idle speculationsidle speculationsA series of postings on subjects I like-Catholicism, history, art, Italy,and whatever grabs me at the time Articles
Franciscan friars: Mikhail Gorbachev is a Christian
2008-03-20 18:58:00 The Times reports that Franciscan friars at Assisi have confirmed that Mikhail Gorbachev , the last Soviet President, is a Christian after he was seen praying at the tomb of St Francis."Mr Gorbachev has long acknowledged that he was influenced by his grandmother, an Orthodox believer and is a a regular participant in peace conferences in the Umbrian town where St Francis is buried.Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer, has also turned to Orthodox Christianity and wears a cross round his neck.Father Miroslavo Anuskevic, a Lithuanian priest at the Basilica of St Francis, said he had spotted Mr Gorbachev - for years a professed Communist atheist - praying anonymously "in silent meditation" for half an hour at the tomb of St Francis "with very Oriental intensity" with his eyes closed, alongside his daughter Irina.President Reagan is said to have often wondered whether the Soviet Union's last leader was a "closet Christian," observing to aides at one point during a US-Soviet summit "I thi... More About: Mikhail Gorbachev
Good Friday in the Fourth Century
2008-03-19 20:24:00 Egeria, also known as Aetheria, is the name of a woman who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land about 381?384.Egeria wrote down her observations in a letter now called Itinerarium Egeriae, or The Travels of Egeria. It is sometimes also called Peregrinatio Aetheriae (the Pilgrimage of Aetheria) or Peregrinatio ad Loca Sancta (Pilgrimage to the Holy Lands).She was in Jerusalem over Easter and in this extract she describes the services of the Church on Good Friday .The full text of the Pilgrimage is here."Good Friday.(a) Service at Daybreak.And when they arrive before the Cross the daylight is already growing bright. There the passage from the.Gospel is read where the Lord is brought before Pilate, with everything that is written concerning that which Pilate spake to the Lord or to the Jews;(1) the whole is read.And afterwards the bishop addresses the people, comforting them for that they have toiled all night and are about to toil during that same day, (bidding) them not be weary, but to... More About: Century
Old Easter Celebrations
2008-03-18 20:02:00 The British Library, London has a large collection of old illuminated manuscripts. Many are works with a Christian purpose or connectionThe website (above) is fascinating to explore.Below are four "highlights" all with an Easter theme. The commentaries are the commentaries on the relevant page on the website. Music For Easter Day, In The Crowland GradualDate; 13th century, c.1225-50Language; LatinMedium; Ink and pigments on vellum, 21.5x14 centimetresShelfmark; Egerton MS 3759, f.29rBritish Library, London "The origins of Crowland Abbey date back to the year 699, when St. Guthlac chose the island of Crowland, in the Fens, as the site for his hermitage. In 716, two years after his death, a church was founded on the site. It was burned down by Vikings in 870; rebuilt; burned down again in 1091; rebuilt; destroyed by an earthquake in 1118; rebuilt; and burned down again in 1143.It fared better in the 13th century, when this manuscript was made. This initial 'R' marks the start of th... More About: Celebrations
St Joseph: Depictions by Georges de la Tour
2008-03-17 20:17:00 Georges de LA TOUR (1593-1652)Le Songe de saint Joseph / The Dream of St Joseph (1630-5)Oil on canvas H. 93, L. 82.2Inscription S.DR.H. : G. de La Tour Musée des beaux-arts, NantesGeorges de LA TOUR (1593-1652)St Joseph the Carpenter 1642Oil on canvas H. : 1,37 m. ; L. : 1,02 m.Louvre Museum, ParisDe LaTour`s paintings reflect the Baroque naturalism of Caravaggio, but this probably reached him through the Dutch Caravaggisti of the Utrecht School and other Northern (French and Dutch) contemporaries.He was involved in a Franciscan-led religious revival in Lorraine, and over the course of his career he moved to painting almost entirely religious subjects.He and his family died in 1652 in an epidemic in Lunéville.After his death in 1652, La Tour's work was largely forgotten until rediscovered by Hermann Voss, a German scholar, in 1915. More About: Georges
The "best" works of art
2008-03-17 19:50:00 In The World's 50 Best Works of Art (and how to see them) critic Martin Gayford in The Telegraph chooses his 50 artistic wonders of the worldHe also helpfully provides travel guides (from London).Naming the 50 greatest works of all time is close to an impossibility. Naturally the list is skewed towards Western art.Many American, Asian and African readers will heartily disagree with a surprisingly eclectic choice.
