THE SAINTS: STORIES, IMAGES, MEDITATIONS

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PhoenixRising
00domenica 3 settembre 2006 19:42
Polish Madonna



I saw this as a tapestry in a Catholic goods store a few months ago. I have to say that this is one of the most sweetest depictions I have ever seen of Our Lady and baby Jesus. I was touched by how ordinary and human the scene was. Her doing laundry like any other wife and mother, and Him playing on the grass like how any normal baby would. Such an innocent and pure painting. [SM=g27821]

I tried to find a summary about the painting, and I was only able to find this brief one from a seller on eBay:

This charming picture depicts Our Lady hanging laundry while the infant Jesus sits nearby. Polish legend has it that the bright warmth of the sun must shine upon the earth on Saturday, if only for a brief moment, in remembrance of Christ's infancy when on that day Mary would wash immaculately clean his swaddling clothes so that Sunday might find delight in witnessing the baby God in pure and fresh-scented dress.
TERESA BENEDETTA
00domenica 3 settembre 2006 20:37
ADORAMUS TE, BENEDICAMUS TE, GLORIFICAMUS TE!






Thanks to Paparaxvi for this video-cap. Whatever one thinks about the 'authenticity' of the Holy Face image at Manoppello,
this picture speaks for itself.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 03/09/2006 20.38]

TERESA BENEDETTA
00lunedì 4 settembre 2006 02:40
ST. GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

Photo taken from Amy Welborn's Open Book



Impossible not to take note of the Saint of the day, Gregory the Great. The Holy Father's Angelus message today was, of course, about him, and it bears re-reading here:

The Roman calendar remembers today, September 3, St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (ca 540-604). His singular figure - I would say almost unique - is an example to point to, both to Pastors of the Church as well as to public administrators. In fact he was first Prefect and then Bishop of Rome.

As an imperial functionary, he distinguished himself for his administrative ability and moral integrity, so that at 30 years of age, he reached the highest civil office of the city as Prefect.

But the vocation for monastic life matured in him, and he finally embraced it in 574 at the death of his father. From that time, the Benedictine Rule became the defining structure of his life.

Even when he was sent by the Pope as his representative to the Emperor of the East, he maintained his monastic lifestyle, simple and poor.

Called back to Rome, he lived in a monastery but became a close collaborator of Pope Pelagius II, and when the latter died, victim of the plague, Gregory was acclaimed by everyone as his successor. He sought in every way to avoid this nomination, but in the end he had to give in, and, leaving the cloister with a heavy heart, he dedicated himself to the community of the Church, knowing he was fulfilling an obligation and that he was a simple "servant of the servants of God."

"He who understands that he must lead others by the decree of divine will but looks down on this pre-eminence is not truly humble," he wrote. "But if instead he submits to the divine disposition, gives up the vice of obstinacy, and has the gifts with which he could help others, when the supreme office of governing souls is imposed on him, he may flee from it in his heart, but he ought to obey even if it is against his will." (Pastoral rule, I, 6).

With prophetic foresight, Gregory sensed that a new civilization was arising from the encounter between the Roman legacy and the so-called barbarians, thanks to the cohesive force and moral superiority of Christianity. Monasticism showed itself to be a treasure not only for the Church but for the entire society.

Of questionable health but of strong moral fiber, St. Gregory the Great carried out intense pastoral and civic activity. He left a vast epistolary, adamirable homilies, a celebrated commentary on the Book of Job, and writings on the life of St. Benedict, in addition to numerous liturgical texts, especially for the reform of chanting which became known as Gregorian from his name.

But his most celebrated work is the Pastoral Rule, which had for priests the same importance that St. Benedict's Rule had for the monks of the Middle Ages.

"The life of a pastor of souls should be a balanced synthesis of contemplation and action, animated by the love which "reachest its highest peaks when one bends mercifully towards the profound troubles of others. The ability to bend down to the miseries of others is a measure of the force of one's striving upwards" (II, 5), he wrote.

This teaching, which is always applicable, inspired the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council to define the image of the Pastor in our days.

Let us pray to the Holy Virgin Mary that the example and teachings of St. Gregory the Great may be followed by the Pastors of the Church and even by responsible authorities in civil institutions.
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Yesterday, Benefan posted an article by a noted Catholic writer about Gregory the Great. Most of it is excerpted here:

September 2, 2006
Robert P. Imbelli
Commonweal Magazine


For the past five years, on trips to Rome, I have been blessed by being able to stay in a friend's apartment on the Caelian Hill, rising to the East of the Colosseum...

