“St Dominic”, Rosary Chapel, Vence, Henri Matisse, 1947-1951.
I came across this image of St Dominic on the day I was given the Dominican habit. Fr Fergus clothed me and he mentioned it in his homily. This line drawing of St Dominic is by by Matisse and it is in the Rosary Chapel of the Dominican nuns at Vence, which is just a bit north of Nice. Fr Fergus referred to a homily by the Dominican theologian Fr Edward Schillebeeckx OP which begins with mention of this portrait of St Dominic. Schillebeeckx noted that “Dominic was depicted in just a few strokes, but you could not say that the portrait was ‘abstract.’” He goes on to explain why. “You are impelled to fill in this sketch of Dominic yourself, and yet you feel that your own interpretation is under the spell and norm of this drawing.” You must fill it in from your own experience, from who you are, and from who you become, clothed in the Dominican habit as a son or a daughter of St Dominic. It is important to be aware of the positioning and the scale of this portrait. The Rosary Chapel at Vence is quite small. The nave is only about 20 feet wide. Our chapel here is Edinburgh is about 28 feet wide. The chapel in Vence is about 10 feet longer than ours and it is much higher. This portrait of St Dominic is over 15 feet high so the ratio of Dominic’s height to the width of the Chapel at Vence is about 15:20. These measurements should give you an idea of how large it appears in situ. You might note that wall of our chapel next the garden is only about half that at 8 1/2 feet. The chapel was designed as a space where some twenty Dominican nuns would chant the office, pray privately and attend Mass. Others were admitted into the nave, but only for Mass, so this chapel was the nuns’ private space for most of the day. It has the typical “L” shape so common in the chapels of contemplative women. The Dominican nuns could sit in their “wing” on the left, facing the altar but with a degree of privacy and seclusion. At Mass other worshippers could also sit facing the altar, but from the main body in the nave. This image is positioned on the side wall to the right of the altar so that only the nuns look directly at St Dominic. Each day these nuns contemplated an image of St Dominic which was monumental in both style and scale and yet so simple. It is known that Matisse spent a long time honing down this image to the bare essentials. It is just black strokes on white ceramic tiles. Perhaps he left the oval face blank so that a Dominican nun might see her own face in it or those of other Dominicans. This restraint in definition gives the viewer a freedom to interpret and contemplate, not just St Dominic, but his sons and daughters all over the world. We celebrate the Solemnity of Our Holy Father St Dominic on Friday. St Dominic pray for us!
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