Chiara Lubich
2008-03-17 19:17:00 There have been many tributes to Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare movement, who died on March 14, 2008, aged 88. Her death has been widely reported internationally.John Paul II hailed her as ?a great Catholic?. He also hailed her as ?a messenger of unity and mercy among many brothers and sisters in every corner of the world?.Under her leadership, Focolare spread to more than 180 countries, and had 140,000 members as well as 2.1 million affiliates, including Roman Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox believers as well as members of other faiths.The obituary in The Times is a specially fine one and worth quoting in full as a full and balanced assessment of her life and work."Chiara Lubich, mystic, bestselling author and spiritual leader, was the founder and president of the Focolare movement, an international network modelled on small communities whose members, whether married or single, were devoted to the ideal of unity between all nations, religions and races. Under her leadersh...
Doctors` Orders
2008-03-17 19:01:00 The Times reports on new guidance published today by the General Medical Council suggests that doctors do need to be told where their priorities lie when personal beliefs clash with medical procedures. ?You must make the care of your patient your first concern,? the GMC tells the 128,000 doctors practising in the UK. ?We expect [doctors] to set aside their personal beliefs where this is necessary,? it continues.Doctor knows best, usually. But the GMC says doctors must ensure they retain patients? confidence by sharing their scientific and medical expertise, not their personal codes of morality.Doctors cannot obstruct a woman seeking advice about the termination of a pregnancy.Doctors may recuse themselves where they feel their own moral, religious or cultural beliefs demand such action. But they cannot allow this privilege to hinder the patient?s pursuit of care. A Roman Catholic doctor can refuse to become directly involved in abortions, but must see that a woman is referred to a d... More About: Orders
Martha, Mary and Lazarus
2008-03-16 19:21:00 DELAROCHE Paul (1797- 1856)Le Christ chez Marthe et Marie (Christ at the House of Martha and Mary )Ink on paperH. m 0,149 ; L. m 0,299Musée du Louvre département des Arts graphiques, ParisPILLIARD Jacques (1814 -1898 )Marthe et Marie 1844Oil on canvasH. 102, L. 122Inscription S.B.D.:Rome 1844/Jacques PilliardMusée de Grenoble, GrenobleLuke 12:1-11Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus , whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 'Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?' (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common ...
Another view of Ensor
2008-03-15 22:46:00 Artists can be criticised. They need not always be praised. The distinguished art critic Robert Hughes did not like Ensor. In Ensor: Much Possessed by Death, published Time Magazine: Monday, Mar. 07, 1977, he explained why:"There was once, in the West, a tradition of demonic art. It no longer exists because?The Exorcist and other light satanic amusements notwithstanding?nobody much believes in devils any more. Perhaps the last significant European painter who did believe in them, and was able to project his anxieties onto them and make the demonic a chief theme of his work, died in 1949.He was James Ensor, and in the paintings he made in the last two decades of the 19th century, the characters and props of the demonic tradition take their final curtain call: the persecuted Christ, the scrawny monsters, the whole malevolent apparatus of hooks and claws, skeletons and distended orifices, grimacing masks and threatening crowds that had served European artists so well up to the death of... More About: View
Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889
2008-03-15 10:54:00 James Ensor (1860 - 1949 )Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889Oil on canvas99 1/2 x 169 1/2 inThe Getty Museum, MalibuChrist's Entry into Brussels in 1889 (detail)Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889 (detail)Ensor`s large picture 'The Entry of Christ into Brussels' was refused by Les XX in 1889 and his work aroused violent opposition. It is now regarded as his masterpiece.Ensor kept The Entry of Christ into Brussels with him throughout his life, and as with many of his paintings, he made a number of alterations to it.This painting was not exhibited publicly until 1929. But Ensor displayed it prominently in his home and studio throughout his life.Ensor deals with the question: if Christ returned to Earth today, what would be the reaction ? Would there be any difference to what happene two thousand years ago ?Ensor reasoned that if Christ were to return to earth, modern commercial and political interests would certainly try to co-opt the event. Consider what happens when there is...
