A Month of Miracles Part 4 - Healing of the Leper

Title: Healing of the Leper
Artist: Unknown
Medium: Illuminated Manuscript
Size: 45 x 31 cm
Date: ca. 1035
Location: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.

Matthew 8:1-4 - When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

This leper was in a desperate and apparently lifelong situation. Biblical leprosy (distinct from modern Hansen's disease) was an assortment of serious skin problems that isolated the leper from the rest of society. In fact, Jewish law forbade touching lepers. By bowing down the leper not only shows physical signs of respect toward Jesus; he acknowledges that Jesus has the right to decide whether to grant the request. To acknowledge that God has the right to grant or refuse a request is the ultimate act of dependence on God's compassion, and takes deep trust and commitment. And thus it is no small matter for Jesus to touch the man.

The "Codex Aureus," the "Golden Book of Gospels Echternach" among the most important treasures of Middle Ages books. This Codex was constructed around 1040 in the Benedictine Abbey of Echternach near Trier, the principal scriptorium of the Salian. Latin transcriptions of the four Gospels are written on 136 sheets of size 445 x 310 mm vellum. This extraordinary Codex arguably stands as one of the most important manuscripts of Ottonian-Salian Arts

A Month of Miracles Part 3 - Jesus Heals at Sunset

Title: Christ Healing a Sick Child
Artist: Fritz von Uhde
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Size: 58.5 x 36.5 cm
Date: 1911
Location: tbd

Luke 4:40-41 - At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of God;” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

The healings described earlier are not one-time coincidences. Jesus possesses the power to heal consistently. It is a ministry of mercy to those in need, fighting to overcome evil with compassion. Jesus' compassion is pictured by his laying on of hands. In his touch are power and presence. People flock to him because they sense that compassionate element in his work. By the way Jesus reaches out to them, they know he cares. Again it is the demons who discern that Jesus is the Son of God. People might see in Him no more than another man, even though he demonstrates the ability to heal what ails them. But the forces of evil recognized Him. “The Christ” means “the anointed One,” the Messiah.

Fritz von Uhde (born Friedrich Hermann Carl Uhde, May 1848 – February 1911) was a German painter of genre and religious subjects whose style lay between Realism and Impressionism. His work was often rejected by the official art criticism, and by the public, because his representations of ordinary scenes were considered vulgar or ugly. In about 1890, he became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. As well, with Max Slevogt and Lovis Corinth, Uhde was one of the leading figures in the Munich Secession, and later joined the Berlin Secession as well. Progressing in his naturalistic conception, Uhde gave rise to a complete change in German art, counting among his followers most of the younger generation.

A Month of Miracles Part 2 - Healing of the Mother-in-Law of Saint Peter

Title: The Healing of the Mother-in-Law of Saint Peter
Artist: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
Medium: Pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white.
Size: 17.1 x 18.9 cm
Date: late 1650s
Location: Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, Paris.

 

Mark 1:29–31 – As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

 

When making sketches to serve as models for his students, Rembrandt often focused on a story's protagonists — in this case, Christ and the convalescent woman — deliberately excluding any additional figures. Here he also refrains from making any reference to the setting, save for a few lively strokes to suggest the bed or blanket on which the woman reclines. Rembrandt's strategic placement of hatched lines and subtle smudging of ink create bold contrasts in light and shadow, which underscore the drama of the event.

 

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (July 1606 – October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher, generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history. Throughout his artistic life Rembrandt van Rijn produced between 300 to 600 paintings, approximately 300 etchings, and about 1400 drawings. The jury is still out on the exact numbers because in many cases it is not clear which works were done by Rembrandt himself and which were painted by his apprentices.

A Month of Miracles Part 1 - Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple

Title: Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple
Artist: Benjamin West
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 90.5 x 69.8 cm
Date: c.1780–1781
Location: The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Mark 1:21-28 - They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

Jesus’ teaching is unlike that of the scribes because it is tied to His person and to His interpretation of Scripture. As soon as Christ began to preach, he began to work miracles for the confirmation of his doctrine, announcing the coming of the kingdom and the defeat of Satan. The victory Jesus Christ obtained over the unclean spirit astonished those that saw it; they were all amazed. It was evident, beyond contradiction, that the man was possessed; it was evident that he was forced out by the authority of Christ. The victory which Jesus Christ obtained over the unclean spirit was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Benjamin West, (October 1738 – March 1820) was an Anglo-American painter of historical scenes around and after the time of the American War of Independence. He was the second president of the Royal Academy in London, serving from 1792 to 1805 and 1806 to 1820. West is known for his large scale history paintings, which use expressive figures, colours and compositional schemes to help the spectator to identify with the scene represented. West called this "epic representation". In 1806 he produced The Death of Nelson, to commemorate Horatio Nelson's death at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Corpus Christi

