The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Recently I was lucky enough to take a pilgrimage, of sorts, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. As many an art lover knows, the Met must surely be counted among the great museums of the world. Their permanent collection contains many great works of Western art by some of the most renowned painters of all time: Picasso, Van Gogh, Dali, Monet, El Greco, and countless others. As my personal interest leans toward paintings of a religious nature, I was spellbound by some of the works I was able to see first hand. My photography skills, lacking at the best of times, was doubly challenged by the requirement that no flash photography is allowed in the museum, but I did mange to cobble together a few good shots that I have complied here for all to enjoy.

Title: Massacre of the Innocents
Artist: Francois-Joseph Navez
Navez was a student of Jacques-Louis David in Paris. Navez’s style fuses David’s naturalism and idealization of Ingres, whom he also admired. Exhibited to great acclaim in the Brussels Salon of 1824, this work presents the Massacre of the Innocents as an intimate family drama, whose frightening realism struck critics. The delicate brush work, and the sense of depth were both striking to see in person. The swollen, tear stained eyes of the mother, as well as those of the muffled baby, made the work even more touching.

Title: The Dead Christ with Angels
Artist: Edouard Manet

This was the first of several paints by Manet with a religious theme. After the painting was already on its way to the 1864 Salon, Manet realized he had depicted Christ’s wound on the wrong side. He was advised to correct this “mistake” before the painting was exhibited so not “to give the malicious something to laugh at”. He chose not to, and although there was some ridicule, French writer Emile Zola gave the work the respect it deserved, noting that Manet’s intention was to emphasize the reality of the corpse, while calling attention to its holiness by including a halo. This painting, very large at (approximately) 6’ x 5’, was breathtaking to see in person. The stark portrayal of the body of Christ captivating the eye, as though the angels are propping Him up for all to see what has been done. Gorgeous.

Title: Joan of Arc
Artist: Jules Bastien-Lepage

With the loss of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), the national heroine from Lorraine, Joan of Arc, acquired new symbolic importance among the French. At the 1880 Salon, Bastien-Lepage, himself a native of Lorraine, exhibited this painting, which represents the moment of Joan of Arc's divine revelation in her parents' garden. His depiction of the saints whose voices she heard elicited a mixed reaction from Salon critics, many of whom found the presence of the saints at odds with the naturalism of the artist's style. But, in fact, it is this juxtaposition that makes the painting so compelling. From across the gallery even before the ghostly saints could be discerned, the look in Joan’s eyes was noticeable. I even remarked “What’s with that girl’s eyes?” as I strolled over to take a closer look.

Titles: The Adoration of the Shepherds & The Vision of Saint John
Artist: El Greco

One of my favorite artists, El Greco, was nicely represented in the European Painting section. His stylistic idiosyncrasy and the deep religious devotion demonstrated in his paintings has, as I have grown older, made his work a joy to behold. Despite its unfinished and mutilated state (is a large fragment of one of three altarpieces El Greco was commissioned to paint in 1608 for the church of the Hospital of Saint John the Baptist), The Vision of Saint John remains enormously powerful. Its visionary treatment of space and dematerialization of form have been shown to have played a crucial role in the genesis of Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon

Title: The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John
Artist: Hendrick ter Brugghen

The strikingly archaic qualities of this picture, such as the angular figure of Christ, the shallow space, and the starry sky, have reminded many viewers of late-Medieval woodcuts, prints by Dürer, and Grünewald's Isenheim altarpiece. I was immediately struck by the color scheme the artist chose, with it’s greenish-browns and dripping blood, highlighting the macabre scene at the crucifixion. An arresting work that ter Brugghen, a protestant, evidentially painted for a Catholic "hidden church" in the Nerherlands.

Title: Madonna and Child
Artist: Carlo Crivelli

This modest-size, devotional painting of the Madonna and Child is one of the Crivelli’s most exquisite works. Exceptionally well preserved, it is usually dated to the 1470s. A willful contrast has been set up between the hyper-refined features of the Madonna—as precious and brittle as an eighteenth-century porcelain figurine—and the over-sized, naturalistic rendered fruit, which casts emphatic shadows onto the moired silk hanging, shown as though fastened to the frame by red laces. The haloes are embellished with jewels that are depicted as though they were actual objects applied to the flat, gilt surface. I was not familiar with Crivelli before my trip to the Met, and was just one of several wonderful discoveries there.

Title: Saint Julian
Artist: Taddeo Gaddi
Saint Julian, a nobleman of the ninth century, is shown holding his attribute, the sword with which he accidentally slew his parents. This well-preserved picture, which dates from the 1340s, is a cut-down lateral panel from an altarpiece. Taddeo Gaddi was a pupil of Giotto's and one of his most inventive followers, working alongside the master for many years.

Title: The Annunciation
Artist: Philipe de Champaigne

This picture was painted in 1644 for the private chapel, or oratory, of Anne of Austria, the widowed wife of Louis XIII. At first glance, I was inclined to dismiss the work as too stiff and too formal, but I soon became mesmerized by the details. From the grinning cherubs to the delicate toes of the angel, this work was full of small touches that made the painting a pleasurable viewing experience.