The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem
2008-03-15 10:36:00 James Ensor (1860 - 1949 )The Great and Glorious Entry of Christ into Jerusalem James Ensor (1860 - 1949 )Christ's Entry into JerusalemGraphite and Conté crayon8 7/8 x 6 1/2 in.The GettyMuseum, MalibuJames Ensor made this drawing as a preparatory study for the centerpiece drawing--about ten times larger than this sheet--of a series of five drawings and one painting that he exhibited in 1887 in Brussels with Les XX. James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor (April 13, 1860 - November 19, 1949) was a Belgian painter and printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for almost his entire life.He had an English father and a Flemish mother.He remained a British subject until 1929, when he took Belgian nationality and was created a baron.He began his artistic career as a portrait painter but soon became involved with the avant-garde group Les XX (the Twenty), whose goal was to promote new artistic developments throughout Europe.Although Ensor was consider...
The Entombment
2008-03-14 21:41:00 Adrian Wiszniewski (b.1958)Stations of the Cross: The Entombment (1999)Linocut on tenjin paperHeight 62 cm Width 50 cmVictoria and Albert Museum, London The Scottish artist, Adrian Wiszniewski executed a series on The Stations of the Cross. This is one of the fourteen panels.It is a modern treatment of the events of the Passion of Christ.The figures are clad in modern dress, but stand outside time and space, and appear to us as universal ?types? beyond the confines of any specific culture.
Jean Cocteau and Notre Dame de France in London
2008-03-12 22:41:00 Jean Cocteau 1889-1963Interior view, chapel, altar and mural painting 1960Notre Dame de France Leicester Place, London Jean Cocteau 1889-1963Interior view, chapel, and mural painting 1960Notre Dame de FranceLeicester Place, LondonJean Cocteau 1889-1963Interior view, chapel, and mural painting 1960Notre Dame de FranceLeicester Place, London More About: Notre-Dame , Jean
Prayer before Birth
2008-03-12 20:37:00 Giacomo Manzù 1908-1991Door of Peace and War 1968BronzeSt Laurentskerk, Rotterdam, South HollandPrayer before Birth I am not yet born; O hear me.Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or theclub-footed ghoul come near me.I am not yet born, console me.I fear that the human race may with tall walls wall me,with strong drugs dope me, with wise lies lure me,on black racks rack me, in blood-baths roll me.I am not yet born; provide meWith water to dandle me, grass to grow for me, trees to talkto me, sky to sing to me, birds and a white lightin the back of my mind to guide me.I am not yet born; forgive meFor the sins that in me the world shall commit, my wordswhen they speak me, my thoughts when they think me,my treason engendered by traitors beyond me,my life when they murder by means of myhands, my death when they live me.I am not yet born; rehearse meIn the parts I must play and the cues I must take whenold men lecture me, bureaucrats hector me, mountainsfrown at me, lovers...
The earliest known narrative portrayal of the Crucifixion
2008-03-11 21:03:00 Panel from an ivory casket: the Crucifixion of ChristHeight: 7.500 cm; Width: 9.800 cmLate Roman, AD 420-30Probably made in RomeThe British Museum, London The British Museum in its website describes the above panel as follows:"This plaque is one of four, which though now separated, must originally have been mounted on the four sides of a small square casket.Each is carved with scenes from Christ's Passion. The other panels depict the Christ carrying the Cross, the empty Sepulchre and Doubting Thomas.This is the earliest known narrative portrayal of the Crucifixion.It is combined with another scene of death, the hanging of Judas. The stiff, clothed body of Judas pulls down the branch of a tree and a spilled sack of coins lies at his feet.In contrast the exposed limbs of Christ appear still vigorous, and He gazes at the viewer, triumphant in death.A plaque over Christ's head is inscribed REX IUD[AEORUM] ('King of the Jews').Mary and John stand in similar poses to the left of the c...
