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The Ultimate Fine Art Friday…

The Ultimate Fine Art Friday…

Last updated on: January 25, 2017 at 6:40 pm by Katrina Fernandez

The Ultimate Fine Art Friday… 2017-01-25T18:40:05-05:00 Katrina Fernandez

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.

… My good friend, Colin, recently wrote a post about his ten favorite paintings. Each painting he chose moved him in some fashion and left a lasting impression.

Which in turn got me thinking about the works of art in my own life that I’ve experienced. I say “experienced” because that is exactly what I did. Certain works move us beyond seeing. They are felt and stamped in our memories.

Below is my list of the ten most influential works of art that were responsible for indelibly shaping my views on religion, life, and beauty.

Click each picture for a larger more detailed image.

Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life

The series, by Cole, is in order of Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age. The last is a detail of Old Age, which shows the battered condition of the man’s boat.

You’ll notice its slow deterioration throughout his lifetime. You’ll also notice that the Angel never leaves him — even in Manhood when the angel’s presence seems very dissent in the face of life’s tumultuous path.

Marx Reichlich, Last Judgment

I learned that Hell is a very scary place from the hours I spent staring at the tormented figures in the bottom corner. Before I knew about the twisted figures of Bosch and Memling, this was the painting that haunted my childhood.

It is also the painting that taught me God is real, Hell is real, and the effects of sin can be eternally damning.

This single painting alone is responsible for my discovery into Christianity which ultimately lead me to Catholicism. Did you know the very same type of painting, of a Final Judgement secene, was the same that converted Peter Hitchens. My son also found his way to the foot of a very similar painting.

Caravaggio, Madonna of Loreto

“Madonna of Loreto or Pilgrim’s Madonna is a famous painting (1604–1606) by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, located in the Cavalletti Chapel of the church of Sant’Agostino, near the Piazza Navona in Rome.” [source]

I can recall in vivid detail the moment my eyes finally got to see this masterpiece in real life. Not an art reproduction, in a book, or as an internet image. In real life. Right before me. Just hanging there, unassuming, in a quiet darkened church.

Jacques-Louis David, Intervention of the Sabine Women

Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso

Philippe de Champaigne, The Dead Christ

I studied this image in detail as a final art project in college, which required me to make several reproductions of it using various mediums. It would not be an understatement to say that I became intimate with this painting.

Adolphe William Bouguereau, Orestes Pursued by the Furies

Here’s another painting that is part of the permanent collection of the Chrysler Museum, where I practically lived as a child. My curious young mind was always drawn to the darker more disturbing paintings because they seemed more real and, growing up in an abusive household, were the only themes I could relate to. It was a very, very long time before I found painters like Mary Cassatt appealing. I lacked that tenderness as a frame of reference.

But this painting, depicting the moment Orestes murdered his mother and is tormented by the Furies, spoke to me of the very grown up emotions of rage, revenge, and consequences.

Marc Chagall

I know, I know. Modern Art makes Baby Jesus Cry. But Chagall, Chagall just seems so earnest and childlike that I imagine Baby Jesus would rightly be amused by Chagall’s whimsical style of painting. Deeply religious and symbolic, I fell in love with Chagall’s use of color right away.

Lois Comfort Tiffany, Twilight

Within the Chrysler Museum is a large selection of Tiffany glass. I recall one room being a complete wonder with walls and walls of back lit stained glass windows — like glowing doorways into other worlds. As a little girl I imagined escaping through them like Lucy in her wardrobe.

And lastly, Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait

Oh, the detail. The detail and symbolism. It’s like magic just appeared in the form of art. I used to stare at this image with a magnifying glass in my Art History class in attempts to drown out the nonsensical shrieking of my instructor as she told the class that this patriarchal piece of art infuriated her with that blank, obedient, little pinch faced wife making doe eyes at her husband. I wonder what ever happened to her. I hope she’s a lot less angry now.

So what would you choose?

Fine Art Friday

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