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Austin in The Second World War
2008-04-11 22:27:00
Austin, Robert Sargent RA 1895 -1973Woolwich Arsenal in 19431943DrawingView of men at work inside the munitions shed at the Woolwich Arsenal, South LondonAustin, Robert Sargent RA 1895 -1973Our heritage; Winston Churchill 1943Published by London Transport, 1943Printed by The Baynard Press,Dimensions: Width: 502mm, Height: 623mm During the Second World War, Robert Sargent Austin (1895 - 1973) was an Official War Artist. (1940-44).His works during this time reflect his patriotic concerns in the war effort.He also designed posters and press advertisments for the Underground Group and London Transport 1928-1943
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Woman Praying
2008-04-11 22:09:00
Robert Sargent Austin (1895 - 1973)Woman Praying 1927-1928Engraving7 7/8 x 6 1/4 in (image) 11 3/8 x 8 1/4 in (sheet)The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

The Fisherman
2008-04-11 22:03:00
Robert Sargent Austin (1895 - 1973)The Fisherman 1927-8EngravingThe Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio Austin, born in 1895, tried to ignore the stress and turmoil ( First World War 1914-1918 & Second World War 1939 -1945 ) by holding fast to traditional, medieval modes of expression and subject matter.

Robert Sargent Austin
2008-04-10 20:39:00
AUSTIN, Robert Sargent 1895-1973Sisters of Assisi 1924From A catalogue of etchings & engravings by Robert Austin , R.E., 1913-1929. London,Twenty-one Gallery, 1930Etching and engraving, printed in black on Whatman wove paper13.2 x 10.6The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of GlasgowAUSTIN, Robert Sargent 1895-1973Comare Giulia 1924From A catalogue of etchings & engravings by Robert Austin, R.E., 1913-1929. London,Twenty-one Gallery, 1930Etching and engraving, printed in black on antique laid paper10.8 x 10.4The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of GlasgowAUSTIN, Robert Sargent 1895-1973Italian Stonebreakers. 1925Charcoal. 18x27 inches.Private CollectionAUSTIN, Robert Sargent 1895-1973The Puppet Master: Self-portrait 1926Engraving, 172 x 161 mm.,Published by the Twenty-One Gallery in an edition of 50Engraving: printed in black on ivory wove paper with margins and Signed and dated in pencilAUSTIN, Robert Sargent 1895-1973The Angelus 1922From A catalogue of...

Théodore Rousseau
2008-04-09 20:36:00
ROUSSEAU Théodore [Paris, 1812 ; Barbizon, 1867 ]BORD DE RIVIERE c. 1849Oil paint on wood boardH. 27, l. 34.5Musée du Louvre département des Peintures, Paris ROUSSEAU Théodore [Paris, 1812 ; Barbizon, 1867 ]COUCHER DE SOLEIL DANS LA FORET c.1866Oil on canvasH. 46, l. 62.5Musée du Louvre département des Peintures, Paris ROUSSEAU Théodore [Paris, 1812 ; Barbizon, 1867 ]CLAIRIERE DANS LA HAUTE FUTAIE ; FORET DE FONTAINEBLEAU, DIT LA CHARRETTE 1863Oil on canvasH. 28, l. 53Musée du Louvre département des Peintures, ParisThe changed attitude to landscape is aptly expressed in the words of Théodore Rousseau, the most controversial representative of the new school of Naturalism: "Our art can only attain pathos through sincerity."Rousseau attempted to render nature as he found it, though his melancholic temperament is reflected in the desolate panoramas and gloomy sunsets.At the same time, his close attention to detail and painstaking accuracy in the delineation of plants and grasses betray...

Harvsters Resting, or Ruth and Boaz
2008-04-08 20:56:00
Jean-François Millet, French, 1814?1875Harvesters Resting (Ruth and Boaz)1850?53Oil on canvas67.3 x 119.7 cm (26 1/2 x 47 1/8 in.)Museum of Fine Arts, Boston From 1850 to 1853 Millet worked on Harvesters Resting (Ruth and Boaz), a painting he would consider his most important, and on which he worked the longest.Ruth and Boaz was not ready for the Salon of 1852, but was submitted the following year with a different title, Harvesters Resting.In the painting, Millet again represents a Biblical story within a contemporary scene.The Old Testament story (Ruth 4: 1-22) involves the young Moabite woman named Ruth, who married into a Jewish tribe and, according to custom, went to live with her husband?s family. Shortly after the wedding, Ruth?s husband died, which legally enabled her to return to her own family. Ruth, however, chose to stay with her widowed mother-in-law, Naomi, and travel to Bethlehem, Naomi?s homeland.Ruth provided food by gleaning in the field of Naomi?s wealthy relative ...