Praying on The Way of the Cross
2008-03-11 20:46:00 MAESTRO DEL CROCEFISSO DI TREVI (14th century)Jesus, betrayed by Judas, is arrestedTempera on Wood -Vatican Museum Picture Gallery "The Way of the Cross " is part of the Official Vatican website.It includes presentations, meditations, meditative art works (see above) and commemorative photographs on the Biblical Way of the Cross celebrated at the Colosseum since 1991.The Way of the Cross, as we understand the term today, dates to the late Middle Ages. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (+ 1153), Saint Francis of Assisi (+ 1226) and Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (+ 1274), prepared the ground on which the practice was to develop.The Way of the Cross or Via Crucis, in its present form, with the same fourteen stations placed in the same order, is recorded in Spain in the first half of the seventeenth century especially in Franciscan communities.The biblical Way of the Cross celebrated by the Holy Father Pope John Paul II at the Colosseum for the first time in 1991 presented certain variants in... More About: The Cross
The Betrayal
2008-03-11 19:42:00 The Betrayal (above) is one of a number of lead plaques recording a set of designs illustrating Christ's Passion that Valerio Belli (about 1468-1546) made in rock crystal between 1533 and 1539.A bronze version of the same theme is in The Cleveland Museum of Art (below)(8.6cm x 9.5cm, circa 1530)The lead plaques are housed and exhibited in The British Museum, London They were intended to decorate candlesticks, caskets and other altar furniture owned by Pope Paul III.The original rock crystal intaglios with these compositions, signed by Belli, survive.They probably decorated the base of a candlestick or the lid of a casket, similar to that below Valerio Belli: Rock crystal case mounted on gilded silver and glazed. 1532, Museo degli argenti, Florence Belli's rendering of Christian iconography in a classical style was particularly admired during the classical revival of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
Praying the Stations
2008-03-10 23:14:00 Eric Gill 1882-1940Station of the Cross I - Jesus is condemned to death1913-1918Westminster Cathedral, LondonEric Gill 1882-1940Station of the Cross II - Jesus receives his cross1913-1918Westminster Cathedral, LondonEric Gill 1882-1940Station of the Cross III - Jesus falls the first time1913-1918Westminster Cathedral, LondonEric Gill 1882-1940Station of the Cross IV - Jesus meets his mother1913-1918Westminster Cathedral, LondonFor the full delicate colours and for the history of the stations of the cross by Eric Gill in Westminster Cathedral, seeThe Westminster Cathedral websiteEric Gill - Westminster CathedralSolomon I Have Surpassed Thee: Praying the Gill Stations
The BBC and The Passion
2008-03-08 13:25:00 The BBC plans to broadcast a major new production of The Passion this year, throughout Holy Week, at peak time on BBC1.In Thinking Faith, Ged Clapson, after seeing a preview, assesses whether it lives up to expectations."So, has the BBC succeeded?The simple answer, after viewing episode one (scheduled for transmission on Palm Sunday) is: I?m still not sure.And my reason for sitting on the fence on this issue is not because The Passion is bad or offensive or controversial: it is definitely none of those things. But my fear is: it simply assumes a greater knowledge of Christianity, of Christ and of the events of Holy Week than the ?average audience? (whatever that is) actually has.I well remember one of the BBC?s Religious Correspondents whose wife gave birth to a baby at Easter recounting how he had visited the Maternity Ward at his wife?s hospital and found the new mothers there poring over the New Testament looking for some reference to the Easter bunny!Similarly, I fear that the m...
