Love is a many splendored thing, it comes in many different forms, love for your family, love for your pets, love for your partner, and also for some, love for inanimate objects. I’m sure you’ve seen one of the many varieties of videos which appear of people marrying inanimate objects, train stations, ghosts and the Berlin Wall. ‘Objectophilia’ is actually more common than you’d think, with people having strong romantic attachment to inanimate objects, As an art history major, what I find most interesting is the stories of how people have become overcome with love for art. While I love my major, I’ve never quite felt the intense love that some people claim to feel for the objects which I’m studying.
My inspiration for this topic comes from my lecture, in which my professor told us about Aphrodite of Knidos, a sculpture of the ancient world kept in the Lausos collection of Constantinople. The statue was meant to be so beautiful, enamouring and erotic that a man once stayed in the exhibition overnight and in the morning it had some suspect stains on it. Maybe from looking at it, you may understand the beauty that whoever this guy was felt, and his actions may be the cause of some deeper mental issues, but either way some element of this man’s brain rationalised a love, or lust, based on the beauty of the figure. This isn’t actually uncommon amongst statues of Venus, many of which that were created in the Neoclassical period spurred men to write about how much they wanted to kiss them.
This phenomenon of course also spreads to the medium of painting, the Mona Lisa, has caused two people to kill themselves because of her beauty, and the fact that they loved her so much that they could not live knowing that she would not love them back.
It’s certainly an interesting phenomenon, people finding such beauty in something that will never return the favour.
Maybe it’s because people are fickle and sometimes, frankly disappointing. People made from watercolours and oil paints are more reliable than people made from flesh and blood. Possibly one of my favourite stories to follow in this theme, is actually not to do with art but involves a more spooky, supernatural element. Far from the realm of physical statues, some people claim to fall in love with and marry ghosts. If you want to hear a whirlwind romance story, I present to you the sea-faring tale of Amanda and Jack Teague.
Let’s set the scene, in Northern Ireland, a 45 year old woman is working as a Jack Sparrow impersonator, while also being one of the last witches in Ireland who still maintains a strong communication with the dead spirits. She met her husband when she was lying in bed and he appeared next to her. He claimed to be the 300 year old ghost of the Haitian pirate, Jack Teague, who was executed for thievery. For any hardcore fans out there, yes, he does happen to have the same name as Keith Richards’ character in The Pirates of the Caribbean, coincidence? I think not. They seemed to develop a quick and intimate relationship, which culminated in a marriage ceremony on a boat in international waters, a la the Niagra Falls episode of the Office, except instead of Jim and Pam, we have the new Mrs Teague and a portrait of Jack Sparrow. It’s lucky that Amanda claims her husband looks exactly like Johnny Depp’s infamous character. However, while paintings might not disappoint you, it seems that ghosts certainly will, as the couple have now divorced. It seems surprising though that their ‘intimate’ connection couldn’t keep the marriage going while Erika Eiffel remains happily married to the Eiffel Tower.
It seems that Richard Curtis was right, and love actually is all around, if you can’t find it in the spirit world it seems that landmarks and artworks provide a much more durable relationship.
Sources:
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/louth-woman-married-ghost-pir…
https://people.com/human-interest/woman-who-married-300-year-old-pirate-…
Images Obtained From:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kXg5QwtMx4
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.93.html/2011/european…
https://sites.google.com/site/cristatuckermiad/home/ah151/chapter-2-aphr…