But for me personally, the strongest spiritual resonance of the Caelian Hill is that here the future Pope Gregory founded a monastery on his family estates, today commemorated by the imposing church of San Gregorio Magno on the Caelian's Southwest slope.

Called from monastic seclusion, Gregory served as papal representative to the Emperor in Constantinople. Elected Pope himself, he labored to meet the temporal and spiritual needs of his people, not only in Rome, but throughout Italy.

He, of course, sent Augustine and companions from his monastery on the Caelian to England, thereby establishing the close links between Rome and Canterbury that remain a point of commonality in Roman Catholic and Anglican relations. Summing up his treatment of Gregory in Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes, Eamon Duffy writes:

"Gregory was unquestionably the greatest Pope of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, and arguably the greatest Pope ever. His memory was venerated in the Anglo-Saxon world and the churches with whom the Anglo-Saxons had contact, as 'the teacher of the English,' 'our Gregory.' A tenth century Irish life of the Pope even claimed him as a Kerry-man, who had taught most of the Irish saints.

But, in many respects, Gregory was the teacher of the entire Middle Ages, a bridge between the classical world and the emerging Medieval culture. The mystical language Gregory forged provided Christians the vocabulary to articulate their deepest spiritual yearnings. After Augustine and Aristotle, he is the authority most quoted by Aquinas.

In preparation for his feast (September 3rd), I have cultivated the habit of re-reading the splendid study of Gregory that begins the second volume of Bernard McGinn's magnificent opus, The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism. McGinn concludes his presentation thus:

"It is easy to see why it is possible to think of Gregory the Great not only as the 'Doctor of Desire,' but also as the 'Doctor of the Mixed Life.'... [For Gregory] the monastic life is the figure of what humanity in Adam was originally created to enjoy: oneness of contemplative attention to God.

"But if the monk is the living image of humanity's original condition, even monks no longer live in paradise. Though monks exist to remind us of what once was, and better yet, what is to come in heaven, in the present world, whose fallenness Gregory the Great felt so keenly, it is the preacher, living out his perilous vocation to keep both his eye on the goal and his heart with suffering humanity, who is the truest mystic -- the contemplative in action, like the great pope himself."

----------------------------------------------------------------

I would have liked to research one of St. Gregory's homilies, and I will, time permitting. Meanwhile, how many preachers today could come up to Mr. McGinn's standards?

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 04/09/2006 2.44]

PhoenixRising
00martedì 5 settembre 2006 00:15
Santo Nino de Cebu




Since my Mom is from Cebu, Philippines, she always tells me about their patron saints and many different customs and celebrations. We have a statue of Santo Nino in our home.

Here's the story behind the statue:

It is told that when, in the days of Legaspi, the capital was moved from Cebu to Manila, the authorities decreed that the image of the Sto. Nino should also be moved to the new capital.

So, the image was crated and shipped to manila, but the crate arrived there empty. The image miraculously disappeared, reappearing in its shrine in Cebu. It was recreated, and the crate placed inside another box, and then shipped to manila. Again, the boxes arrived in Manila empty. The image was crated a third time, and the crate placed not in one but in two boxes - but in vain. The Santo Nino was back in Cebu.

Eventually, the shippers sent the image out in a series of Chinese boxes, one inside another, with the seventh and inner-most box containing the image. In this manner, the image arrived in Manila and was enthroned in the Augustinian church of the capital city. The image, however, kept disappearing from the Augustinian church and reappearing in its shrine in Cebu. And so, it is told, the Manila Augustinians decided to cut off one of the Holy Child’s legs to stop it from escaping and returning to Cebu. This proved of no avail. The Santo Nino still kept on returning to Cebu

Manila finally gave up and Cebu kept its little Lord. Today, it is said, one can still notice how unevenly the Santo Nino stands. It is a sign of how, at one time, it had been amputated to keep it from returning to its beloved home.

In other versions of this story, the image was shipped not to Manila but to Spain. Whatever the version, however, it is a story told to show how intimately wedded to each other Cebu and the Santo Nino have become.

