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b"We've asked curators from the Getty Museum and Getty Research Institute to share short reflections on works of art they\\u2019re thinking about right now. These short recordings feature stories\\xa0related\\xa0to our daily lives. \\n\\n\\n\\nThis week, Getty drawings curator Stephanie Schrader considers the upside-down world of An Enchanted Cellar with Animals, made by Cornelis Saftleven around 1655 to 1670. To learn more about this artwork, visit:\\xa0 https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/160/\\n\\n\\n\\nOver the next few weeks, look for new recordings every Tuesday.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nTranscript:\\n\\n\\n\\nJAMES CUNO: Hi, I\\u2019m Jim Cuno, president of the J. Paul Getty Trust. As we all adapt to working and living under these new and unusual circumstances, we\\u2019ve asked curators from the Getty Museum and Getty Research Institute to share short reflections on works of art they\\u2019re thinking about right now. We\\u2019ll be releasing new recordings on Tuesdays over the next few weeks. I hope you\\u2019ll find these stories about our daily lives\\u2014from laundry on the line to a dog at a scholar\\u2019s feet\\u2014thought provoking, illuminating, and entertaining. \\n\\n\\n\\nSTEPHANIE SCHRADER: Hi my name is Stephanie Schrader and I\\u2019m\\ncurator of drawings at the J. Paul Getty Museum. I\\u2019m recording this podcast\\nfrom a closet, during my 8th or 9th week from working at home because of the COVID-19\\npandemic. And like many people with children who are working from home, I\\u2019m\\nhiding in here to avoid my daughter as she takes her online chemistry class in\\nthe other room. \\n\\n\\n\\nNormally, I look after the Dutch and Flemish drawings in our\\ncollection, and especially now, I\\u2019m feel very fortunate that I can escape the\\nworld of 17th century Dutch art and culture. 17th-century Dutch artists excelled\\nat making images that poke fun at human foolishness. And there\\u2019s one drawing in\\nour collection that I keep coming back to, which is speaking to me much more\\nvividly than it did before. It is a drawing by Cornelius Saftleven, who is\\nknown for his animal satires and his images of hell. \\n\\n\\n\\nThis particular drawing shows a cellar full of animals doing\\nall different human-like activities. It is an enchanting scene with lots of\\ncolor that accentuates the animals\\u2019 curious behavior. There are chickens\\nstanding on wooden fences as baked bread cools above them and rats warming their\\nfeet by the fire and a chained monkey who is looking out, sort of jeering at\\nthe viewer as overturned kitchen utensils are scattered on the floor in front\\nof hims. And overhead there\\u2019s a swirl of bats, who suddenly feel more menacing\\nas I think about the likely origins of COVID-19. The animals have taken over\\nhere in this vaulted cellar.\\n\\n\\n\\nBut one aspect of this drawing that really stands out to me\\nnow is a monkey who\\u2019s pretending to be a conductor and trying to wrangle a\\ngroup of owls into singing from a book that has been propped open on the floor.\\nThese distracted owls are not interested in learning how to sing and certainly not\\ninterested in learning from this very eager and enthusiastic monkey. As I\\nrepeatedly remind my daughter to stay focused on her studies and to get off her\\nphone, I really relate to this foolish monkey trying to encourage these owls to\\nsing.\\n\\n\\n\\nIn my moments of frustration, though, I am grateful for this\\ndrawing. Saftleven reminds us to laugh at the absurd, and God knows there\\u2019s\\nenough absurd out there. He urges us to be critical consumers of images, to\\nquestion our actions, and to remain attentive to the world we live in,\\nespecially now, when it\\u2019s upside down. \\n\\n\\n\\nCUNO: To view the drawing An Enchanted Cellar with Animals, made by Cornelis Saftleven around\\n1655 to 1670, click the link in this episode\\u2019s description or look for it on getty.edu/art/collection"