Gustave Doré (1832-1883) - Les Saltimbanques (Entertainers), 1874
Several paintings of card readers tell fascinating stories. As tarot readers we work with the images in pictures as rich symbols of the human condition. It would be interesting to hear what story you see in this powerful and heartbreaking painting by Gustave Doré. Use the “Comments” to share with us what you think has just happened and what message the artist may have had. Refer to as many of the symbols as you can to tell us what their story is. As noted above, Saltimbanque, while a French word, is from the Italian saltare in banco, “jumping on a platform,” and signifies “tumbler, performer, entertainer.” Saltimbanques are a subset of acrobats, performing only on the ground. I understand the word has a slightly perjorative connotation that includes buffoonery and charlatanism. Marilee reports in the Comments that the painting is also called “The Injured Child,” which suggests that all hope might not be lost.
Why do you think the artist included playing cards in this scene? What do they represent? (Click on the picture to make it larger and then click again for one more zoom.)
Added: Here’s an enhanced close-up of the cards for those who would like to try reading them:
♥
Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the tarot world, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and reviews.
26 comments
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July 21, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Shira
I cannot comment on depth on this painting because it makes me sad and breaks my heart.
July 21, 2009 at 2:55 pm
melanie
she has way too much going on, is trying to do too many things at once, and she’s not concentrating on what’s important.
Now that something bad has happened everything else around her is quietly on hold, waiting, while she attends to the things that really matter.
July 21, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Claudia
I think mama is comforting her child. Daddy is standing by and feels a lot of empathy. His expression and the woman’s are caring. The little dog in the dress at the woman’s feet seems to stand for instinct and intuitive. Follow your heart. Give “heart” to everything you do. Also, sometimes what we need is to be nurtured the way we nurture our beloved animal companions. The dog clearly has a bond with the child as he/she is also giving comfort. Yes, there is sadness here, but I get love from this painting. I suspect these performers live a hard life and the public is often not kind to nomadic peoples, especially those who work in circuses, carnivals or as repertory company actors. In bygone eras, such folks were patronized but were not held in very high esteem. Sadly, it’s like astrologers or tarot readers today. People come to us, but remarks made about our line of work can be hurtful to our own “child within.”
July 21, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Veronica
I am not well read. I don’t know much about tarot or playing cards. Not much about mythology. But this painting moves me very much.
What I can say is this. The woman does not look like an acrobat. Her face is not painted. She has the skin of royalty. She has a crown and the garb of royalty. Why is she there at this festival? Why would a queen be there alone, unguarded?
And she is very unguarded. ……..Sitting against the side of a building is simply not done when one is a queen. Look at how she sits. One who is groomed for royalty does not sit that way. Her bearing is off. And she doesn’t care. There is something profound going on here, for her. She sits like……someone who has given over. She’s slumped. Even tired. Why tired? Is she tired of the constraints of a priveleged life? Of the constraints on a woman from that time?
Is the queen symbolic of something else? Something noble that has been grounded? Something noble that has been diminished in some way? There is no one to guard the queen, no entourage because no one seems to know that the queen is there. She’s unrecognized.
The queen is holding a child; a member of a troupe that does not fly through the air. This troupe stays on the ground, on the earth. The child appears dead to me; a mortal injury to the head. Why the head? I don’t think that this is the type of injury that comes from performing on the ground. The owl is chained. Why? Aren’t owls night creatures? It does look to be about twilight…..
I think the child tried to “fly”. An aerial stunt gone horribly wrong. And the child and the owl represents alot to me, but I cannot craft with words…the richness and the depth of what I feel.
I can’t wait to go to school.
Thank you for allowing me to share….
July 21, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Gail Wood
The Saltimbanques are tightknit and close to one another, regardless of whether they are related by blood or marriage, animal or human. They are bonded through mutual love, and need; for they are held in contempt by those around them. The woman read cards for the clown in the background, and unhappy with the reading he turned around and struck the child. The child fell and broke his head. They all reach out to comfort one another, dogs, owl (the owl’s chain mirrors the people’s unseen chains), and humans. Fear, sorrow, and pain mingle with helplessness, comfort and love in a life bordered by dehumanizing disregard for their hunanity even by other performers, let alone by the so-called respectable society.