Unfortunately, I only had a few hours to tour the museum, with obligations elsewhere that took precedence over my trip to the Met. I will certainly endeavor to return one day (God willing) to look over some of the great works I had to give short shrift or miss altogether. With admission by donation, the entry fee is no obstacle to viewing some of the greatest artwork ever created. I would highly recommend a visit to this institution as it holds some real treasures, some irreplaceable works of art that enrich the soul and the human experience.

TWENTY SAINTS IN TWENTY DAYS: PART 7 – ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST

Title: St John the Evangelist
Artist: El Greco
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Size: 90 x 77 cm
Date: 1595-1604
Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid.

TWENTY SAINTS IN TWENTY DAYS: PART 7 – ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST

The Apostle St John the Evangelist was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and the brother of James the Greater. Originally they were fishermen, and fished with their father in the Lake of Genesareth. In the Gospels the two brothers are often called after their father "the sons of Zebedee", and received from Christ the honorable title of Boanerges, "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17). John is the presumed author of the fourth gospel and, by tradition, the Beloved Disciple of that book, as well as the author of the Apocalypse, although scholarship does question at least some of these connections. One of the first to be called to follow Christ, he also witnesses with Peter and James the raising of Jairus's daughter (Mark 5:37), the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1), and the Agony in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37). Only he and Peter were sent into the city to make the preparation for the Last Supper (Luke 22:8).

There is an analogous version of this painting in the Cathedral of Toledo, which is part of a series of the twelve Apostles called Apostolados. It is assumed by some scholars that this painting also belonged to a similar series. The saint’s attributes are a book or scroll, in allusion to his writings, an eagle which may hold a pen or inkhorn in its beak, or, as in this example, a chalice from which a snake emerges. This imagery commemorates the testimony that once, while at Ephesus, John was given a cup of poisoned wine to drink. Before drinking, he blessed the cup and the poison departed the cup in the form of a serpent.

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, known as El Greco (1541 – April 1614) was a painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. Today considered one of the greatest artists of the Spanish school, El Greco was born in Crete, a Greek island then under Venetian control. Little is known of his youth, though El Greco's early works demonstrate that he worked within the conservative tradition of Byzantine icon painting before exposure to Venetian High Renaissance art broadened his stylistic approach. His workshop turned out a great many replicas of his paintings, but his work was so personal that his influence was slight, his only followers of note being his son Jorge Manuel Theotokopoulos and Luis Tristan. The strangeness of his art has inspired various theories, for example that he was mad or suffered from astigmatism, but his rapturous paintings make complete sense as an expression of the religious fervor of his adopted country. Interest in his art revived at the end of the 19th century and with the development of Expressionism in the 20th century he came into his own.

Christ as Saviour

Title: Christ as Saviour
Artist: El Greco
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Size: 73 x 56.5 cm
Date: c. 1600
Location: National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

John 17:1-26 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of[ your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

This painting likely was painted as an individual work, not belonging to a series of Christ with the Apostles (known in Spanish as Apostolado). Christ is represented as the Savior of the World (Salvator Mundi). The long and narrow head of Christ, the frontal position and the hieratic quality of the representation are strongly reminiscent of Byzantine images of the Pantocrator (Christ as Ruler of all), with which El Greco was very familiar.

El Greco (1541 – April, 1614) was a painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. Today considered one of the greatest artists of the Spanish school El Greco was born in Crete, a Greek island then under Venetian control. The artist always acknowledged his heritage, signing his works with his given name, Domenikos Theotokopoulus, in Greek characters. Little is known of his youth, but El Greco's early works in the Byzantine tradition of icon painting demonstrate that he learned his skills within this conservative tradition before exposure to Venetian High Renaissance art broadened his stylistic approach.

The Nativity

Title: The Nativity
Artist: El Greco
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 128 cm diameter
Date: 1603-05
Location: Hospital de la Caridad, Illescas.

Luke 2:6-7: While Joseph and Mary were there, the time came for the child to be born. She gave birth to her first baby. It was a boy. She wrapped him in large strips of cloth.

The contrast to the birth of John the Baptist is remarkable. John's birth was announced in the capital, at the temple, in the center of the Jewish nation. But Jesus arrives in rural anonymity. John is the child of a priest and his righteous wife; Jesus belongs to Jews of average social status. God did not presume upon humanity when he stepped in to redeem it. There was no pretense in this arrival. Rather, God chose to identify in the humblest way with those made in his image.

On 18 June 1603 El Greco signed a contract to make and decorate an altarpiece for a miraculous image of the Virgin of Charity belonging to the Hospital de la Caridad in the small town of Illescas halfway between Toledo and Madrid. According to the contract the main altarpiece and the decoration of the vault were to contain four canvases: The Madonna of Charity, The Coronation of the Virgin, The Annunciation and The Nativity. This project was executed in collaboration with the artist's son, Jorge Manual Theotokopoulos. Although El Greco treated the subject of the nativity several times, this is his only version depicting the Holy Family without other human participants. In the shadows to the left, an ass contemplates the scene. In the foreground the foreshortened head of an ox, his horn echoing the curve of the circular format, looks up from below.

El Greco (1541 – April 1614) was a painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. Today considered one of the greatest artists of the Spanish school El Greco (the Greek) was actually born in Crete, a Greek island under Venetian control. The artist always acknowledged this origin, signing his works with his given name, Domenikos Theotokopoulus, in Greek characters. Interest in his art revived at the end of the 19th century and with the development of Expressionism in the 20th century he came into his own. The strangeness of his art has inspired various theories, for example that he was mad or suffered from astigmatism, but his rapturous paintings make complete sense as an expression of the religious fervor of his adopted country.

St Peter in Penitence

Title: St Peter in Penitence

Artist: El Greco

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 102 x 84 cm

Date: c. 1605

Location: Hospital Tavera, Toledo.

Mark 14:72 Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." And he broke down and wept.

Here, Christians can take solace in the knowledge there is hope of forgiveness and repentance for us all. Peter is the example, who upon realization of what he had done, “broke down and wept”. Had Judas broke down and wept, and repented, he too would have been forgiven. To reinforce this point, it should be noted that Judas never appears in the Gospel of Mark again, whereas Peter does in Mark 16:7.

In this painting Peter raises his tear-filled eyes to Heaven, his hands joined in prayer. This is one of the late versions of a subject El Greco painted in at least six different autograph variants (several of which gave rise to studio copies) over the course of his career in Spain.

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, known as El Greco (1541 – April 7, 1614) was a painter, sculptor, and architect, considered one of the greatest of the Spanish School. The Cretan-born artist always acknowledged his origin, signing his works with his given name in Greek characters. Though his dramatic and expressionistic style was not met with the universal approval of his contemporaries, his work found greater appreciation in beginning of the 20th century.

Holy Family

Title: Holy Family

Artist: El Greco

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 106 x 87 cm

Date: 1585

Location: The Hispanic Society of America, New York.

When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord they represented the Holy Family.

Veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Mgr François de Laval (30 April 1623 – 6 May 1708), the first Roman Catholic bishop of New France and one of the most influential men of his day. The feast of the Holy Family was instituted by Pope Leo XIII in 1893, and is now observed the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, that is between Christmas and New Year's Day, or when there is no Sunday within the Octave (if both Christmas Day and New Year's Day are Sundays), it is held on 30 December, a Friday in such years.

It was only after El Greco moved to Spain that he treated the theme of the Madonna and Child in both half-length and full-length format, however, he invariably included St Joseph, in keeping with the new prominence the saint was given in Counter-Reformation theology. The painting of the Hispanic Society of America is one of El Greco's finest paintings and his earliest treatment of the theme. It served as the point of departure for a larger canvas in the Hospital of St John the Baptist in Toledo (Tavera Hospital), in which the composition was enriched by the inclusion of St Anne to the left of the Virgin.

El Greco (1541, Candia - 1614, Toledo) was a Cretan-born painter, sculptor, and architect who settled in Spain, and is regarded as the first great genius of the Spanish School. He was known as El Greco (the Greek), but his real name was Domenikos Theotokopoulos. His workshop turned out a great many replicas of his paintings, but his work was so personal that his influence was slight, his only followers of note being his son Jorge Manuel Theotokopoulos and Luis Tristan. Interest in his art revived at the end of the 19th century and with the development of Expressionism in the 20th century he came into his own. The strangeness of his art has inspired various theories, for example that he was mad or suffered from astigmatism, but his rapturous paintings make complete sense as an expression of the religious fervor of his adopted country.

St. John the Baptist

Title: St. John the Baptist

Artist: El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos)

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 111 x 66 cm

Date: c. 1600

Location: The Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, CA

St. John the Baptist, son of St. Elisabeth and the priest Zacharias, figures prominently in the Gospels. John followed the example of previous Hebrew prophets, living austerely, challenging sinful rulers, calling for repentance, and promising God's justice. He announced the coming of the Messiah, and led a movement of Baptism at the Jordan River in expectation of a divine apocalypse. The messianic figure John anticipated is realized when he baptizes Jesus, initiating the beginning of His earthly ministry. King Herod later has John imprisoned for denouncing his marriage, and eventually he is executed (Matthew 14:1-12.)

This is the finest of the various representations in which St John the Baptist appears in El Greco’s oeuvre. The attenuated figure, the agitated movement of the sky and the scintillating light on the landscape is characteristic of El Greco's work around 1600. This painting is further distinguished from related pictures by the placement of the lamb on the rock - a reference to Christ's sacrifice. The building in the landscape background has been identified as the Escorial, A monastery and palace of central Spain near Madrid.

El Greco (1541 – April 7, 1614) was a painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. Today considered one of the greatest artists of the Spanish school El Greco (the Greek) was actually born in Crete, a Greek island under Venetian control. The artist always acknowledged this origin, signing his works with his given name, Domenikos Theotokopoulus, in Greek characters. El Greco's early works demonstrate that he worked within the conservative tradition of Byzantine icon painting before exposure to Venetian High Renaissance art broadened his stylistic approach. El Greco's dramatic and expressionistic style was met with puzzlement by his contemporaries but found greater appreciation in the 20th century.