IMAGE OF SANTO NIÑO - Considered as the oldest religious relic in the Philippines. It was on April 14, 1521 that Magellan gave the image to Queen Juana as a baptismal gift. Forty-four years later, on April 27,1565 when Miguel Lopez de Legaspi arrived, Fr. Andres de Urdaneta who formally Christianized the Cebuanos, found the Native hostile. Legaspi besieged the settlement and set the village on fire. It was on one of the burnt houses that Juan Camus, a soldier, found the image of Sto. Niño unscratched. Since then, the miraculous image has been venerated by the Cebuanos as its patron saint. At present, the miraculous image is kept in the parish convent, and a replica is adorned with gold and precious stones and enshrined in glass. It is housed in a side altar inside the Basilica Minor del Santo Niño.


Santo Nino enshrined in its Basilica


Basilica Minor del Santo Nino

They also have a festival called Sinulog Carneval, which is celebrated in honor of Santo Nino every third Sunday of January.

Sinulog is Cebu's biggest and most popular festival. The feast is in honor of the Holy Image of Senyor Santo Niño de Cebu. Fiesta Senyor, as it is widely known, is the most celebrated among Cebu's festival where people converge along the routes of a grand solemn procession and partake in the gaiety amidst a mardi gras parade immersed in with colors and the constant beating of drums.



People celebrating in the streets




Procession of Santo Nino de Cebu.


When my Mom saw me looking looking up Santo Nino pics, she instantly told me to find many and post them to share with you all. She's very proud of her heritage, and I can't refuse her orders. [SM=g27819] [SM=g27828] [SM=g27829]
maryjos
00martedì 26 settembre 2006 18:00
Saint Nino!
Wonderful, inspiring story of Saint Nino, Bood! And great pictures.
We have several Filippino people in our parish now and they are so devout and very friendly. I really feel I've made new friends since they arrived.
Love, Peace - Mary x [SM=g27811]
maryjos
00martedì 26 settembre 2006 18:06
Saint Vincent de Paul


Feast Day: September 27th.
maryjos
00venerdì 29 settembre 2006 13:25
The Princes


Feast day: September 29th
Saint Michael - the protector, especially from the wiles of Satan and from all the ways that Satan can get at us, through unexpected means. Call upon him when you feel Satan may be on your shoulder!
Saint Raphael - the guide of Tobias.
Saint Gabriel - who announced the great message to Our Lady.

May these and all the angels and saints, watch over us and guide us in all we do.

[Thanks are due to Andrew, my friend from "Inside the Vatican", for this image] Love to all, Mary x [SM=g27811]

[Modificato da maryjos 29/09/2006 13.26]

.Sue.
00lunedì 2 ottobre 2006 15:44
A couple of days after the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael there is a memorial of the Guardian Angels - that is today.

Don't forget them in your daily prayer, they really protect us.
I myself had a "close encounter" with my Guardian Angel a couple of years ago, when he woke me in the middle of the night just to show me that thieves were trying to steal my car.





[Modificato da .Sue. 02/10/2006 15.45]

maryjos
00martedì 31 ottobre 2006 11:41
Please visit the Rosary thread
Dear Friends,
Please visit the Holy Rosary thread, as we are trying to put different images on the new rosary. This time the rosary is being prayed specifically for our Papa's safety in Turkey.
I love the Guardian Angel picure, Sue! The prayer I wrote for him includes a special plea that his guardian angel will be with him at all times.

Love and Peace - Mary [SM=g27811] [SM=x40792] [SM=x40792] [SM=x40792] [SM=x40792]
Wulfrune
00martedì 31 ottobre 2006 13:36
Pious opinion has it that every priest has two guardian angels. I would say they really need them as well!!! Maybe the Pope gets a couple more besides? [SM=g27833] [SM=g27833]

[Modificato da Wulfrune 31/10/2006 13.53]

TERESA BENEDETTA
00giovedì 16 novembre 2006 01:35
ALBERTUS MAGNUS, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
Just a brief note about the saint for today, 11/15/06 - Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great), whom the Holy Father mentioned at the end of his greetings to the various language groups in today's general audience. He was German.



Albertus Magnus was born in 1206 in Lauingen on the Danube in Germany, where he spent his youth. After his elementary training he studied the "liberal arts" (i.e. language studies and mathematical sciences) in Padua, one of the main academic centers of this time.