Naturalism: Landscape vs People
2008-04-08 19:45:00
Jean-François Millet 1814?1875Peasants Bringing Home a Calf Born in the Fields, 1864Oil on canvas81.1 x 100 cmThe Art Institute of ChicagoThe Naturalists were based mainly in the French town of Barbizon. Like Gustave Courbet and other Realists, they tried to depict the world around them without the overt idealization or sentimentality of the Romantics.While his Barbizon colleagues focused on landscape, Millet documented the daily toil of peasants.He said:"To tell the truth, the peasant subjects suit my temperament best; for I must confess, even if you think me a socialist, that the human side of art is what touches me most. and if I could only do what I like,--or, at least, attempt it,--I should do nothing that was not an impression from nature, either in landscape or figures. The jolly side never shows itself to me. I don?t know where it is. I have never seen it?You are sitting under a tree, enjoying all the comfort and quiet of which you are capable; you see come from a narrow pat...
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Going to Work
2008-04-08 18:58:00
Jean-François Millet (1814-1875),Going to Work , ca. 1850-1851.Oil on canvas, 21 7/8 x 18 1/8 in.Glasgow Museums, Art Gallery and Museum, KelvingroveIn City vs. Country, 38-9, and Peasants and ?Primitivism,? Robert Herbert argues that Going to Work (1851) was a present day expulsion from the Garden of Eden and writes:?There is a nearly primeval innocence in these peasants setting out in the morning to dig potatoes, carrying their tools and a jug of water: a nineteenth-century Adam and Eve or a couple from Theocritus.?He argues that Millet ?secularises? the Expulsion story by dressing the peasant couple in contemporary garb and depicting them as a pair dignified through their stance and emotional composure, yet maintains the primeval theme of Adam?s curse.

The Sower
2008-04-08 18:48:00
Jean-François Millet, 1814?1875The Sower 1850101.6 x 82.6 cm (40 x 32 1/2 in.)Oil on canvasThe Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Forest of Fontainebleau, some thirty-five miles southeast of Paris, is where French landscape painting and photography took root.The forest was regarded as an example of nature in its purest state.A portion of the forest was set aside in 1861 as the first nature preserve in history.During the 1820s and 1830s, painters such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Théodore Rousseau helped to transform the nearby villages of Barbizon and Chailly into informal artists? colonies and the forest into an open-air studio.An outbreak of cholera in Paris prompted Millet in 1849 to join his new friends at Barbizon. From this time on, he devoted himself mainly to subjects from rural life.Millet and his family lived as frugally as their neighbours. In 1863 his second wife, Catherine gave birth to their ninth child.Unlike his fellow painters at Barbizon, he did not respond to t...

Angelus
2008-04-07 21:12:00
Jean-François Millet (4 October 1814 - 20 January 1875)The Angelus 1857 - 1859Oil on canvas21 3/4 x 26 inches (55.25 x 66.04 cm)Musée d'Orsay, Paris The painting was first commissioned by a wealthy American, Thomas G. Appleton, and completed during the summer of 1857. The initial title of the work, was Prayer for the Potato Crop. When Appleton did not pay and take possession in 1859, Millet made some changes. He added a steeple and changed the title of the work, to The Angelus.It depicts a man and a woman standing alone in a in a huge empty plain. They are farmers. He holds his cap reverently as he stands with bowed head. She is in a white cap and long blue apron over her dress and clasps her hands. Their faces are left in shadow. They pause in prayer for the Angelus. It is the evening Angelus. It is a moment of respite, a short break before the toil re-starts.At the woman's feet is a basket of potatoes, and at her far side rests a wheelbarrow full of empty sacks. At the side of t...

