Almighty painter

Chapter 104 The Little Prince (Thanks to Alstonke for being the leader!)

(Thanks to Alstonke for being the leader, thank you for more details at the end.)
Austria,
World cultural heritage, Melk Abbey.

It was still daylight,
The morning rain drifted over the small town of River Valley. A couple who just flew to Austria from Los Angeles yesterday were waiting excitedly and nervously at the cafe on the edge of the town.

Opposite them sat a business agent in a gray suit.

"The wedding ceremony officially started at 7:45 in the morning and officially ended at 8:15. We borrowed the right to use the Marble Hall for 10 minutes. A priest of the monastery will be present. No photos are allowed during the period..."

Facing the time schedule on the mobile phone, the business intermediary happily checked the process for the last time, and his tone was quite proud.

Half an hour or so is a bit too urgent for a wedding ceremony.

however,
This is Melk Abbey.

Known as one of the most gorgeous churches in the world, it is currently the largest medieval art collection ancient library in Europe and the official royal monastery of the old Habsburg dynasty.

Everything in Melk Abbey was built according to the standards of a royal palace.

Baroque grand decoration, amber palace, wall decals made of gold powder carvings, 24 bronze statues of archangels, and master art murals - it is praised by fashion magazines as the world's most dreamy wedding venue.

Being able to make an appointment to hold a wedding here, even if there are many rules, and it only takes half an hour, it is also a manifestation of the ability of their wedding firm.

Rich bumpkins can wave banknotes casually and decorate their wedding banquets magnificently with gilded plates.

But being able to swear a marriage contract in Melk Abbey is a symbol of status.

The melodious sound of the pipe organ coming from outside the cafe caught the attention of the business intermediary.

It shouldn't be time for the wedding to start yet?

He loosened the Armani tie around his neck, turned his head, and looked at the church behind him.

The two heavy dark oak doors in front of the main hall of the church suddenly opened at some point.

The staff spread the thick red carpet from the slope at the entrance of the church to the marble square in front.

Choir children in white vests and dark suspenders lined up to the sound of the organ.

"OMG, this link is not on the schedule, is this a surprise arranged by your firm?"

Seeing such a battle, the newcomers were moved.

They were a little dissatisfied with spending such a large sum of money to make an appointment for just half an hour at Melk Abbey.

But now it looks like the whole formation is full of ritual.

"No... this is not our arrangement, this is... some important person has come over."

The business representative muttered to himself, he took off his glasses and wiped them vigorously with the hem of his suit.

"Wait, that's..." He couldn't believe what he saw.

At the gate of the monastery, a fat old man wearing a round hat like Santa Claus appeared at the foot of the steps in front of the monastery.

He looked unremarkable, but he was wearing a Roman purple robe, and on his chest was a pure gold cross the size of an adult's palm, shining like molten gold under the sunlight.

Purple has always been one of the most noble colors in European culture.

Among the millions of clergymen and billions of believers in the world, all those who are eligible to wear purple robes are the most honorable high-ranking priests of the church.

This is an archbishop!

The only thing a wedding agency can arrange to witness a marriage is an ordinary priest.

archbishop?
Do not make jokes,
If it was the Middle Ages, an archbishop even had the right to participate in the election of the emperor to decide whether the ruler of the empire would stay or not.

Even in modern times, there are only a handful of cardinals and the pope himself who are more honorable than the archbishop in the entire Roman church.

The business intermediary took out his mobile phone to read the news.

He wondered if there might be a state visit to Austria today, whether the prime minister is here, or why would the abbot of Melk Abbey greet him in person at the gate.

Suddenly, he heard a heavy engine sound coming from far and near,

A convoy of two dark-coloured Mercedes GLS SUVs and a Rolls-Royce pulled up at the gate of the monastery.

The butler-like person directed the nurse to take out the wheelchair from the trunk of the vehicle in front, and helped the VIP out of the opposite door of the luxury car in the middle.

The business representative could only vaguely see the profile of the VIP, who looked like a young girl.