July 21, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Veronica
I forgot something. This woman knew in advance of the child’s death. The cards are at her feet, and she sits like someone resigned. Sad and resigned. I almost said, defeated.
But she’s not. She still wears her crown. Her robe is unsullied, her shoes are not dirty.
She has the wisdom of the owl. The chained owl. She knew in advance. This queen came to comfort this child, in this child’s last hours. She sits like an everyman, not like a royal.
For in death, we are all the same.
July 21, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Veronica
Argh!
She is like the child. And the owl. She is bound by duty and sex and cannot experience true freedom, and she understands the child’s innocent and innate desire to fly.
Nobility recognizes nobility, and salutes itself. The effort of this child could not did not go unnoticed…… It was witnessed. And there is beauty in that.
And I think I’ve run out of my daily allotment of words.
July 21, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Veronica
The people in the background. They’re dark. Or standing in “darkness”. Their faces aren’t very pleasing.
They represent the part of us that can’t see….can’t recognize nobility.
And it’s interesting that it was the cards that “told” this queen of the child’s “noble” act. Why cards? Hmmmmm. Does the painter recognize or want us to recognize that cards can be used for more than just looking at whether He or She is coming back? Hmmmm. That there is a more “elevated” use for cards?
And now I’m off to do the laundry.
..really!
July 21, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Veronica
I’m ducking my head, but:
The queen in “chains” thing…… Perhaps the cards are the only means that “she” has to access the…… the God place. Big Mind….insert your word here.
She is bound, but through her cards, she has the freedom to explore…… beyond her chains. ….. We can all explore if we wish.
My laundry has wrinkles now Miss Mary Greer.
July 21, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Julia
The child has an eerie adult-like face. And he is bleeding. The father (or adult male companion) is wet-eyed and the mother is crying. Even the dogs are concerned–this is a physical death or serious injury.
The mother is a Gypsy Queen, perhaps, but I don’t believe that she’s any real kind of royalty.
It is the position of the cards that most interests me. Who put them there? She is not in the position to place them, with a wounded child on her lap. Could she have put them down and then he ran (or was brought) to her? Yet, they are clearly spread around and for her. And in a position that looks as if they were spread by her.
I wonder if the cards foretold something awful, or if it was the reverse and the cards failed to warn them?
Sorry. I know I’ve written more questions than answers. It’s a beautiful painting, and great Art does that, eh?
July 21, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Dana Martine
A chaotic combination of The Fool and The 5 of Pentacles….A classic and tragic tale of “send in the clowns” in this scenerio/depiction where a pauperish family lives their life in a circus like vaccume and the world meets irresponsibility and consequences.
Ill forsaken mentality here as the end result is grave circumstance/sue to bad choices in lifes chasing rainbows and butterflies only to find a harsh reality on the streets.
Yes…there are no accident…only choices.
Dana Martine
Director / The Cincinnati Tarot Guild
July 21, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Helen
“Come to me child, all is not lost. I will kiss away the pain, you will see.” She holds him lovingly in her arms while Denesto looks on.
“What hope is there for us?” asked Denesto with a heavy heart. “We are finished here, if the boy cannot perform with me!”
“Hope you say? I have looked into the cards and there is more than hope. There is guidance in their form. We must be strong. The cards have a deep wisdom, all I need to do is unravel their secret.” She strokes her hand across the child’s head, choosing not to look at Denesto, in case the doubt that exists in her own eyes would be recognised by him.
He slouches forward, the weight of responsibility upon his shoulders. Can I believe her? he wonders. She has an unusual talent that allows her to see through the veil of illusions that life weaves for us, like webs of gossamer sticking to our minds.
“Well, my dear, read the cards then and tell us our fate!”
