Phillis Wheatleys To Maecenas and Subversion

7 Aprile 2022

He writes, “Religion, indeed, has produced a Phillis Wheatley; but it could not produce a poet. The compositions published under her name are below the dignity of criticism” . Listed artworks are insured and held in secure, purpose-built facilities to protect them from damage or theft.

Trimalchio wealthy character who lavishly feasts guests at a banquet in Petronius’ Satyricon, a satire on Roman life in the first century A.D. A friend of Enobarbus’s, he is one of the drinking companions to whom the latter gives his famous description of Cleopatra on her barge. When Antony sends his challenge to single combat to Caesar, Maecenas interprets this as a sign that Antony is pressed to the limit, and recommends giving him no time to rest.

That’s not to say that Horace is negative here, just that it would have reminded Romans of their own ancestry. However, during this time claims to divine and kingly parentage became important as the Republic dissolved and great men vied for power; cf. Though Wheatley’s extraordinary life is an American story, it is also a testament to a legacy of American cruelty and to the way the sin and idol of racism have destroyed the lives and talents of generations. Wheatley’s work is a miracle shining out from a shameful period. Stories that remind us we can become better, that we need to become better, starting now.

Artworks are carefully curated for significance, quality, and investment value. By pushing these key functions into a blockchain platform, we not only increase security and visibility of our processes but also we significantly reduce costs, which are passed into the community so that everyone benefits. In an exclusive interview with Fintechnews.sg, Casil shares the story behind Maecenas, his vision for the company, the long-term goals, and what’s to expect to the near future. Maecenas is planning to run a crowdsale of its ART token, a clearing and settlement token to be used for all transactions on the platform. The platform promises to allow both sides of a traditional art deal to substantially reduce the commissions paid.

His great wealth may have been in part hereditary, but he owed his position and influence to his close connection with the emperor Augustus. He first appears in history in 40 BC, when he was employed by Octavian in arranging his marriage with Scribonia, and afterwards in assisting to negotiate the Treaty of Brundisium and the reconciliation with Mark Antony. As a close friend and advisor he had even acted as deputy for Augustus when he was abroad. Publius Terentius Afer, better known as Terence, is a famous Roman comic playwright, born in northern Africa. As the Encylopedia Britannicanotes, Terence was enslaved and later freed by a Roman senator. Wheatley suggests a connection between herself and Terence, both of African origin; yet, Terence is “happier”–both in his poetic skill, and perhaps also in having been freed.

The image included here is a portrait of the 18th century poet Alexander Pope, wearing a crown of laurel. The portrait (c.1737), by Jonathan Richardson, is housed in the National Portrait Gallery, London. The entire sale is fully transparent and executed on our secure blockchain based platform. Instead of getting a 3-year art-secured loan at a 13.5% annual interest, it can raise funds from Maecenas investors by listing some of their artwork at a 8% one-off fee. Art owners can list artworks on Maecenas and sell the Asset Tokens to investors. Investors can view the painting’s details, history, condition report, high resolution images of the artwork, and its full provenance before registering their interest to bid.

The testimony of Horace and Maecenas’s own literary tastes imply that he had profited from the highest education of his time. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title.

Vincent Carretta argues that the patron, rather than being John Wheatley or Mather Byles is actually the Countess of Huntington, who Wheatley dedicates the volume. Maecenas was the wealthy patron of classical Roman poets Virgil and Horace, whom Wheatley draws on in complex ways. Wheatley’s poem “To Maecenas” opens her collection, which position gives it a powerful significance as she claims the right to speak within this tradition. Like Horace’s Odes to Maecenas, Wheatley’s offers praise to her patron, but does so in ways that are fraught with the equivocalities of being an enslaved African working within the languge and culture of the colonial master. For a deeper reading of “To Maecenas,” see Paula Bennett’s journal article, “Phillis Wheatley’s Vocation and the Paradox of the ‘Afric Muse.'” Following other scholars, Bennett identifies Wheatley’s poet-patron as Mather Byles, one of the signatories verifying her authorship. Multimillion-dollar artworks are tokenised into “asset tokens”.