A Gospel Lectionary c.1500
2008-03-07 23:01:00 The Raising of LazarusGospel Lectionary1490 - 1510FlandersDimensions:123 mm x 150 mmThe Library of Philadelphia, USAThis image from a Gospel lectionary depicts the moment when Lazarus rose from his tomb while his sisters, the Virgin Mary (who supports him), and a crowd of onlookers watch.The scroll held by Christ reads, "Lazare veni foras ..." (Lazarus come forth), which according to John 11:43 were the words Christ spoke at Lazarus's tomb in order to raise him
The New Italian Lectionary: the debate heats up
2008-03-07 22:29:00 Illustration by Margareth Dorigatti in the Lectionary where it accompanies the readings for Epiphany in year C.Detail from the cover of the Lectionary. The artist is Mimmo Paladino.The Italian bishops' conference, CEI approved a new liturgical lectionary that went into use last Advent.The new Lectionary was illustrated by thirty contemporary artists, with their more or less abstract styles, instead of with the masterpieces of the figurative art of past centuries, as was done ? for example ? for the new Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.The Lectionary has been the subject of strong criticism from the start. Many do not like the images as too "modern," too "abstract."Some pastors have reacted in a drastic way: by tearing the illustrated pages from the Lectionary.Sandro Magister presents the pros and cons of the new lectionary.Fr. Timothy Verdon, an American, a professor at Princeton University but also the director, in Florence, of the diocesan office for catechesis ... More About: Debate
Belief
2008-03-07 12:56:00 Leonard Bramer 1596-1674 (Dutch)Christ and the Centurion17th centuryWatercolour on paper (parchment)Height: 31.7 cm; Width: 36.2 cmInscription:Signed, numbered, lower left, Bramer 16Courtauld Institute Art Gallery, LondonSir Stanley Spencer 1891-1959The Centurion's Servant 1914Oil on canvassupport: 1143 x 1143 mm frame: 1270 x 1270 x 100 mmTate Gallery, London The youth on the bed has Spencer's own features.Members of his family were the models for the other characters.Spencer was influenced by an event related by his mother: Cookham villagers praying round the bed of a dying man. The sick person suddenly recovered, healed by Christ from a distance.One of the people praying half turns his head as if he felt the arrival of this happiness. More About: Belief
Jan Verkade
2008-03-01 13:09:00 Jan Willibrord Verkade[b. Zaandam (near Amsterdam) 18 September 1868 - d. 10 June 1946 Abbey of Beuron, Germany]Mural at the Beuron Archabbey (in German Erzabtei Beuron, otherwise Erzabtei St. Martin) Baden-Württemberg in Germany.Verkade was one of the Nabis.In 1892 he converted to Catholicism and in 1893 became a novice at the Abbey of Beuron, Germany. In 1902 he was ordained.In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Beuron Art School, with its emphasis on early Christian and Byzantine art, was influential on religious art of the period.He was involved in the decoration of the Abbey of Beuron as well as the Monastery at Monte Cassino.
Sacred Art, Religious Art and Art
2008-02-29 23:17:00 "Some art is directly ordered to the glorification of God and the sanctification of man. [23] If this ordering to religion is what the Schoolmen call the finis operis the purpose of the work of art itself, then the art is sacred art, liturgical art: for example, the paintings of Andrei Rublev and Fra Angelico, the Masses of Byrd and Palestrina, and the hymns of St John Damascene and St Thomas Aquinas.This kind of art has been defined very beautifully by the Catechism of the Catholic Church:`Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form corresponds to its particular vocation: evoking and glorifying, in faith and adoration, the transcendent mystery of God?the surpassing invisible beauty of truth and love visible in Christ, who 'reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature' (cf. Heb 1:3), in whom 'the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily' (cf. Col 2:9). This spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy Virgin Mother of God, the angels, and saints. Gen... More About: Religious
Benedict on the Baroque
2008-02-29 20:46:00 In the two articles mentioned in the post below, Pope Benedict XVI passes comment on the Baroque . It seems to be his favourite. The language is certainly poetic."The BaroqueBaroque art, which follows the Renaissance, has many different aspects and modes of expression. In its best form it is based on the reform of the Church set in motion by the Council of Trent.In line with the tradition of the West, the Council again emphasised the didactic and pedagogical character of art, but, as a fresh start toward interior renewal, it led once more to a new kind of seeing that comes from and returns within.The altarpiece is like a window through which the world of God comes out to us. The curtain of temporality is raised, and we are allowed a glimpse into the inner life of the world of God. This art is intended to insert us into the liturgy of heaven.Again and again, we experience a Baroque church as a unique kind of fortissimo of joy, an Alleluia in visual form. "The joy of the Lord is your s...
Benedict on Art
2008-02-29 20:09:00 In February and March 2002, ADOREMUS, the Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy published two articles by the then Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Their subject was "Sacred Art". The two articles were:Art and Liturgy - The Question of ImagesArt, Image and Artists: Sacred art, inspired by faith, both reflects and informs the culture Part IIThe articles are wide-ranging and worth reading in their entiretyHe discusses the history of sacred and religious art going back to early Christian times and the history of the Icon. He discusses the Iconoclastic controversies which affected the early Church and then subsequently (first at the Reformation and then later after the Second Vatican Council).He makes the important distinction between "religious art" and "sacred art", the latter being said to be almost equivalent in importance to liturgy.He discusses the rules set down by the Magisterium regarding sacred and religious images and how they have been interpreted in histor...