She sighs and casts her eyes down to the cards that lie at her feet. “May the Goddess Fortuna be with us” she mutters softly as she prepares to read…….
July 21, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Helen
Opps I think lie should have be lay LOL
July 21, 2009 at 11:26 pm
monica
The artists is conveying the sorrow in life that is experienced by all, here poignantly in a troup of acrobats, whose living is made by making their spectators laugh and enjoy a good show. The cards on the ground possibly imply that while we may read the omens and divine, ultimately we are all subject to the reality of pain and sorrow (and the true wisdom arising from it). I note that the only creatures comforting the hurt family are the animals, while the rest of the performers are standing in the background watching.
July 22, 2009 at 3:15 am
Decia
I see the dog in the back ground wearing the blue crown as the woman before, looking at the feather in the crown I would say she had been regarded as a woman of high virtue, having a collar round her neck I would say she didn’t have the freedom of a single woman, there’s a couple in the back ground, the man as a concerned look, wearing clowns clothing, suggesting he as been stupid, ghost like figures stand between the clown and the saltimbanque suggesting haunting memories, the saddened saltimbanque as a butterfly on his chest suggesting this was the very foolish act of passion [the fiery orange attire] that transformed her situation, the empty bag the saltimbanque holds could have held the cards that are now laid on the floor suggesting that she came clean, she still wears her grown and dresses richly, suggesting she still holds on to her relationship, although as suggested by the blue gown she is now very emotional, holding on to the hurt child I see as trying to heal her hurt relationship, the dog at her side in more humble clothing pleading for attention, representing her inner self now, knowing she as done wrong and wanting forgiveness the owl suggests she as learned from her mistake.
Blessings Decia
July 22, 2009 at 4:08 am
Pytheas
Well, “every picture tells a story…” usually lots of them…
I think that the mother of the child had dealt a spread and must’ve been pretty upset to see what appears to be the “Death Card” – Ace of Spades – so dominant in the reading. Then, while pondering the cards, her son and husband(?) appear; her child’s been badly hurt and she can but see the outcome in terms of the cards she was reading.
The crown she’s wearing suggest that she herself might be the Queen of Spades… and is that the Queen of Spades in the spread, second from the right at the bottom of the pic? The husband looks like a combo of The Fool and the Knight of Wands, severely crestfallen. Is that a butterfly design on his chest?
I can’t make out all the cards in the spread, but there seem to be 3 court cards, representing the three main characters in the picture?
I like some of the associated imagery – gathering clouds in the background, the music that’s stopped playing, the chained owl/wisdom, no beat of the drum… and the object on the wall could be clothing, the child’s top as it seems to match his socks and shoes?
The tightrope in the background suggests the cause of the accident. Perhaps the whole picture is an allegory for “don’t run before you can walk,” “pride will have a fall,” or “ambitions of the father visited on the son” or similar?
er… I like the Fool’s dog with the little jet of steam coming out of its head!
July 22, 2009 at 7:55 am
Tarotsmith
Wow that’s really an intense painting, I can see why it intrigued you.
This is what I see in it.
The woman is holding an injured child who is going to die. I think he is going to die not just because of the blood and paleness but also because there is an owl sitting there, a harbinger of death.
The jester siting next to her looking so concerned is a commentary on the cruel trick of nature to take a child so young.
There are 2 dogs, one sits by the woman, one sits by the jester. I think they speak to the animal, primitive nature of life and death, both the woman and jester acting out their proper roles.
There is a person leering from the shadows, maybe he is the cause of injury, maybe he is the desire to place blame.
The woman wears blue. My first impression was that she wasn’t the mother, but a fortune teller reading for a concerned mother, but I think the blue signifies that she is the mother. And as a wealthy,wearing a crown, mother she is not exempt from the harsh realities of life.
I think she is reading the cards because she is trying to figure out what fate has in store for her and her dying child. Looking for reassurance, hoping he will get better.
Maybe she even hopes to trick fate from taking her child, thus another reason to have the trickster sitting close by – will she do a good enough job to petition him?
Who wouldn’t try anything to save their child?
