Our culture must not omit the arming of the man. Let him hear in season, that he is born into the state of war, and that the commonwealth and his own well-being require that he should not go dancing in the weeds of peace, but warned, self-collected, and neither defying nor dreading the thunder, let him take both reputation and life in his hand, and, with perfect urbanity, dare the mob by the absolute truth of his speech, and the rectitude of his behavior.
To this military attitude of the soul we give the name of Heroism. Its rudest form is the contempt for safety and ease, which makes the attractiveness of war. It is a self-trust which slights the restraints of prudence, in the plenitude of its energy and power to repair the harms it may suffer. The hero is a mind of such balance that no disturbances can shake his will, but pleasantly, and, as it were, merrily, he advances to his own music.
There is something not philosophical in heroism; there is something not holy in it; it seems not to know that other souls are of one texture with it; it has pride; it is the extreme of individual nature. Nevertheless, we must profoundly revere it.
- Ralph W. Emerson, Heroism, from Essays: First Series (1841)
The confident, dignified, and fashionable manner of the painting's Ottoman warrrior matches Candace's style. And the Bashi-Barouk's being unpaid warriors, that reminds how Candace bootstrapped herself from self-published YouTube videos to national fame.
One of my favorite artists, Jean-Leon Gerome (1824 - 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. The range of his works included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, and portraits.
Among my favorites are:
- The Greek philosopher Diogenes
- The Carpet Merchant
- The Grey Eminence