Each asset token represents a share of the beneficial interest in the underlying artwork and can be traded instantly on a global exchange. Multimillion-dollar artworks are broken up into “asset tokens” – digital units that can be bought and sold easily – literally at a fraction of the cost. Ownership of your holdings is protected by cryptographic keys which are virtually impossible to crack.

who is maecenas

I was unable to track his ancestry to great-great-great-grandparents, and I’m not sure Horatius could either. Especially since the expression is in plural , I believe it refers to several ancestors in several generations. But it is still possible that Horatius has some specific ancestors in mind instead of his family in general. The famously deistic Jefferson sees Wheatley as the product of over-emotional evangelists who have filled her head with Christ and not with poetry. That Wheatley was one of America’s great literary celebrities must have galled Jefferson. Reading the collection, one is struck by how much Wheatley has mastered European poetic conventions and brought them to America.

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DXMarkets works with various blockchain platforms to develop custom-made scalable solutions for clients. Maecenas is most famous for his support of young poets; hence his name has become the eponym for a “patron of arts”. It was Virgil, impressed with examples of Horace’s poetry, who introduced Horace to Maecenas.

By investing via Maecenas in an art-based financial instrument with similar performance, but a drastically lower fee, the client’s portfolio increases in value by more than $1.5m. Purchasing art pieces from Christie’s would incur fees of approximately $2m. In comparison, Maecenas allows her to invest in a number of different art pieces easily, paying only 3% in fees via bank transfer or credit card. If you decide to hold your tokens in your own blockchain wallet, you can use any third-party compatible with ERC20 to check your balance. We recommend using high-security hardware wallets such as Ledger Nano and Trezor. If you hold your tokens in our platform, you can check your balance by simply logging in and going into the Account section where you can see the balances of all the assets and currencies you hold with us.

who is maecenas

Thankfully, while Wheatley was enslaved, her owners did educate her, and as John Wheatley notes in the letter that opens Poems on Various Subjects that Phillis, “in sixteen Months Time from her arrival, attained the English language, to which she was an utter stranger before” . All enslaved individuals did not have the same opportunities as Wheatley, and even though she showed her intellect and the Wheatley’s freed her, she died in poverty at 31 years of age, three years before Jefferson’s comments on her writing. Prior to Maecenas, CEO and co-founder Marcelo García Casil founded DXMarkets, a startup that’s applying blockchain technology to financial markets to increase efficiency and reduce infrastructure costs.

Our mission is to make fine art investment accessible to everyone.

These digital certificates are issued as ERC20-compatible tokens on the Ethereum network. Each artwork that is tokenised by Maecenas is represented by a different type of Asset Token and it has a unique code. As an example, the 14 Small Electric Chairs Reversal Series artwork by Andy Warhol is represented by the code WRHL1. Having WRHL1 tokens in your digital wallet means you are part-owner of the Warhol artwork. VIRGIL READING AT THE HOUSE OF MAECENAS, JALABERIn spite of his significant contributions to the new political order in Rome, Maecenas is still best known for being a patron of the arts. He supported and promoted the careers of such Latin literary greats as Virgil, Horace, and Propertius.

  • You can buy and sell asset tokens on any exchange where they are listed.
  • The famously deistic Jefferson sees Wheatley as the product of over-emotional evangelists who have filled her head with Christ and not with poetry.
  • Maecenas has also been credited with encouraging both writers to focus more on topics of public interest, such as affairs of state.
  • Invest in multimillion-dollar blue-chip artworks by the world’s most famous artists.
  • Here, Wheatley blatantly asks why only one, Terence, should be remembered throughout history for his poetic accomplishments.

Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. The contemporary art space created within the Palais de Tokyo is a pretty sad example of government as Maecenas.