The composition seems like a circus or actors, with the balls and music instruments and costumes…the woman is wearing ballet shoes too, but it isn’t a performance, it is real. It is away from the stage behind the building, a real situation to performers.
There is a configuration in the back with wood which reminds me of a cross and makes me think the child was a sacrifice somehow, maybe a sacrifice to a theatrical life, or as a price for making your child work so young.
Now I am going to read the other comments.
Great painting!
Marie
July 22, 2009 at 9:22 am
Lorrie Kazan
“We dance round in a ring and suppose but the secret sits in the center, and knows.” Robert Frost
I see the cards in a half circle, the beings completing the circle. Fortune can feel so cruel in the moment and yet it keeps turning around like the wheel.
I love the rich costumes, the compassionate dog, the expression on the owl’s face. What is it owls represent again? This owl has a kind of innocent face, or my projection?
All kinds of beings are in this play.
July 22, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Roseanne Segal
Dore is brilliant. There’s so much in this painting…a favorite. For instance, the symbolism of the crowned madonna in blue, with child theme, but in the folkloric fem-fatale sense, imagery common to 19th century French painters. Dore was well known for his biblical apocalyptic paintings, so this may be an ironic social statement, about the contrast of royal imagery, here amongst gypsies. Performers acting out The Tragedies (Greek), often for the elites, in court, yet, behind the scenes, the brutality of “real life”, for their social class, is dismal, unlike the roles they play. It cuts at our conscience, and empathetic senses, like a knife. Her distressed child’s injury, may have been sustained, from a performance gone awry, bringing things to head. Les Saltimbanques, is a derogatory term within their circles, we learned. They emotionally wear the hardship, of their circumstances. So she seeks answers in the cards, for a better life, for herself, and her child. She’s torn, indecisive, her child’s father (?), is sweet, loving, but, a disappointment. His posture, and sullen expression, give him away. Was it his fault the child fell, cut his head? The child runs to his mothers arms for comfort, while her “throw” reveals, an alliance to higher circles of influence, waiting in the wings. Her partner, Is sympathetic, but, powerless, naiive. “The Fool”. Perhaps he’s the King of Spades in her throw? I see no ring on her left hand…she’s unmarried? There’s nothing to hold her back.
The owl (her chained familiar) a classic occult wisdom symbol, linked to the goddess Isis, High Priestess, an original Madonna figure, with Horus. The Queen of heaven. Ishtar, was flanked by owls, who were considered companion animals, for their ability to see in the dark, for safe journeying through the underworld. Also, thought to be the go betweens for God(s) and man. Owl is to her left (feminine side). She looks to improve her situation, with trusted animal totems, looking on.
Are the onlooking men featuring, a leading man, for her, in the above-ground acrobatic group, I wonder if he’ll be her new champion, for gaining elevated status amongst gypsies? That looks like a tightrope act, potentially. Hmmm. This is all speculation, but, very fun, taking a closer look. Thanks for the invitation! I looked up the meaning of a standard deck of cards, as close as I could decern them, for divination, and got this.
A closer look at the cards reveals much: It looks sort of like, a Hermetic throw.
The center cards~
North card/Ace of Spades = Bad news, Loss of loved one, Illness
West card/King of Spades = A problem causing man
East card/6 of Clubs (possibly ?) = Partnership success based on mutual goals
South card/4 of Hearts = Old maid, or bachelor card
Right side cards~
9 of Clubs = Arguments, Loss of relationship, Unresolved dispute
5 of Hearts = Indecisive, Breaking of plans
3 of Hearts = Sign of 2nd marriage, or proposal of marriage by another
8 of Spades = False friend, Betrayal, Critical examination of relationship
Left side card ~
Ace of Clubs = Wealth, Fame, Friends in high places
Queen of Spades = Signifies a cruel woman betrayer, who uses for gain
4 of Diamonds = quarrels, Neglect of family, Situation comes to HEAD (child?)
