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Christ in Art – Temporis Collection
This richly illustrated book explores the various ways that Christ is rendered in art, from Cimabue’s Nativity scenes and Fra Angelico’s paintings of the Crucifixion to the provocative portraits of Salvador Dalí and Andres Serrano. Author Ernest Renan guides the reader through the most iconic representations of Christ in art.
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Goya (English version)
Goya is perhaps the most approachable of painters. His art, like his life, is an open book. He concealed nothing from his contemporaries, and offered his art to them with the same frankness. He proved that if a man has the capacity to live and multiply his experiences, to fight and work, he can produce great art without classical decorum and traditional respectability.
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La Jeunesse de Jésus
La figure du Christ a, depuis toujours, inspiré les artistes. Déjà, dans les catacombes de l'Antiquité romaine, son portrait apparaissait sur les fresques murales.
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Evolution of Holy Art
Exploring the evolution of art that is inspired by the oldest story of time, one that established many age-old Western traditions, does provide an interesting opportunity to see how interpretations of Christ have changed through time. Many a biblical scene has been depicted by artists through the ages, and is done in style that reflects the time and culture from which the interpretation is founded. The expanse of religious art produced in the 14th and 15th centuries, for example, indicates that depicting conventional Christian scenes was in vogue. This period we now recognise as the Renaissance, did yield some monumental images of Christ in art. Take da Vinci’s Last Supper…
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Masculine/ Masculine?
When we hear ‘nude’, for most of us the image of a female body would immediately spring to mind. One of Titian’s fleshy, languorous beauties perhaps, or self-possessed Olympia and her hostile black cat. This is unsurprising, considering the proliferation of female nudes dominating art in the recent centuries. Before the 19th century, however, the male nude was considered much more important to artists. The male body was thought more attractive and the more important of the human forms. So much so that looking at many works from the Italian Renaissance, you would be forgiven for seeing men with a couple of breasts stuck on for fun, rather than a…
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Ecce Homo
Lorsque je lis ce titre, la première chose qui me vient à l’esprit est d’imaginer cet homme. “Voici l’Homme” signifie pour moi la venue, la présentation d’une personne monumentale, forte, venant s’imposer en conquérant devant une foule de fanatiques qui l’ovationnerait, l’idolâtrerait, tel un Mick Jagger ou un Iggy Pop pendant un concert. En histoire de l’art, cette expression, aussi connue sous le terme “Ecce homo”, est bien différente de ce que nous pouvons nous imaginer. Cet Ecce Homo, est en réalité le Christ, flagellé, couronné d’épines et présenté à la foule par Ponce Pilate avant sa crucifixion. Très loin de l’assurance dont je parlais au début de cet écrit,…
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Un anniversaire pas comme les autres…
Vous êtes convié à une fête d’anniversaire… Et vous connaissez peut-être celle qui souffle les bougies… La Madone Sixtine, une des plus célèbres toiles du peintre Raphaël (1483-1520), fête en effet ses 500 ans en 2012 ! Une des plus célèbres et une des plus mystérieuses aussi… Pourquoi les visages de Marie et de Jésus regardent-ils, pleins d’angoisse, en direction du spectateur ? Pourquoi le doigt du saint à droite de Marie est-il pointé vers le public ? Que signifient les visages fantomatiques visibles à l’arrière-plan ? Enfin, pourquoi la scène toute entière ressemble-t-elle autant à un décor de théâtre ? Mais la question la plus mystérieuse de toutes reste…
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Sistine Madonna, one of the oldest, but still among the most beautiful, women in the world
Raphael, everybody’s favourite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.* His namesake, Italian Renaissance painter, Raphael is also a favourite of his period; he continues to be admired and sought after the world over. Among his (the painter, of course) most famous works, The Parnassus (1511) and The Miraculous Draught of Fishes (1515), is the Sistine Madonna (below). This work, both simple and beautiful, still raises a lot of questions. Why is Mary’s face already one of concern, much like her general disposition when standing next to Christ on the Crucifix? What’s the deal with the ghostly images in the background – are they souls or cherubs? To whom is Saint Sixtus referring with…
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