The Banning of the Stations of the Cross
2008-02-28 22:30:00 Albert Servaes (1883-1966)JEZUS VEROORDEELD EN WEGGELEID 1919,Charcoal on paperAbdij ?Koningshoeven? Berkel-Enschot, NetherlandsAlbert Servaes (1883-1966)CHRISTUS AAN HET KRUIS 1923,Charcoal on paperMuseum voor Religieuze Kunst Albert Servaes (b Ghent, 4 April 1883; d Lucerne, 19 April 1966). was a Belgian painter. He was mainly self-taught.Servaes was responsible for a renewed interest in ecclesiastical art in Belgium.His Stations of the Cross of Luithagen (1919; Tilburg, Abbey of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw) consists of 14 charcoal drawings on white paper; the skeleton-like figures are boldly sketched and harrowing in their expressiveness.Yet this Expressionist style was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church in 1921, and as a result most of Servaes?s religious works were removed from Belgian churches.These meditations on the passion stand wholly in this tradition of the vivid use of the imagination in order to evoke the reality of Jesus' sufferings. The details of his thoughts are undersco... More About: The Cross
Maurice Denis 3
2008-02-28 21:34:00 DENIS, Maurice The Crown of Daisies, c. 1905-1906Oil on canvas73 x 54,5 cmMuseo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid As the chief theorist of the Nabis, and later on as a distinguished art critic and theorist in his own right, what were Denis ` views on painting ?Some of the following quotations may give some idea but you would have to look at his substantial literary output to gain a full view of his opinions and attitudes. In any event his views and attitudes developed over time. So did his painting style."Se rappeler qu'un tableau - avant d'être un cheval de bataille, une femme nue, ou une quelconque anecdote ? est essentiellement une surface plane recouverte de couleurs en un certain ordre assemblées.Remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a nude, or some anecdote, is essentially a flat surface covered with colours assembled in a certain order."- Maurice Denis: 'Definition du neo-traditionism', Art et Critique, August 23, 1890In Nouvelles Théories, Maurice Denis wrote:"Sym...
Maurice Denis 2
2008-02-26 20:09:00 Maurice Denis (1870 - 1943)The Road to Calvary/Montée au calvaire ou Le Calvaire. 1889.Oil on canvas. 41 x 32.5 cm.Musée d'Orsay, Paris, FranceMaurice Denis (1870 - 1943)The Visitation. 1894.Oil on canvas. 103 x 93 cm.The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia. At the age of 15 Denis wrote in his journal:"Oui, il faut que je sois peintre chrétien, que je célèbre tous ces miracles du Christianism, je sens qu'il faut.""Yes, it's necessary that I am a Christian painter, that I celebrate all the miracles of Christianity, I feel it's necessary. "- Connaissance des Arts: Maurice Denis, page 29.Denis and Marthe Meunier met in 1890, the year Les Nabis formed.Religion and love were to combine in the form of Marthe.A deeply religious man, Denis believed Marthe was choisie par Dieu, chosen by God, to guide and inspire him in his artistry. They had many children.After many years of illness, Marthe died in 1919, but she continued to inspire him through memory. Her husband painted a chapel in her ... More About: Maurice
Maurice Denis
More articles from this author:2008-02-25 21:00:00 Maurice Denis (1870 - 1943)Pilgrims at Emmaus 1895Oil on canvas177 x 278 cmMusée Départemental Maurice Denis, Saint-Germain-en-Laye Maurice Denis (1870 - 1943)The Annunciation under the Arch with Lilies 1913Painting - oil on canvasHeight: 74.6 cm (29.37 in.), Width: 48.2 cm (18.98 in.)Private CollectionMaurice Denis (1870 - 1943)Nazareth, 1905,Oil on canvas,Collection of Modern Religious Art, Vatican Museums, Vatican City. Maurice Denis (November 25, 1870 ? November 1943) was a French painter and writer and a member of the Symbolist and Les Nabis movements. He was part of the Pont-Aven artist's colony centred around Gauguin and Serusier.Denis?s work was influenced by Gauguin, but differed in its religious subject matter. His most famous painting was Homage to Cezanne that depicted Denis and some of Cezanne?s other followers including Redon, Serusier, Vuillard, and Bonnard.His theories contributed to the foundations of cubism, fauvism, and abstract art.The subjects of his paintings ... More About: Maurice 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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