Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Adventures in Perfectville: Part Three

Adventures in Perfectville: Part Three

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:47 pm by Ben Witherington

Adventures in Perfectville: Part Three 2015-03-13T22:47:17-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It was billed as a tour of Biblical Art in the San Diego Art Museum. Not so much! They had almost no Biblical art (one half statue of a Pharaoh hardly counts). They did have some Renaissance and Baroque Christian themed art, and some Hindu and Buddhist art objects, but alas no Biblical art. False advertizing, but oh well. I should have realized something was likely amiss when the program book said a ‘decent led tour of Biblical art’ when it was supposed to say a docent led tour…..’ When you get to the museums in Balboa Park you may as well take them in. Here is the entrance way to the San Diego Museum of Art.

As it turns out, this museum is quite small, with about 16 small rooms on two floors. On the main floor and to the right of the entrance is a collection of Hindu and Buddhist items, interesting even to the Bibliophile because they reflect the influence of Greco-Roman culture…. so for example here is a Buddha with a Roman toga on!

And here is Buddha and his buddies looking particularly Roman, with Hindu figures writ small.

There is a nice small statue of Theseus slaying the minotaur as well.

Perhaps you know the story of the King of Crete demanding that seven maidens and seven young men be sacrificed to the minotaur each year, that is until an Athenian youth posing as one of the boys to be sacrificed killed the beast. This statue is by Antoine-Louis Barye, a French sculpture of the first half of the 19th century, and he was copying some of the elements from classical Greek sculptures of Apollo.

Here is a study done by Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres in 1827. It is a study done in preparation for painting a ceiling in the Louvre with a picture of the apotheosis of Homer. No, that’s not le Penser, it’s Phidias….

Here is a powerful portrait of a philosopher by the great master Tiepolo….

There is some interesting Christian art in the museum, or at least art with Christian subjects, and there is also a nice Impressionist exhibit on loan from a private collection. For example, here is a portrait of the Lamb of God….
This remarkable painting is a reflection on Is. 53 as applied to Christ, and is by the 16th century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbaran of Seville. The painting is on one level simple, but with a profound implied message, as conveyed by the fact that the lamb is bound, as if about to be led to slaughter, and yet it is peaceful and accepting of the situation, as Christ was (note the halo).

There is a bit of stained glass art in this museum, and surprisingly it is by Hans Holbein the Younger, most famous for his portraits of Henry VIII. Apparently he did a lot of sacred art while living in Germany and Switzerland (his dates are 1497-1543). Here we see Christ judged by Pilate, and Christ on the cross.

The unmistakeable and deliberately grotesque style of Hieronymous Bosch was often applied to Biblical themes, and here is the Arrest of Christ….

There were a variety of St. Nicks, and here is St. Nicholas of Bari. What is interesting about this and the following works, is they are Western attempts to imitation Orthodox iconic art This is done by Giovanni Bonsi in the 14th century, following the example of Giotto…

And here is the master himself Giotto, painting the scene from Revelation 4 with the angels shielding their eyes….

Here is St. John the Divine by the Master of St. Nicholas from about 1475…

And lastly, this beautiful kneeling angel by Roselli speaks for itself…

Uncategorized

Previous Post

January 17, 2015

Witherington and Halcomb--- The Bible and Ethics

Next Post

January 19, 2015 Adventures in Perfectville: Part Four

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz