Russian Orthodox Artist
Presents Painting to Pontiff
by Mary Shovlain
VATICAN CITY, DEC. 12, 2007 (Zenit.org).- It happens only once during a pontificate. Benedict XVI received his official portrait today from renowned Russian painter Natalia Tsarkova.
The unveiling took place during a private meeting in Paul VI Hall after the weekly general audience.
[The picture shows the Pope seated on the Cathedra of Leo XIII.]
Tsarkova is the first woman to be an official Vatican portrait painter. Pope John Paul II was the subject of her first official papal work. She painted him during the Jubilee Year 2000 and that portrait now hangs in the Vatican Museums.
Speaking to ZENIT after her meeting with Benedict XVI, Tsarkova said the Pontiff thanked her for her work and said he was very happy with the outcome. The Holy Father told her he is familiar with her painting and admires her past portraits of John Paul II and various cardinals.
The private audience, which was supposed to last five minutes, lasted for 20, as Tsarkova explained the "secrets" in the painting - specifically the angels that adorn the papal throne, which, she said, "come to life."
Tsarkova said the angels seemed to be the Pope's favorite aspect of the portrait, noting that in his recent discourse on the role of bishops, he compared their work to that of the angels, God's messengers.
Tsarkova said she wanted the painting to be symbolic. "The Holy Father," she said, "is seated on a throne and surrounded by angels and is symbolically resting upon them, a sign of the support they give him in his ministry."
"In his hand, the Pope is holding a book of his discourses as a sign of his dialogue with the modern world," the artist continued. "This is a sign of peace because it is through dialogue that we can achieve peace."
Tsarkova said the concept for the portrait began as soon as Benedict XVI was elected in 2005, when she began going to liturgical celebrations in the Vatican to observe him and get inspiration.
"I had met him as a cardinal and known him through his many writings but I had to know him as Pope," she said.
Project beginnings
The painting was financed by the Vatican's Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums.
Legionary of Christ Father Mark Haydu, international director of the patrons office, told ZENIT how Tsarkova received the commission: "The then 'sostituto' of the Secretary of State, recently elevated Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, now prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, had the idea of Natalia doing a portrait of the Holy Father. He then shared the idea with several friends who were Patrons of the Arts. From there she began to work to create this wonderful portrait."
Father Haydu said patrons were not hard to find for such a work: "Under my predecessor, Dominican Father Allen Duston, the office helped find sponsors for the Tzarkova portrait. [...] Mr. John Brogan, a longtime patron of the arts, helped make this portrait a reality, along with our chapter in the United Kingdom."
According to Father Haydu, the fact that a Russian Orthodox woman painted a portrait of a German Pope is symbolic: "I find it eloquent that, two individuals whose peoples were divided in the recent past, Germany and Russia, that is, are providentially united in this artistic endeavor."
"As we know," he continued, "Benedict XVI has made Christian unity one of the hallmarks of his pontificate, and this painting is just one more providential gesture of the coming together of the Orthodox and Catholic faiths."
Benedict XVI's Portrait
By Elizabeth Lev
Christmas came early for Benedict XVI. After the general audience on Wednesday, Russian artist Natalia Tsarkova presented the Holy Father with a full-length portrait of himself during one of the rare private audiences granted by the Pope.
Tsarkova, an extraordinarily gifted painter, has been working in Rome for over a decade. She produced five portraits of Pope John Paul II, the only portrait of Pope John Paul I, as well as the stunning "Our Lady of Light" commissioned by the Primavera Foundation in the United States to celebrate the institution of the luminous mysteries of the rosary by John Paul II.
The portrait of Benedict XVI was commissioned by the Patrons Office of the Vatican Museums a year ago. In the past, the Patrons Office has usually obtained funding for restoration and maintenance of the extensive collections of the Vatican Museums, but under its new director, Legionary of Christ Father Mark Haydu, the office decided to add a new masterpiece to the galleries.
Tsarkova toiled for almost a year on the painting, oil on canvas. She attended the audiences to capture the Holy Father among the faithful, and papal Masses to watch him celebrate the liturgy. Her portrait is a mixture of the public persona she studied as well as the private meditative man that she imagined.
Benedict XVI sits on a throne, which the artist describes as a reminder of his role of teacher from his chair, but also that of Successor of St. Peter. The Holy Spirit in the form of the dove hovers above his head, bathing him with light the same way Bernini's window of the Holy Spirit rains golden light on the Cathedra San Petri in St. Peter's Basilica.
The elaborately decorated chair belonged to Pope Leo XIII, and has carved cherubim over the shoulders and under the armrests. One angel, illuminated by the heavenly rays, turns its gaze lovingly toward the Pope.
Tsarkova's greatest labor of love in the work involved rendering Benedict XVI's facial expression. Magazine and newspaper photos rarely show the Pope in a flattering fashion, but after careful studies, she captured an intent look tinged with kindness; his far-seeing gaze looks toward the future of the Church out of concern for the souls under his care.
To portray the complexity of his expression, Tsarkova worked on preparatory drawings for months. A small but beautiful oil sketch remains as testimony to her work, in which the warm, gentle smile of Benedict XVI is recognizable to all those who have had the pleasure of seeing the Holy Father.
Unlike Tsarkova's earlier portraits of John Paul II, where the Pontiff was always portrayed standing as the "Pilgrim Pope," Benedict XVI's portrait shows him seated, emphasizing his role as teacher.
Also different from John Paul II's portraits, Benedict XVI wears a heavy crimson cope which sparkles with reflected light in its heavy folds. Tsarkova defines her use of red to frame the Pope as a symbol of both faith and love while the woven gold miter on his head represents the divine Kingdom.
A curious clasp closes the Pope's mantle. Amid the Baroque swathes of fabric highlighted with rich embroidery, a broad pewter buckle draws the cope across his heart. The design is almost primitive -- parallel waving lines trace the simple form of Christ embracing his mother.
It seems that Tsarkova is hinting that despite all his years of curial experience and the grandeur of his role as Pope, Benedict XVI remains a simple man at heart, unaffected by the pageantry that surrounds him.
Benedict XVI's unique gift of taking complex lessons and transmitting them in clear, understandable and even catchy language motivated the artist to place a slim volume under the Pope's fingers. Although Benedict XVI has written numerous books as one of the greatest theologians of the past century, his teaching is straightforward and accessible, allowing the faithful to gain a better understanding of the Church and its doctrines.
As I was standing in Natalia's studio, I saw copies of all her paintings of John Paul II around the rooms and I felt the now familiar pang of nostalgia for the Holy Father that I had known all my life. But then looking at her portrait of Benedict XVI, I saw St. Peter's Square depicted in the background, with the sun shining down on Bernini's colonnade as it embraces the obelisk that witnessed St. Peter's martyrdom.
Tsarkova's vision of Benedict XVI, both intensely passionate about his mission and warm and fatherly toward his flock, seems to herald the advent of an exciting new day in the life of the Church.