It was there that he got to know Jordan of Saxony, the second Master General of the Order of Preachers, founded by his predecessor S. Dominic. Through his preaching he won S. Albert for this new and striving order, known for its zeal for study, preaching and poverty.

Although his family opposed this step he entered the novitiate and later was sent to Germany for his theological studies. After some intellectual work in several Dominican houses in Germany he went to Paris. Paris was the capital of the then flourishing reception of Aristotle. The latter was rediscovered by way of Spain and the Arabic culture at this time.

Albert read and commented on all of Aristotle's works (as far as they were known). However, he also corrected Aristotle through the many observations he made on his own. He was so engaged in this, that legend ascribed to him the (at this time closely related) powers of a magician and a sorcerer.

Albert's work was an encyclopedic endeavor, trying to explain the knowledge of all of the then known world.(For this marvelous achievement and its lasting value he was later declared "Doctor of the Church".)

He then continued to teach, preach and study in Cologne, where Thomas of Aquinas became his disciple and later on continued his work. Albert then got involved more in administrative tasks (e.g. he was the Provincial of the German Dominicans in 1254) and Church politics (he had to defend his order against attacks at the Papal Curia at Anagni).

He was appointed bishop of Regensburg in 1260 (this is why he is normally shown with a miter) but resigned voluntarily in 1262 in order to resume teaching, especially at Cologne. There he acted as counselor, peacemaker, and shepherd of souls with great success.

Exhausted by his work and austere life he died at the age of 87 on Nov. 15, 1280 (the day he is celebrated by the Church) and is buried in the Dominican Church St. Andreas in Cologne.

Pope Pius XI numbered him among the ranks of the saints on December 16, 1931, and declared him a doctor of the Church.

Much of his life was given to writing. His twenty-one folio volumes are devoted to commentaries on Aristotle (whose works were just then becoming known in the West) and the Bible. Legend credits him with drawing the ground plans for the cathedral at Cologne.

Albert, the greatest German scholar of the Middle Ages, was outstanding in the fields of natural science, theology, and philosophy.

His writings are considerable both in bulk and in scope. They are concerned not only with biblical and theological studies, but also with logic, metaphysics, ethics, physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, human and animal physiology, geography, geology, and botany.

He says that in some areas, such as questions about the nature of God, men cannot draw sound conclusions by themselves because they lack the necessary data. But he is an enthusiastic supporter of the autonomy of human reason, working on empirical data, in areas of knowledge where those data are relevant.

Given a longstanding belief in his day that eagles incubate only one egg and rear only one offspring per season, he had himself lowered over a cliff edge and down to an eagle's nest, so that he might check for himself.



maryjos
00venerdì 8 dicembre 2006 17:35
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady


This is the picture on EWTN's home page today. I love it so much I want to share it here.
Love, Mary x [SM=g27811]

[Modificato da maryjos 08/12/2006 17.36]

Crotchet
00venerdì 8 dicembre 2006 20:36
Thanks Maryjos
...for the lovely picture of Our Lady. I have just now read something by Papa where this doctrine of the Immaculate Conception became clearer to me. It is incredible how he has the knack of opening up the theological rationale behind a doctrine that previously had almost "put me off" when I read about it in an encyclopedia or some kind of Catholic catalogue of terms/doctrines.

I really appreciate this lovely thread about the saints, by the way. A whole new world opening up.... Thankseveryone for your contributions.
maryjos
00giovedì 25 gennaio 2007 16:11
SAINT PAUL


Feast of the Conversion of Paul of Tarsus [Saint Paul, apostle and martyr] January 25th

Fresco by Michaelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni,
[1542 - 45], Cappella Paolina, Palazzi Pontifici Vatican.
|lily|
00sabato 27 gennaio 2007 04:40
St. Paul - again


I know it's a day late, but it's ALWAYS a good time for a Caravaggio! [SM=g27823]
TERESA BENEDETTA
00sabato 27 gennaio 2007 15:57
Thanks for the contribution, Lily! It's always a good time for a Caravaggio - or any other master artist. And since we are on the SAINTS thread, maybe we could extend its scope to include great art on religious subjects, in which we could always supplement the pictures with some descriptive, explanatory or otherwise illuminating text about the subject.

