in a historic, cool and airy wine cellar of a European
Dominican Monastery in the 19th century which the Brothers are using as a reception room to host their guests and customers.
This time they are
waiting on huntsmen seen in the right foreground who stop by after their early morning hunting hours for a rustic meal, a good wine and to have a chat
with the Brothers.
Another guest is a priest who wants to buy wine for his clerical services in his church. He is accompanied by a Friar of the
Franciscan Order who just recommended him a very good vintage.
By the shining light of a candle, we see two other Friars taking samples of a
vintage out of a big wooden cask with help of an authentic mouth-blown glass suction-pipe with a wine collecting chamber.
Upstairs, bright
daylight flows through a window onto the stairway and we see a Friar carrying down delicious rustic food to serve to the wine guests.
The
arched cellar is filled with authentic historical tools and equipment used by the Brothers for centuries.
The play of the feature tells whole
stories. Each mime in their faces, their gestures, their hands and fingers and many more details, bring life into these captured moments. Now and
then, I inject a little touch of humour in circumstances of their life; after all, they are only human.
The Monasteries of different Orders
have inspired me ever since I was university student of Art History. I travelled through Europe and visited historic landmarks, museums, cathedrals
and famous monasteries. Wherever I could, I stayed in boarding rooms of monasteries and was fascinated by the various fields of expertise and history
of the Orders.
These keepers of so much treasured culture inspired me to preserve certain situations in the life of the Brothers because the
viewer will find himself in best company with them.
I want my paintings to be entertaining, conversational pieces for the art collectors and
at the same time to be very decorative.