I’m curious to hear more! Best, Rose
July 22, 2009 at 6:05 pm
mkg
Everyone – All your comments have been fabulous, making me rethink each impression I had myself.
My feeling is they are a family of entertainers. The child wears shorts out of the same material as the acrobat’s red costume. The child perhaps fell from a tightrope and is dead or dying (his face is as pale as the father’s). The father looks on in helpless, ineffective despair.
The light makes a kind of halo around the “madonna & child”—which, as someone said echoes traditional Mary imagery. Here, the owl makes clear that this scene is more ‘pagan.’ The woman only plays the roles of Queens and Goddesses, yet embodies them like Sophia/Wisdom who got trapped among the morals she came to save. The Christian barn is replaced by a carnival with performing dogs and the owl instead of sheep and cattle. The usual subtle prefigurement of death has become an actuality because among mere mortals this is what happens—and to the poor—with frightening regularity. It is the presence of the man (an unlikely but just as ineffective a Joseph) who creates the “story” and takes it out of the realm we might otherwise assume of the “pieta” of a woman of wealth and station.
I love the purely graphic things that Doré did. If you draw an X across the painting you’ll find that the back of the boy and angle of the woman follow one diagonal while the left eye of the man is on the other diagonal and marks his line of sight to the red shorts of the boy (with the dog’s nose just beyond). The spots of red form another important line, drawing your eye from the tamborine to the boy’s shorts and blood and to the face of the man and on to a red top-knot on the costumed actor in the background – subtly tying in the family with the people and scene in the background.
The cards are hard to read – for one thing, there are so many different systems of interpretation. But almost universally the Ace and Queen of Spades and the 9 of Spades or Clubs presage danger and death. My notes on the 3 of Hearts save “poverty, shame and sorrow caused by imprudence. Child” – (in other cases this card can be fame & glory).
July 23, 2009 at 11:45 am
mkg
What purpose do the cards serve in the picture? One art commentator said it was to show how Fate could strike at any time. My sense is that this disaster was not totally unexpected. No one is fighting or raging at what has happened. There is sadness but acceptance. Because it was forseen? It is this sense of inevitability to the picture that I find incredibly sad, even though I don’t want to believe that dangers can’t be forestalled.
Like others here who have posted multiple comments, I love how I can keep coming back to this picture and each time see it from a different perspective.
July 25, 2009 at 6:25 am
Mark
I haven’t read any of the comments above, hoping to have my own feelings about the painting. I’ve never seen this work before and am very drawn to it. My feeling is that the clown next to the mother was somehow responsible for the accident. The mother has obviously asked the cards about her little boy’s condition. The cards don’t look that bad. There’s more anxiety than anything serious and as I look towards the upper right of the cards, they are all red – which are more about her feelings of love and relief that he’ll be ok. There’s also remorse that’s her work has put her child in danger and a feeling of hopelessness – a feeling of entrapment. With the Ace of Spaces on top, I would think she is seriously thinking of leaving the circus. The owl represents wisdom. Some of the wisest people I’ve met are in the most hopeless and hard-pressed situations – she knows she should leave, but emotions win out in most cases – she knows this too. The dog represents nurturing and protection. This accident is the the final straw. The clown knows this and even though the accident is his fault, he needs them for the act – “It won’t happen again! I”ll make it up to you and the child.” “But, I love you…” She’s finished – won-t even look at him. Now, if she just has the courage to leave. She would really like to, the cards indicate that she’d be ok, but it’s oh so hard to leave what seems like your only lot in life. I’m hoping she takes her child and leaves the circus.
July 26, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Kimberanne
Sorry to be so cryptic, but this is what I got when I first sat down to write about the energies of the painting, exactly as it came to me. “What lies in Waite is yet to come, what lies hidden is yet to be found. Layers apparent, yet shadowed by the truth. In plain sight, yet veiled. An inside joke. Will they “get it”?”
Now, on to MY thoughts on the message.
The woman is a representation of many of us. She is a seer, a reader, the High Priestess brought back to the level of Empress when the moment calls for it.