Imagine for instance all the different masterpieces painted of the Virgin Mary (Raphael's alone is a gallery in itself), or the Adoration of the Magi, or the Deposition of Christ, etc...

Or maybe open a new thread just for MASTERPIECES OF RELIGIOUS ART... What do you think, Forumites?


2/9/07
P.S. In checking out some Caravaggios tonight, I discovered he had painted a second 'Conversion of Paul", which I am posting here so it can be compared to his more famous version.


The Conversion of St. Paul, 1600
Oil on cypress wood, 237 x 189 cm
Odescalchi Balbi Collection, Rome


[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/02/2007 1.54]

Wulfrune
00sabato 27 gennaio 2007 16:53
I think it would be appropriate to discuss artistic ways of representing saints and holy things here, because it is devotional and brings out aspects of a saint's life or piety. [SM=g27811]
|lily|
00sabato 27 gennaio 2007 17:13
Whether it's here or on another thread, posting and discussing religious art is something I would love to share in! [SM=g27811] [SM=g27811] [SM=g27811]
TERESA BENEDETTA
00sabato 27 gennaio 2007 18:17
GREAT! Then let the sharing begin!
|lily|
00lunedì 29 gennaio 2007 05:21
St. Francis
In response to Teresa's gracious invitation to share sacred art in this space, I offer another work by Caravaggio.



This is his "St. Francis receiving the Stigmata." Rather than portraying the theme as a narrative, Caravaggio invites the viewer to enter into Francis' experience by contemplating the saint's self-surrender and acceptance in receiving this mark of Divine Love. The dramatic lighting originating outside the picture,always a feature of Caravaggio's mature works, takes on added significance in this beautiful devotional image.
Crotchet
00lunedì 29 gennaio 2007 20:35
Great idea!
Many thanks Maryjos and Lily for the beautiful images above. Wonderful idea the religious art pics. And I appreciate the commentary. Wish I could contribute.... keep it up, ladies. We enjoy this! [SM=g27811]
|lily|
00martedì 30 gennaio 2007 16:32
Glad you enjoy them Crotchet! But why not post some yourself? You must have some favourite works! Just let us know what it is about them that moves you.
Crotchet
00martedì 30 gennaio 2007 17:04
Hi Lily.
I don't have a scanner or whatever is needed to post images. And I love looking at art works, but have no real knowledge of the subject. So, if I could post pictures it wouldn't even be accompanied by commentary! [SM=g27824]
|lily|
00venerdì 2 febbraio 2007 05:24
Flowers in February
It's cold here in the Frozen North this time of year and so I thought an image of the Madonna and Child with plenty of colourful flowers might remind us that spring is only a couple of months away.



It's a work by eminent Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens, who is responsible for all the figures, and his fellow countryman Jan Bruegel, who contributed the exquisite floral wreath. If you look closely, you'll notice it's actually a painting within a painting, as the image of the Virgin and Child is in a wooden frame. This may be interpreted as a defence of the role of images in the Church, which was under attack by the Protestants of the day.
I think Rubens' putti are especially delightful!
NanMN
00venerdì 2 febbraio 2007 05:56

It's cold here in the Frozen North

Yes Lily it is. I can only speak for Minnesota, but on Saturday we are not supposed to get above zero!
Ok, on the subject of paintings: I love what everyone has shared so far. Thanks! [SM=g27823] [SM=g27824] [SM=g27823] [SM=g27824] [SM=g27823] [SM=g27824] [SM=g27828] [SM=g27828] [SM=g27828]
Wulfrune
00venerdì 2 febbraio 2007 12:39
The Annunciation

(detail)

This is one of the first paintings I ever fell in love with and is still my favourite. It's in the Uffizi gallery, Florence - but it was to be many years before I saw it in real life.

It was painted in 1333 by Simone Martini, a Sienese artist. Siena (in Italy) produced some great art in this era - it was a city becoming rich through banking and its citizens wanted it to reflect their growing civic pride. The centre of Siena today retains much of its medieval charm.

The Annunciation is painted on a gold background, within a very ornate wooden frame that suggests Gothic arches. This is before artists used oil paint on canvas - the paints were called tempera and the powders mixed with egg yolk, and painted onto wooden panels.