Title: A Blessed Abbes Receiving the Host from the Hands of Christ
Artist: Giovanni Battista Gaulli
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 75 x 43 cm
Date: 1690s
Location: Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Luke 22:19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

The Feast of Corpus Christi, or the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (as it is often called today), goes back to the 13th century, but it celebrates something far older: the institution of the Sacrament of Holy Communion at the Last Supper. On September 8, 1264, Pope Urban IV issued the papal bull "Transiturus," which established the Feast of Corpus Christi as a universal feast of the Church, to be celebrated on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday.

Giovanni Battista Gaulli (May 1639 –April 1709), also known as Baciccio, Il Baciccio or Baciccia (all Genoese nicknames for Giovanni Battista), was a painter of the Italian High Baroque. As the High Baroque movement evolved into the more playful Rococo, and the popularity of this style dwindled, Baciccio too moved in this direction. Thus, in contrast to the grandeur of his composition of the illusionistic vault fresco in the church of the Gesù in Rome, we see him gradually adopting less intense colors, and more delicate compositions after 1685 - all hallmarks of the Rococo. Baciccio is best known for his grand, Gianlorenzo Bernini-influenced  vault fresco in the church of the Gesù.

Trinity Pietà

Title: Trinity Pietà
Artist: Master of Sankt Laurenz
Medium: Oil on oak panel
Size: 23 x 16 cm
Date: 1415-30
Location: Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.

Trinity Sunday, a moveable feast also known as Holy Trinity Sunday, is celebrated a week after Pentecost Sunday in honor of the most fundamental of Catholic beliefs - belief in the Holy Trinity. As expressed in the Athanasian creed (ascribed to Saint Athanasius, c. 296-373), “There is, therefore, one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits; and in this Trinity there is nothing first or later, nothing greater or less, but all three Persons are coeternal and coequal with one another, so that in every respect, as has already been said above, both unity in Trinity, and Trinity in unity must be venerated.”

The Man of Sorrows in the arms of God the Father with the Holy Ghost between them both is often termed a Trinity Pietà. The depiction is more common in French and Burgundian court painting from the end of the fourteenth century onwards. In this example, the Man of Sorrows is flanked by four angels, with two of them holding the Flagellation column, the scourge, the stick with the sponge and the lance. The panel is attributed to the Master of Sankt Laurenz (St Lawrence), the pupil of the Cologne Master of St Veronica. It is also assumed that this small panel was the left wing of a diptych having, on the right, a Mater Dolorosa.

Pentecost

Title: Pentecost
Artist: Emil Nolde
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: tbd.
Date: 1909
Location: Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.

Acts of Apostles 2:1-4 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all together in one place. And there was suddenly out of heaven a sound, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them dividing tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Pentecost, the Feast of the Firstfruits, was a most appropriate time for the Spirit to come. The Feast was closely connected with Passover, just as the Spirit's coming would be connected with the saving events of the Lord's crucifixion and exaltation. The divine origin and supernatural character of the event is clear: the sound is from heaven and is like a violent wind, the tongues that appear seemed to be flames of fire. In the Old Testament such a loud sound often accompanied a theophany (Ex 19:16, 19; 20:18). A violent, rushing wind symbolizes the Holy Spirit (Ezek 37:9-14). The sound fills the whole house. What has arrived is an all-encompassing divine presence, and tongues like flames of fire also symbolize the Spirit of God, especially his power.

Emil Nolde (August 1867 – April 1956) was a German painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists and a member an influential group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden. This painting, however, became the center of a row that split the Berlin Secession—one, of the most advanced exhibiting societies in Germany up until that time. Nolde’s primitivist treatment of this religious subject, rendered in glowing colors and bold, Expressionist brushwork, found little favor among the older members of the society. When Pentecost and the works of other younger artists were rejected, Nolde attacked the leadership and principles of the Secession in an open letter to its President, whereupon he was expelled from the association. Until 1912 he exhibited alongside other rejected artists in the Neue Sezession in Berlin.