A Broad Church ?
2008-04-07 19:15:00
Have you seen these people in your Congregation ? The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Characters website discusses the religious affiliations of all the comic book super heroes and supervillains that we used to read about (and perhaps some of us still do).According to the detailed research carried out by the authors, both Batman and The Hulk are lapsed Catholics. Hopefully they have now returned.Perhaps of more interest is the large list of Catholic "villains", or at least lapsed Catholics: Venom (enemy of Spider-Man); Bushwacker (former Catholic priest and enemy of Daredevil); Black Tom Cassidy (foe of the X-Men); Mr. Zero / Mr. Freeze (foe of Batman ); The Kingpin (archenemy of Daredevil); and Silver Dagger also known as Isaiah Curwen, a former Roman Catholic Cardinal and foe of Dr. Strange.By the way, Superman and Supergirl are Methodists. But Lois Lane is Catholic.
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I do not understand
2008-04-03 20:53:00
Cheik Ledy 1962 - 1997I Do Not Understand 1995Non comprendreAcrylic on canvassupport: 1425 x 1940 mmThe Pigozzi Collection, Geneva

Pope John Paul II: Three Years On
2008-04-03 20:35:00
Under the headline Pope Benedict praises 'supernatural' John Paul II The Times reports on Pope Benedict XVI`s mass in St Peter's Square, marking the third anniversary of John Paul's death"[T]he Pope said: "Among many human and supernatural qualities, he had an exceptional spiritual and mystical sensibility."Pope Benedict, who shortly after his election put John Paul on the path to sainthood by waiving the five year waiting period before a beatification cause can be opened, said: "We relive with emotion the hours of that Saturday evening when the news of his death was announced to the great crowd which filled St Peter's Square ... Let us give thanks to the Lord for having given to the Church this faithful and brave servant." ...The Vatican is reported to be considering moving John Paul's tomb from the crypt of St Peter's to the Basilica above, and may exhume the body for display to pilgrims in a glass casket after beatification is approved. However, Father Federico Lombardi, t...
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Frances Richards
2008-04-02 20:05:00
Frances Richards 1903-1985Pentecost 1929-80from The Acts of the ApostlesIntaglio print on paperimage: 190 x 140 mmTate Gallery, LondonFrances Richards 1903-1985Peter in Prison 1929-80from The Acts of the ApostlesIntaglio print on paperimage: 165 x 127 mmTate Gallery, LondonFrances Richards 1903-1985The Shipwreck 1929-80from The Acts of the ApostlesIntaglio print on paperimage: 152 x 140 mmTate Gallery, LondonThe works and career of Frances Richards [1903-1985] were and are overshadowed by the career and works of her more famous husband, Ceri Richards [1903 - 1971].Richards met Frances Clayton in 1927 and they married two years later. A gifted artist herself she had won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art from Burslem, near Stoke-on-Trent, where she had worked as a designer at the Paragon China Works. In the early years of their marriage she was a frequent model.In 1929 Stanley Morison commissioned Frances Richards to produce an engraving illustrating the Acts of the Apostles f...
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Francesco Hayez
2008-04-01 20:05:00
Francesco Hayez (February 10, 1791, Venice - December 21, 1882, Milan)The Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem 1867Oil on canvas painting183 × 252 cmGalleria d'Arte Moderna, Venice Francesco Hayez (February 10, 1791, Venice - December 21, 1882, Milan) was the leading artist of Romanticism in mid-19th-century Milan, renowned for his grand historical paintings, political allegories and exceptionally fine portraits.His early works show the influence of Ingres and the Nazarene movement. His later work participates in the Classical revival.The Second Temple was built after the return from the Babylonian Captivity, around 536 BC (completed on March 12, 515 BC). This Temple was desecrated by the Roman general Pompey, when he entered it after taking Jerusalem in 63 BC. According to Josephus, Pompey did not remove anything from the temple or its treasury.Herod's Temple was a massive renovation of the Second Temple including turning the entire Temple Mount into a giant square platform. He...
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Pontius Pilate and Caiphas
2008-04-01 19:03:00
The Cradle of Christianity is the title of one of the online exhibitions in the website of The Israel Museum in Jerusalem.Two of the exhibits caught my eye.One was an inscription to Pontius Pilate Latin dedicatory inscription of Pontius PilateStoneRoman theatre at Caesarea, 26?36 CEIsrael Antiquities Authority, 61-521Photo: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem The inscription reads:...]S TIBERIVM...PON]TIVS PILATVS...PRAEF]ECTVSIVDA[EAThe inscription is the only known artifact bearing Pontius Pilate?s name. It is a dedicatory inscription of a building, probably a temple, constructed in honor of the emperor Tiberius. The inscription was discovered in secondary use in a staircase of the Roman theater at Caesarea, the Roman administrative center for the province of Judea and the seat of the procurators. The procurators visited Jerusalem only on special occasions, or in times of unrest.The other is the Ossuary of the High Priest Joseph Caiaphas StoneJerusalem, North Talpiot, 1st century CEIsrae...