The painting was made for a church and intended to stimulate devotion. I find the very linear design extremely satisfying, with the way Our Lady seems to shrink away from the angel, unsure what he is going to say. She turns towards us, including us in her shock - how do we react to the demands of faith? The angel's hand is raised to denote that he is speaking, and the words from his mouth are the opening to the Hail Mary, as found in Luke's gospel. In his other hand he holds an olive branch - symbolic of peace. Mary is to be the mother of the Prince of Peace, and of course the angel comes in Peace to her who will become the Queen of Peace. He has only just appeared and his opening salutation does not yet speak of Jesus, so Mary is a little confused. The half-closed book in her hand may refer to prophecy - the Old Testament, which will be completed in the New.

We can see that the angel has just arrived as his robe is fluttering in the beating of his wings. He is all movement, action, compared to her passive listening. In art, the dark blue colour (of her mantle) sometimes indicates contemplation.

The lily in the pot on the floor represents her purity ("behond a virgin shall conceive").

Mary's undergrament is red, symbolising the Holy Spirit, by Whom she was to conceive, and also possibly her future suffering, with a blue mantle - almost certainly this would have been made from ground lapis lazuli, a very expensive mineral often used in art for depicting the mantle of the Virgin as it made a very intense and beautiful blue.

The real thing is very large - I remember thinking it is about my height, so it was probably intended for a large altar, or somewhere people would see it at a distance.

Stylistically Sienese art bears some resemblance to Byzantine art (icons, etc). The gold background (indicating a sacred subject) the intense symbolism of the colours and the raised hand for speech. The way the figures are placed within a series of Gothic arches is carefully done, and adds to the movement and delicacy of the art (IMO). I'm thinking that the Byzantine influence was due to trading links, but here I'm getting even more out of my depth...

[Modificato da Wulfrune 02/02/2007 17.33]

|lily|
00venerdì 2 febbraio 2007 16:24
"I can only speak for Minnesota, but on Saturday we are not supposed to get above zero!"

If you're talking Fahrenheit Nan I really feel for you! Here in Ontario we're at a balmy 20F, so I'll quit complaining!

Thanks, Wulfrune, for the beautiful image and excellent commentary!
The influence of Byzantine art was felt to a certain extent in the West throughout the Middle Ages through manuscripts produced in the East. This was intensified, though, when Byzantine artists and their pupils were summoned to Rome and Florence (which is not far from Sienna) in the 13th century. The result was a late mediaeval art in Italy that drew from Byzantine as well as French Gothic and indigenous Classical sources.
TERESA BENEDETTA
00venerdì 2 febbraio 2007 16:57
Thank you, Wulfrune, for the wonderful reproduction of the detail from Martini's Annunciation and the commentary. Having lived in Siena briefly, I did gain a direct appreciation for his works. And he did have a large canvas, literally and figuratively, the better to appreciate his incredible detail...

I hope we can put together as many Annunciation masterpieces as we can on this thread, though I must confess that I have not yet had the time to really see what's out there online and at least start on a systematic search of religious art by limiting myself to certain themes and/or artists. The many Leonardo and Raphael Madonnas, for instance, are a particular passion of mine, and as I mentioned earlier, The Adoration of the Magi (or the Nativity, in general) and the Deposition of Christ. (Similarly, I try to track down every 'Adam and Eve' masterpiece there is, of which there are quite a few!)

Lily, I must confess I was not familiar with that Rubens Madonna at all. What a lovely surprise! Thank you for the beautiful reproduction. (P.S. I am also a 'putti' freak!]

And speaking of unusual Madonnas, I am glad I was able to get this online, because
it was the first 'suckling Madonna' I had ever seen - I did not even know it existed
until I came face to face with it at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg (it was Leningrad then)
in 1974 and had the pleasure of revisiting on two more occasions after that. It is referred
to as the Litta Madonna, I think after the original owner.



Catalog note from the Hermitage:

Madonna and Child (Madonna Litta), 1490-91
Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519

Tempera on canvas (transferred from panel) 42 x 33 cm

This Madonna and Child was probably painted in Milan, where the artist moved in 1482.

The Madonna's sublime, tender gaze as she looks at her son, and the tranquillity of
the distant mountainous landscape, reflect humanist dreams of Ideal Man and a
Harmonious Life. At once profound and noble, the painting reveals great beauty
in its colouring and composition.