Is the princess of which royal family in Europe?

……

"Anna, welcome to come."

The dean of Melk Abbey walked down the steps, bent down and hugged Anna in the wheelchair politely.

"I received your call yesterday. To be honest, I was quite surprised. According to the tradition of the Elena family, I thought the next time I saw you would be at your wedding."

The archbishop said with a smile.

Many aristocratic families with a long history in Europe have their own traditional family culture.

For example, the Welf family, an old-fashioned German prince, has a very oriental style. Traditionally, they like to place a pair of stone lions in front of the family property. There is also the Duke of Hunter family who is used to eating a quail before a male member enlists...

The Jelena family is an artistic aristocracy.

The family traditions are artsy, too – each family member comes to Melk Abbey when they are christened at birth, marry after falling in love with someone, die and die, and when important decisions need to be made.

They will contemplate, make important decisions or park their coffins under the famous dome fresco of "Athena Riding a Lion Chariot" in the monastery.

But Anna seems to have a general interest in religion.

She wasn't exactly a devout believer.

Even though she was baptized according to family tradition when she was born, Anna seldom went to church. She only went to church a few times since she was a child.

From this point of view, she is not even a qualified believer.

The last time I came to Melk Abbey was because of my aunt's funeral.

"Miss Irina, do you want to confess, or do you need God's guidance on something? I am happy to arrange the sacrament for you personally."

Dean Melk, who was wearing a purple robe, asked with a smile on his face.

This old aristocrat has always been the most important patron of the church.

Even though Anna is not keen on church activities, the dean's attitude is very good.

"No, I just want to be quiet, please give me a prayer room."

Anna shook her head.

……

Melk Abbey, royal prayer room.

In the grand hall, according to the girl's request, there is no nurse or priest.

Anna did not pray before the statue of Jesus.

She just sat quietly in the wheelchair, looking at the Goddess of Wisdom driving a lion chariot on the towering dome.

yesterday,

Anna felt unprecedented happiness.

The so-called gravity of the soul is that two people are separated from each other, but they can still breathe together with the same heartbeat.

This is both a tacit understanding and a miracle.

"Impressionism is nothing more than inner emotion and pure visual enjoyment. We don't portray gods, we just record sunlight and air. We don't follow dogma, because beautiful things will stay, and pain will eventually pass away."

This passage from Detective Cat perfectly fits her understanding of Impressionist art.

The moment those words hit her ears, Anna even faintly felt a kind of trembling through the whole body.

that moment,
Anna felt that she had never been so close to the soul of the female painter she had never met.

It's such a good feeling.

From this moment,

She no longer regrets that she has no talent for drawing.

Because Anna knew——that she had found the painter she was destined for.

Under the Athena mural, she silently pondered the thoughts that had been lingering in her mind for a long time.

Perhaps it was the goddess who fought in the worlds in a lion chariot that gave Anna strength, and she finally made up her mind secretly.

She took out her mobile phone from her pocket and found a number that her aunt had left her in the address book.

"Uncle Osborne, I want to ask you one thing..."

Anna made a phone call.

The Uncle Osborne and the Elena family in her mouth are old friends.

The other party and his aunt were college classmates, and the Elena family was kind to him, and Anna's grandfather arranged for Osborn, who was still a poor boy, to work in the Scholastic Publishing Group.

Scholastic Publishing Group - a dominant publishing group, the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books, with annual net revenues exceeding $20 billion.

You can know the heavyweights of this publishing house by looking at the names of the acting authors and painting artists it has worked with - Andy Warhol, Stephen King, Sylvia Plath, and "Harry Potter" "Author J.K Rowling.

Osborne is now the vice president of Scholastic Europe, and one of the most important contacts in the art circle left by her aunt to Anna.

"Anna? It's you." A serious man's voice came from the other side of the microphone.

"Well, Uncle Osborne, is it convenient for you to talk?"

Anna heard some noisy voices on the other side of the microphone.