Similarly to how professional auction houses and some galleries operate, we obtain third-party valuation from experts in the particular artwork (taking into account the artist, their time period, medium, etc.). At this stage we remain focused solely on tokenising blue-chip artworks. However, in future we may expand our catalogue to include other related asset types. Manage your Fine Art investment portfolio in an active, real-time trading environment. Maecenas is a legitimate fintech startup that has 3.5 years of history, has been vetted and selected by Fintech Fusion, a Swiss accelerator run by Polytech Ventures which is an early-stage VC also based in Switzerland. We have a large board of advisors who are all highly experienced and reputable, and trust our team fully.

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The fact that the reputation of Augustus was one of moderation and accommodation was largely due to the influence of Maecenas, who actively discouraged him from carrying out purges or mass executions of his political who is maecenas enemies. A generous patron or supporter, especially of art, music, or literature. With such a huge drag on profits, there’s no guarantee an investor will make money after fees, even if the artwork goes up in value.

By decentralising this function, we not only lower the risk of a cybersecurity attack, but also we create an open ecosystem in which any other platform or market participant can provide services related to tokenised fine art. Ultimately, blockchain is an open protocol standard, and as such it fosters transparency and free market competition. We believe that by embracing these values, Maecenas can further its mission to democratise access to the art market. This aspect of Wheatley’s poetry can be seen from the very beginning of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral with the opening poem, “To Maecenas.” As a patron of the arts, the ancient Roman Maecenas supported poets such as Virgil and Horace. In the poem, Wheatley thanks her patron for supporting her writing.

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Get certified history and provenance information on every artwork on the platform, that can’t be forged or doctored. Maecenas is a marketplace that allows anyone to purchase fractional interests in great works of art, using the ease and efficiency of blockchain technology, and the same crypto security used by the world’s leading https://cryptolisting.org/ banks. Maecenas was a close friend of Augustus, and although he did not hold official public offices, he was very influential in government, both domestically, and diplomatically. His reputation was one of exceptional tact and moderation and he aided Augustus greatly in his dealings with rivals and political opponents.

Words nearby Maecenas

Foster states, “Phillis Wheatley was, I believe, acutely aware that linguistic facility, artistic impulses, a love and fascination for Latin and the Holy Scriptures were not perceived by the general reading public to be within the scope of black intelligence” . “To Maecenas” challenges these presumptions based on race, and Wheatley even calls her audience to reevaluate their own readings of poetic history through her reference to Terence. His name has become a byword in many languages for a well-connected and wealthy patron.

Horace makes reference to this in his address to Maecenas at the opening of his first books of Odes with the expression “atavis edite regibus” . Tacitus refers to him as “Cilnius Maecenas”; it is possible that “Cilnius” was his mother’s nomen – or that Maecenas was in fact a cognomen. He was also an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets, including both Horace and Virgil. During the reign of Augustus, Maecenas served as a quasi-culture minister to the Roman emperor but in spite of his wealth and power he chose not to enter the Senate, remaining of equestrian rank. The leaves of the bay laurel tree were a conventional symbol of poetic fame and acheivement originating in the mythological tale of Daphne and Apollo.

We believe that by lowering the threshold of entry we can make art investment available to a much wider audience who can collectively co-own art all around the globe, effectively democratizing fine art. Expressions in Propertius seem to imply that Maecenas had taken some part in the campaigns of Mutina, Philippi, and Perugia. He prided himself on his ancient Etruscan lineage, and claimed descent from the princely house of the Cilnii, who excited the jealousy of their townsmen by their preponderant wealth and influence at Arretium in the 4th century BC.

A similar change between the earlier odes of Horace, in which he declares his epicurean indifference to affairs of state, and the great national odes of the third book has been ascribed by some to the same guidance. Maecenas uses blockchain technology to create tamper-proof digital certificates linked to pieces of art. Investors can purchase these certificates to own a percentage of a given artwork, and can sell them back to other investors at any time via the Maecenas platform.

Mantua is a city in Italy, and the home of Virgil; the Mantuan sage is the poet Virgil. The nine muses in Greco-Roman mythology are goddesses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who inspire those in the arts and sciences. Homer is the ancient Greek poet of The Oddyssey and The Illiad.