Old Sounds
2008-03-30 18:20:00
Jeffrey Smith of The Roving Medievalist highlights a French inventor's historic 1860 recording of a folk songThose interested in historic recordings might like to consult The Poetry Archive which carries a number of historic recordings of poets reading their own poetry.Included are:Robert Browning (1812-1889) reading an extract of "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix "Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) reading "Tarantella" and "The Winged Horse"T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) reading "Journey of the Magi", an Extract from "Four Quartets " and "The Waste Land"William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) reading "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" andAlfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) reading "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
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Resurrection
2008-03-30 17:45:00
Raffaellino del Garbo 1466-1524Studies for Christ Rising from the Tomb and Hand Studies 1497Metalpoint on blue-grey paper378.000 mm x 255.000 mmThe British Museum, London Raffaellino del Garbo 1466-1524The Resurrection 1500-1505Oil on canvas 174,5 x 186,5 cm.Galleria Accademia, Florence (formerly in the Monastero di S. Niccolò di Cafaggio)Raffaellino del Garbo (more properly Raffaello Capponi) (1466 or perhaps 1476 ? 1524) was a Florentine painter of the early-Renaissance.He was a pupil of Filippino Lippi, with whom he remained till 1490, if not later. He accompanied Filippino to Rome, where he painted the ceiling of the chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas (Caraffa Chapel) in the church of Santa Maria sopra MinervaThe young Bronzino was his pupil.He died in poverty in Florence.The drawing in metalpoint on blue-grey paper came into the ownership of the artist-biographer, architect and collector, Giorgio Vasari. Vasari drew the elaborate mount and frame in pen and brown ink and brown wash.Th...

Doubting Thomas
2008-03-29 20:01:00
Hezekiah and the water clock, illustrating II (IV) Kings 20:1-11, with its 'moralising' equivalent, Doubting Thomas , from a Bible moralisée.France, Paris; c. 1235-45Bodleian Library, MS. Bodl. 270b, fol. 183v, roundels D 1-2 2 Kings Chapter 201In those days, when Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him: "Thus says the LORD: 'Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover.'"2He turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD:3"O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!" And Hezekiah wept bitterly.4Before Isaiah had left the central courtyard, the word of the LORD came to him: 5"Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: 'Thus says the LORD, the God of your forefather David: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you. In three days you shall go up to the LORD'S temple;6I will add fifteen years to your life...

Pentecost
2008-03-28 21:49:00
Estella Canziani (1887-1964)Pentecost c. 1905-1936Watercolour50.50cm wide 33.50cm high (19.88 inches wide 13.19 inches high)Private Collection

The Master's Garden
2008-03-28 21:47:00
Estella Canziani (1887-1964)The Master's Garden , Pembroke College, Oxford Pencil, watercolor and bodycolor7.3 x 10.8 in. / 18.5 x 27.5 cm.Private Collection

San Domenico in Cocullo
2008-03-28 21:10:00
Estella Canziani 1887-1964Procession of S. Domenico, Abruzzi 1913 - 1928Watercolour and bodycolour on grey-brown paper, laid onto card.354 mm x 254 mmBirmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham 'The festival in S. Domenico is connected with some of the oldest traditions in the Abruzzi. The serpari, who are said to be descendants of Circe, and who handle serpents with impunity, make this procession weird and most barbaric... I painted the end of the procession when the saint had been returned to the church and the last serpents were being taken off him.' (Estella Canziani)Illustrated in "Through the Apennines and the Lands of the Abruzzi" p.292"Cocullo Snake charmersIntroductionThe Serpari (snake-charmers) Festival in Cocullo is one of the most ancient festival in Abruzzo. For centuries the faithful went on pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of San Domenico from everywhere in Abruzzo and nearby regions to be healed from any sort of disease, especially from the bites of vipers, rabid dog...