"You go out first, we will talk about the report in the afternoon at the board meeting..."

The man ordered, and then his voice became softer: "Anna, why did you remember to call your Uncle Osborne, what's the matter?"

"Yes, I do have something I want to ask you."

Anna didn't deny it.

"It's Van Dorn's business. It's true that you're not mature enough in this matter. The art circle can't offend people. It's very irrational to offend this kind of artist on an online celebrity video."

The man unceremoniously accused Anna.

Anna listened quietly.

"But... "Oil Painting" magazine kicked you out, it was Sir Brown's fault. Anyway, your surname is Elena, and it is too deceitful to kick the last heiress of the Elena family out of the magazine."

Osborn's tone became cold and hard.

"Well, since you have spoken, Anna, I will discuss with Sir Brown. I can also deal with De Jong Van Dorn. Since he is an illustrator, he will not give me this face anyway. This matter Just pretend it never happened...how?"

Osborne's tone was confident.

Big fish eat small fish. As the head of the European region of a large publishing group, Osborne is equivalent to Party A in the chain of interests.

To say he could kill De Jong Vandoorne would be an exaggeration.

However, since Osborn said this, Van Dorn would not entangle Anna too much.

"Thank you, but I called you today...it's not for this matter." Anna hesitated for a moment, but for some reason, she didn't immediately agree.

"Hmm...what else?"

Osborn's tone was a little strange.

"May I recommend an artist as an illustrator for a book?" Anna asked.

"Oh, small things, this kind of thing is just a matter of one sentence." Osborn smiled, "Tell me, my child, which book is it?"

"Scholastic Publishing Group is preparing to re-publish "The Little Prince," right?" Anna asked softly.

"The Little Prince...uh..."

This time it was Osborn's turn to fall into a brief silence.

The Scholastic Group publishes thousands of books a year.

In theory, such a small matter as appointing an illustrator for a book is not worth mentioning to Osborne.

But "The Little Prince" and other books are not a concept at all.

"The Little Prince" is a famous children's (adult) fairy tale written by the French writer Saint-Exupery in 1942, and it is also one of the best-selling books in the world.

In Europe and North America, where books are generally expensive, the cumulative sales of "The Little Prince" have exceeded 50 million copies in 1 years, and the number of millions of copies per year is still increasing.

Basically, the only book with a larger printing volume than "The Little Prince" is the Bible, and even the total sales volume of "Harry Potter" is slightly worse than that of "The Little Prince".

The original copyright of "The Little Prince" was in the hands of Scholastic Group's competitor, Townsendsman Publishing Group, which brought astronomical income to the publishing house for decades.

This kind of book belongs to a profitable cash cow, and it is also the core commercial interest of a publishing house.

It is basically impossible to acquire copyright.

But as half a century passed, the copyright of "The Little Prince" expired around the turn of the millennium, and it officially entered the field of public books.

It also provides an opportunity for other eager publishers to enter the market.

Scholastic Group has been preparing for the reprint of "The Little Prince" since a long time ago, not only re-translating [-] languages ​​including German, Swiss, Spanish, Portuguese, and Danish.

And as the English version that focuses on sales, Mr. Hawke, the head of the Department of English Literature at Oxford University, a master translator, was invited to write.

It took five years of translation and polishing for a short short story, which can be called a classic sentence sentence, reaching the exemplary level of letter, expressiveness and elegance.

The internal reviewers of the publishing house who have seen the translated version of Mr. Hawke believe that the new version of The Little Prince surpasses the previous version translated by Catherine Woods in terms of language beauty, fluency, and degree of fit with the original author. There are many versions.

If, as expected, it may even become the most classic translation of The Little Prince in the next half century.

The meaning of this kind of work is extraordinary.

Mr. Osborne's hesitation can also be imagined.

　Thank you great ally.

　　I overslept today, so I just finished writing now.

　　There must be more updates, I promise.

　　But it will take a few days, and I can only promise what I can accomplish. The writing is getting late these days, so I have to make some adjustments.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)