Giotto on Pentecost
May 30th 2020
This little painting from London’s National Gallery (45.5cm X 44cm) is full of surprises. Pentecost is described in the Acts of the Apostles. Chapter 1 of Acts says that after the Ascension, the Apostles went back to the upper room
PAINTING THE ASCENSION: REMBRANDT
May 23rd 2020
How can you paint the Ascension? Artists have struggled. Sometimes you see just his Christ’s feet with the disciples below, as in Dürer’s “Little Passion”. Another example is the scene at the top of “The Cloisters Cross” c.1100 and believed
Fr Dermot preaches on the Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 18th 2020
John 14:15-21 “The Laundress”, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, c1886. I have been thinking about snails, or rather the silvery trails they leave behind them. You see, there is now a pattern of silver slime on the stone behind the tabernacle. It catches the morning
Rembrandt’s Titus, The Artist’s Son
May 16th 2020
“Titus, the artist’s son” , Rembrandt, c. 1657, Wallace Collection, London. You can view this paining in high resolution on the Wallace Collection website, www.wallacecollection.org When asked recently what my favourite portrait was, I could answer without hesitation. It this
CRIVELLI’S OUR LADY OF THE SWALLOW
May 9th 2020
Someone mentioned in an email that that this week he had seen his first swallow of spring out at Gosford. Perhaps the swallow in this altarpiece, which is perched above the Madonna and Child and gives the work its name,
BR SAMUEL PREACHES ON THE GOOD SHEPHERD
May 4th 2020
John 10:1-10 The Fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally called “Good Shepherd Sunday” and it’s the day upon which we pray especially for vocations. Somewhat awkwardly, however, this year (Year A of the liturgical cycle) there’s no explicit mention of
Carlo Crivelli’s Virgin and Child with Sts Francis and Sebastian
May 2nd 2020
The painting from the National Gallery Collection in London was made as an altarpiece for a family chapel in the Franciscan Church at Fabriano in the Italian Marche region in 1491. In the centre are the Virgin and Child.