Procession of the Confraternity
2008-03-26 20:23:00
Estella Canziani 1887-1964Procession of the Confraternity of S. Croix, Aosta, Piedmont 1907-1910Tempera on wood panel 254 mm x 203 mmBirmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham 'The Confraternity dates back to 1595... The procession consists of four brothers of the Confraternity in charge of the Holy Sepulchre, and accompanied by children in white, with wings to represent angels... and other brothers carrying a glass case with the recumbent figure of the Christ. The ceremonies last from five in the afternoon till nine in the evening'.(Estella Canziani, 1913)

Resurrection and Reunion
2008-03-26 19:58:00
Sir Stanley Spencer RA 1891-1959Resurrection : Re-Union, 1945Oil on canvasHeight: 89.9 cm, Width: 165.9 cmAberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, AberdeenSir Stanley Spencer 1891-1959from Drawings for the Port Glasgow Resurrection SeriesDrawing for Left Panel of `Resurrection: Reunion ' 1945Drawing on paper: support: 403 x 267 mmTate Britain, London'Reunion' was a small section in a grand scheme. He planned a vast shaped canvas fifty feet wide which would portray the Last Judgement and ResurrectionHowever, the scale of the work meant that selling it as a whole was impossible, so each section was sold off separately.This is one of the panels.Spencer visited Port Glasgow in 1940 to fulfil a commission to paint its shipyards. He was an official war artist.He was attracted by the cemetery there. The cemetery is on the outskirts of the town. It lies on a hill and overlooks the estuary of the River Clyde. The Resurrection takes place in this cemetery.In a notebook Spencer recorded that due to a...

Infant of the Apocalypse
2008-03-25 19:47:00
Joseph Severn 1793-1879The Infant of the Apocalypse Saved from the Dragon circa 1827-31/1843Oil on canvas, painted area (arched top) approx. 88 × 50 (2235 × 1270), stretcher 89 1/8 × 50 1/2 (2260 × 1285)Tate Britain, London This work has an interesting provenance.See the text for the painting in the Tate Gallery website.Severn (December 7, 1793 ? August 3, 1879) was an English portrait and subject painter. History now recalls him more as a personal friend of the English poet John Keats.On 17 September 1820, Severn sailed to Italy with John Keats. Severn agreed to accompany him to Rome when all others could, or would, not. They arrived in Rome on 15 November 1820. The trip was supposed to cure Keats's lingering illness, which he suspected was tuberculosis. In Rome they both lived in an apartment at number 26 Piazza di Spagna, just on the right side of the Spanish Steps.In Rome during the winter of 1820-21, Severn wrote numerous letters about Keats to their mutual friends in England....

Easter Morning
2008-03-22 21:40:00
BURNAND Eugène (1850-1921 )The Disciples Peter and John Running Towards the Tomb on the Morning of the Resurrection1898Oil on canvas H. 82, l. 134Paris ; Musée d'Orsay
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Mystère de Pâques
2008-03-22 12:52:00
Maurice Denis (1870 - 1943)Easter Morning or Easter Mystery/Matin de Pàques ou Le Mystère de Pâques. 1891.Oil on canvas. 104 x 102 cm.Private collection. In the Mystère de Pâques, Denis with a pointillist touch, uses dynamic shapes to spell out the religious content. He sets his Easter morning in an angular St-Germain-en-Laye. His Magdalene wears a dress with a nipped-in waist.

Scottish Cardinal attacks Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill
2008-03-21 19:33:00
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, will use his Easter Sunday Homily to launch an attack on the Government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill .The BBC has published an extnded extract of the sermon:"At this time, as well as thinking of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we are asked to consider again what I have described as the 'essential aspect of a Christian vocation - namely to be a missionary people'.I think that there is a greater need than ever before for each and every Christian to be aware of that call at this present time.So many people are worried about the future - the possibility of banks failing; the increased cost of living with regard to food, petrol and many of those things which we find essential; our concerns about climate change and global warming; our increasing worries about the dangers of nuclear disaster.But I think that a fundamental concern of all of our people at this present time, and one w...
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Fragment of a Lost Gospel
2008-03-20 19:16:00
Fragment of a lost Gospel Second century ADPapyrus11.8 x 9.7 cms.Egerton Papyrus 2The British Museum, London In the British Museum website, it is stated that the above papyrus dates from the first half of the second century AD, the period when the four official Gospels were written, according to some scholars.The Egerton Papyrus 2 fragments were among a collection bought by the British Museum in 1934 from a dealer in Egypt.Where they were found is not known for certain, but other items in the collection came from Oxyrhynchus.They are written in Greek on thin sheets made from slices of the reed-like papyrus plant soaked in water, pressed together and then dried.The papyrus fragment tells a story not mentioned elsewhere.It speaks of Jesus standing by the River Jordan and sowing the river with seeds, which produce fruit, to the joy of the onlookers.
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Last Supper
2008-03-20 19:07:00
Beginning of Reading for Holy ThursdayThe Last Supper Gospel Lectionary Manuscriptc. 1100South West GermanyEgerton 809, f. 17rThe British Library, London