TINTORETTO’S ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS AT SAN ROCCO
December 18th 2021
“Adoration of the Shepherds”, 1578/81, Tintoretto, Scoula Grande di San Rocco, Venice. Two women gaze upon the child from the opposite side of a hayloft. Mary raises a cloth so that they can see his face. Unusually for
CIMA’S ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, MADONNA DELL’ ORTO
December 11th 2021
St John the Baptist stands before us, surrounded by four other saints. He has the usual reed-like cross, but there is no lamb, nor is he baptising. He points upwards to the open sky above his head. This very
CRIVELLI’S SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST
December 4th 2021
“St John the Baptist” from the Demidoff Altarpiece, Carlo Crivelli, 1476, National Gallery, London. Crivelli locates St John the Baptist by the water’s edge and us on the opposite bank. Behind him, the trees have been cut down but
Crivelli’s St Andrew
November 27th 2021
St Andrew is shown here by Carlo Crivelli as an old man who holds a cross and mediates on a sacred text. The flowing locks, the crows feet, the fluttering pages, the grain of the wood, the folds of his
TINTORETTO’S CHRIST BEFORE PILATE
November 20th 2021
“Christ before Pilate” c.1566/7, Tintoretto, Sala dell’ Albergo, Scoula Grande di San Rocco, Venice. Christ stands before Pilate, wrapped in what looks like white shroud. We can see that his hands are bound with rope. As in Matthew 27:24, a
TINTORETTO’S PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN IN THE TEMPLE
November 13th 2021
The tradition that Mary was presented in the Temple as a child relates that after Mary was weaned, her parents took her to the Temple to give thanks. When her parents placed her on the lowest of the Temple steps,
EL GRECO’S ST MARTIN AND THE BEGGAR
November 6th 2021
St Martin and the Beggar”, El Greco, 1597-99, National Gallery of Art, Washington. The story of St Martin of Tours and the beggar has been painted by artists of every age. It is an inspiring story. St Martin was a
RAPHAEL’S ENTOMBMENT
October 30th 2021
“Entombment”, 1507, Raphael, Borghese Gallery, Rome. Christ is being carried to the tomb, which is a dark cave on the left. The figures in the procession fill the middle section on the painting. We can sense their close interaction
DUCCIO’S HEALING OF THE MAN BORN BLIND
October 21st 2021
In today’s gospel we have the story of Bartimaeus, the blind man who was healed by Jesus as he left Jericho. This panel shows a similar miracle from John’s Gospel: the healing of the man born blind (John 9:1-12). It
Zurbarán’s Virgin of Mercy of Las Cuevas
October 9th 2021
“The Virgin of Mercy of Las Cuevas”, Francisco de Zurbarán, c.1644-55, Museo de Belles Artes, Seville. In the Counter Reformation period, sacred figures were often shown as real people in order to foster devotion. How this was done varied
