Crivelli’s Saints Peter and Paul
June 27th 2020
“Saints Peter and Paul”, Carlo Crivelli, c.1470, National Gallery London. Saint Peter is on the right with his keys and Saint Paul is on the left with a sword. As was the established practice, Saint Peter is shown as
Fr John Preaches on the 12th Sunday of the Year
June 22nd 2020
Jer 20:10 -13, Ps 68, Rom 5:12 -15, Mt 10: 26 -33 Let me begin with what might seem a digression. In recent decades there has been a noticeable increase in interest in the so-called “desert fathers and mothers” –
Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus II
June 20th 2020
This version of “The supper at Emmaus” was painted in the summer of 1606. Let’s compare it with the one he painted in 1601 for Cardinal Ciriaco Mattei which is now in the National Gallery in London (see below, opposite).
Brother Samuel preaches on Corpus Christi
June 15th 2020
“Christ’s supreme gift of love”. These five words are the best I can do to summarise what the Eucharist is, and why we celebrate this feast day. That’s a summary but let me share some of the thinking which underpins
Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus I
June 13th 2020
The familiar story of the road to Emmaus, from Luke’s Gospel, concludes, “Then they told what happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread” (Lk 24:35). His work echoes several earlier
PAINTING THE TRINITY
June 6th 2020
In this image, gold leaf is overlaid with pigments of red, green and white. The red is that of the Christ’s blood which flows from his wounds. The green is that of the crown of thorns. The white is that
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