We all have many layers of our persona. I, myself, am an intuitive, a want to be astrologer, and at times am honored to be a medium for those who have passed over. That is the person that many on the outside world see. Striped of all that, I am a mother, the Empress, the nurturer and protector of my family. When survival is threatened, all higher order ceases to exist. All outside of us disappears from focus.
This woman has set aside those roles, to focus on the most basic of roles, the nurture, the care taker, the life giver. Around her, all the symbols of the layers of who she is surround her.
The owl is the ability to see beyond the veil and the ability to see through deception to the other side. Yet, this owl is chained and only able to venture so far. The ability to see is limited by the chains that bind you to reality as it is experienced in the physical.
The “Fool” that sits beside her is her ability to trust in that which can not be seen. To have faith in what she sees although it makes no sense at times. He doesn’t pull for her attention, just sits there and allows her to “be” in that moment.
The dancing shoes hint of the joy of life that she is able to feel. The freedom in movement and the grace she possesses as she dances through life. Carefree. Unencumbered.
The juggling balls, a memento of the times when life is about balance and the delicate control that must be used to keep things just so.
The dogs represent the animal side of others. One continues to beg for her attention and energy and the other sits back, fearful of what the distraction will mean.
The instruments represent the energy that she puts out into the world that is noticed by others. Tooting her own horn, so to speak.
The shadow people stand in the background, knowing that they aren’t allowed into her energy at that moment.
The cards that lay neglected at her feet tell of how the focus on the future is left behind when the focus of the present is needed.
On a much lighter note, this came to mind, “Its all fun and games until someone loses an eye!”
July 31, 2009 at 2:22 pm
The Tarot Sense
Thank you Mary for bringing this artist to your blog.
Elizabeth
August 11, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Marilee
I’ve greatly enjoyed reading all of your interpretations of this beautiful painting. I thought I would share some information I found on the painting from an art history perspective – I found the following link for a book called “The great parade” by Jean Clair, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais (France), National Gallery of Canada:
http://books.google.com/books?id=2d49XYTa9mEC&pg=PA136&lpg=PA136&dq=Gustave+Dor%C3%A9++Les+Saltimbanques+1874&source=bl&ots=QWyOElILak&sig=Xh3LR4fO9zfv4oaOtDWzUb3-2gQ&hl=en&ei=wFGCSsHcA4PmM-PxlaEL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7#v=onepage&q=&f=false
“A beautiful book that showcases how circus figures and artifacts have been portrayed in art over the past two centuries. … examining how painters, sculptors, and photographers from the eighteenth century to the present have used the circus as a springboard for their imaginative expression and have envisioned the clown as a metaphor for the modern artist.”
The author discusses Dore’s interest in acrobatics as a child, his close relationship with his mother and his sense of failure as an artist. The painting is also known as “The Injured Child” implying that the child will survive.
Blessings, Marilee
August 24, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Tom Buckner
The small version of the painting does little to prepare the viewer for the larger version, which bursts with telling details. Here’s what I see:
The man’s posture is one of dejection. He holds another bandage already bloodied. He is powerless. I think the man and the woman are the parents. Despite her royal appearance she also wears the shoes of an acrobat. She laid the card spread, but had no time to act on its message, perhaps. The child probably did fall. I doubt anyone is really at fault. The mother, like the man, weeps. The dog at left clearly feels no differently, nor the smaller white one. As for the other performers in the background, I detect nothing false in them. They are sad too. They keep their distance out of respect. The owl, like any bird, is incapable of facial expression. It sits, enigmatically. Nobody is moving at all, except the smaller dog. Is anyone here praying for a good outcome? Does anyone look hopeful?
No.
The child is pale, and not from greasepaint. His eyes are black from a severe head wound, his mouth drawn tightly open in a way that I do not interpret as pain but more likely a rictus, a seizure. No doctor is rushing forward, no apothecary, no nurse, nobody. The mother is kissing the child’s head, but she is not comforting the child. The child lies limp, no longer struggling. I think the child is dying or dead already.