Roland delivers Olympe from the killer whale (Roland furieux Brunet 1775, ch11) - Cochin
Notice précédente Notice n°21 sur 92 Notice suivante
Description
Olympe had been exposed by the Ebudians on the rock for the orc. Roland intervenes and kills the orca by driving his boat's anchor into its mouth and pulling the monster ashore.
This episode is a parodic repetition of Roger's first great battle with the killer whale to rescue Angelique (end of Canto 10, beginning of Canto 11), which was itself a parody of Perseus and Andromeda. Not only did Roger not possess Angélique, but Roland delivered Olympe, not Angélique, the Olympe he had already championed in canto 9.
.
The massacre of the Ébudiens by the Irish leaves Roland unmoved, and King Obert, who conveniently comes to witness Roland's exploit, falls opportunely in love with Olympe in order to rid Roland of this Lady who is not his...
Cochin's original idea here was to make the orca's mouth the restricted space of the stage. Olympe watches Roland disappear into the orca's mouth from the vagueness of the space: her terrified face tells us what she understands of the scene; for her, Roland is swallowed up by the monster. For our part, we see what she can't: the inside of the monster's mouth. In this way, the forbidden gaze is signified, the mouth constituting the screen of representation. It's the device imagined by Cochin that allows us to see what Olympus cannot.
As a result, a curious equivalence is established between the orca's terrified gaze and that of Olympe...
Roland leaves his boat to enter the mouth: he moves from vague space into restricted space. It's this movement, this passage, that makes the chosen moment so striking. While the boat refers to Roland's past voyage, Olympe on the shore evokes the aftermath of his victory to come.
1. Top left: "Ch.nt XI".
Signed and dated lower left "C. N. Cochin delin.", right "N. Ponce sculp. 1776".
Imperial library stamp.
2. This engraving is taken from the Brunet edition, Paris, 1776.
3. To be related to Canto XI of Roland furieux, stanza 37:
.Tosto ch l'orca s'accostò, e scoperse nel schifo Orlando con poco intervallo, per ingiottirlo tanta bocca aperse, ch'entrato un uomo vi saria a cavallo. Si spinse Orlando inanzi, e se gl'immerse con quella àncora in gola, e s'io non fallo, col battello anco; e l'àncora attaccolle e nel palato e ne la lingua molle
As soon as this orc discovered Roger in his skiff a short distance away, he opened his mouth so wide that a man on horseback could fit inside. Roland then steps forward, rushes into its mouth with his anchor and, if I'm not mistaken, with his boat too, and ties that anchor here in his palate, there in his soft tongue;
Technical Data
Notice #001146