The painting came to the museum in 1865 from the collection of Count Antonio Litta
in Milan. A preparatory drawing for the Madonna's head is in the Louvre, Paris.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 07/02/2007 6.04]

TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 7 febbraio 2007 05:06
THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST: Andrea del Verrocchio, ca. 1475 (Uffizi)

Painting on wood, 171x151 cm

Another famous painting from the Uffizi, which sort of 'shocked' me a bit when I first saw it back in 1967, not so much because of the pubic shadow above the loincloth, but because the striped cloth reminded me of boxer shorts, forgive the irreverence!

Anyway, I was trying to find more information tonight about the Litti Madonna when I came across this image (it is also available on high resolution but in supersize format)in the Wikipedia entry on Leonardo da Vinci, which carries the following information about it:

"The painting is the Baptism of Christ. According to Vasari, Leonardo painted the young angel holding Jesus robe and Verrocchio, overwhelmed by the sweetness of the angels expression, its moist eyes and lustrous curls, put down his brush and never painted again. This is probably an exaggeration. The truth is that on close examination the painting reveals much that has been painted or touched up over the tempera using the new technique of oil paint. The landscape, the rocks that can be seen through the brown mountain stream and much of the figure of Jesus bears witness to the hand of Leonardo..."

And what did Leonardo have to do with Verrochio? The entry also tells us:
"In 1466 Leonardo was apprenticed to one of the most proficient artists of his day, Andrea di Cione, known as Verrocchio. The workshop of this famous master was at the centre of the intellectual currents of the day. Among those who were apprenticed or associated with the workshop were Perugino, Botticelli, and Lorenzo di Credi, assuring the young Leonardo of an advanced education in all branches of the humanities."

The painting is obviously a very evocative and powerful Renaissance rendition of the Biblical story. I find the humility depicted in Jesus's expression most moving, John the Baptist authoritative and yet in conscious awe of what he is doing, and the vertical representation of the Trinity compelling. It is a large painting, and I checked the catalog for the dimensions - 170x151 cm (roughly 5 feet 10 inches tall by 5 feet wide).

TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 7 febbraio 2007 05:53
THE ANNUNCIATION, Leonardo da Vinci, ca. 1473-1475 (Uffizi)

Oil on panel, 98.4 x 117 cm (approx 39" x 86")


I had, of course, intended to follow Wulfrune's wonderful detail of Martini's Annunciation with the Leonardo Annunciation, also at the Uffizi, but I opted to post the Litti Madonna first because it is not so well-known.

And now that I have posted the Verrochio-Leonardo Baptism, Leonardo's Annunciation turns out to be to be the appropriate chronogical sequel, still going by the Wikipedia entry:

"Two other paintings appear to date from his (Leonardo's)time at the workshop (of Verrocchio), both of which are Annunciations. One is small, 59 cms long and only 14 cms high. It is a “predella” to go at the base of a larger composition, in this case a painting by Lorenzo Di Credi from which it has become separated. The other is a much larger work, 217 cm long.
[I did not know about the smaller Annunciation and am trying to find it online!]

"In both these Annunciations Leonardo has used the very formal arrangement of Fra Angelico’s two well-known pictures of the same subject, the Virgin Mary sitting or kneeeling to the right of the picture, approached from the left by an angel in profile, with rich flowing garment, raised wings and bearing a lily.

"In the smaller picture Mary averts her eyes and folds her hands in a gesture that symbolised submission to God’s will. In the larger picture, however, Mary is not in the least submissive. The beautiful girl, interrupted in her reading by this unexpected messenger, puts a finger in her bible to mark the place and raises her hand in greeting.

"This calm young woman accepts her role as the Mother of God not with resignation but with confidence. In this painting the young Leonardo presents the Humanist face of the Virgin Mary, a woman who recognises humanity’s role in God’s incarnation."

My first impression on seeing this Annunciation was, of course, regret that the colors have faded. But I found the expression on Mary's face quite as complex as that of the Mona Lisa's - she's not frightened, she seems curious, expectant, unfazed, but the full import of the Angel's message has not yet sunk in perhaps. And I was struck by how girlish the face is, especially around the mouth and chin, even if the figure appears womanly. The angel looks very reassuring and calming, with all the authority and grace worthy of a messenger from God. And I find it poetic that he is kneeling on a flower bed....

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 07/02/2007 5.57]

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