“The Sermon on the Mount” Jan Bruegel the Elder, 1598, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
This is Brueghel’s painting of the Sermon on the Mount. A large crowd has gathered in a clearing at the edge of a wood to hear Jesus teach. The painting itself is very small—only 26.7 cm by 36.8 cm—yet the detail is extraordinary. Despite its scale, the expression on each face is visible, and in the tall trees that tower above the crowd you can almost distinguish individual leaves. Jesus is only a tiny figure among the people, preaching at the centre of a pool of light that falls between the trees. He is marked out by a halo and a pale yellow tunic. Many people are listening intently, but of course some are not. As your eye moves away from him, you notice several figures distracted by other concerns. One example is the woman in the bright yellow dress seated in the centre foreground at the edge of the crowd. I think we are meant to notice her. She is petting a dog, though she herself appears rather pampered. One hand rests on her stomach as she surveys the snacks being offered by a man to her left. Perhaps Jesus has just said that we should not worry about what we are to eat. To her right, a small circle has formed around another woman who may be reading the palm of a man clearly anxious about the future. Directly above her, just within the shade of the tree, two friar-like figures are focused on her and seem to ignore Jesus altogether. Dotted throughout the crowd are several visual references to the Sermon on the Mount. Although the setting is more like a northern forest than a hillside in Galilee, the contrast between the expansive, leafy trees and the tiny figure of Christ beneath them is striking. In the minds of many gathered here, he is only a travelling preacher of little status. Yet the kingdom begins with this small figure of Jesus, and his sermon begins with a blessing for those willing to listen. It is well worth exploring the detail of this painting online. https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/738/jan-brueghel-the-elder-the-sermon-on-the-mount-flemish-1598/.
The Catholic Chaplaincy serves the students and staff of the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University and Queen Margaret University.
The Catholic Chaplaincy is also a parish of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh (the Parish of St Albert the Great) and all Catholic students and staff are automatically members of this parish.
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St Albert's Catholic Chaplaincy is part of the English Province of the Order of Preachers, a charity registered in England and Wales (231192) and in Scotland (SC039062).