10 What is love?
What is love?
Merriam-Webster defines love as:
- 1a(1):
- strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties
maternal love for a child
- 1a(2):
- attraction based on sexual desire: affection and tenderness felt by lovers
After all these years, they are still very much in love.
- 1a(3):
- affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests
love for his old schoolmates
- 1b:
- an assurance of affection
give her my love
- 2:
- warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion
love of the sea
- 3a:
- the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration
baseball was his first love
- 3b(1):
- a beloved person: DARLING — often used as a term of endearment
- 3b(2):
- British — used as an informal term of address
- 4a:
- unselfish loyal and benevolent (BENEVOLENT sense 1a) concern for the good of another: such as
- 4a(1):
- the fatherly concern of God for humankind
- 4a(2):
- brotherly concern for others
- 4b:
- a person’s adoration of God
- 5:
- a god (such as Cupid or Eros) or personification of love
- 6:
- an amorous episode: LOVE AFFAIR
- 7:
- the sexual embrace: COPULATION
- 8:
- a score of zero (as in tennis)
- 9:
- capitalized, Christian Science: GOD
Love has been expressed almost endlessly through art; why?
Can you think of pieces of art, images, or videos that remind you of love? Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker discuss the French Enlightenment artist Fragonard’s “The Meeting.” It is part of a series of paintings illustrating the evolution of love. Harris and Zucker cover interesting context as to how these paintings we now experience through media or museums were once a part of people’s (albeit exceptionally wealthy people and those who worked for them) everyday lives. Consider the art we will study, including “The Meeting,” speaks to the aesthetic and interests of the people during the time it was created. What do you think of “The Meeting”? Can you imagine it hanging in a private residence? What will today’s art say about us to people in the future?
Fragonard, The Meeting. YouTube, uploaded by SmartHistory, 2 Apr. 2012.
