June 2015 – Hear what the Spirit is saying

Christ Resurrects the Daughter of Jairus | Art for B Proper 8

Mark 5:41. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!”

Commentary by Hovak Najarian

(Post from July 1, 2012)

In the early nineteenth century there were two, often opposing, stylistic directions in art; Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Neoclassicists turned to the works of the Greeks, Romans, and the Renaissance as the basis for their work and made art an intellectual pursuit. It was the official art of the academies in France but the romanticists of this time preferred to follow their hearts and often painted subjects having dramatic content. Friedrich Overbeck was born in Germany where a tendency toward romanticism was strong. As a mature painter his subjects were usually Biblical and like the romanticists, they contained emotional content but he lived in Rome and as seen in Christ Resurrects the Daughter of Jairus, he was influenced greatly by the classicism found in Renaissance painting.

As a young man, Overbeck studied art at the Vienna Academy and it was during this time that he recognized his desire to bring a spiritual quality back into art. In 1909, while still a student, he and others of likeminded values founded a group called, “The Brotherhood of Saint Luke,” and imagined being like medieval guild painters. A year later he and his friends went to Rome where they decided to live in a former monastery and remain somewhat in seclusion like monks. They were joined by several other German artists who shared Overbeck’s desire for spirituality in art. Because they affected Biblical manners in their clothes and hair styles, they soon were dubbed, “Nazarenes.” Rome became Overbeck’s adopted home and he lived there for the remainder of his life.

Overbeck had long admired the work of Albrecht Durer and when he arrived in Rome he studied the works of Raphael as well. The influence of both of these artists is evident in Christ Resurrects the Daughter of Jairus. The robes are very much in the style of Raphael and, in the tableau-like dramatic setting and composition it has elements in common with Durer’s woodcuts. Overbeck’s subject for this painting (which is primarily a drawing with added watercolors) is based on accounts in the Gospels in which a patron of the synagogue, Jairus, asks Jesus to come to heal his dying daughter. By the time Jesus was asked, however, his daughter may have been already dead. When Jesus arrived at Jairus’ home, a wailing crowed was there and they laughed when they were told the girl is not dead but asleep. Jesus sent them out and took the girl’s hand saying, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” Overbeck’s painting depicts the moment when the girl rises up in bed looking pale and gaunt. Her eyes are still closed.

In this painting, the figure of Christ gets our attention immediately; he is in a dark blue robe and placed in the center of the painting. The figure of Christ also serves as a visual barrier that keeps our focus on the left half of the painting where the miraculous event is occurring. Jesus is holding the girl’s hand and at the same time he is looking directly at her face. Behind the girl with his hands clasped is Jairus and off to the right and away from the immediate action is a passive group of figures that came with Jesus; they are waiting quietly as Christ takes the girl’s hand and asks her to get up. Farther back are figures leaving as they exit through an arched opening; it is likely these are the last of the people told by Jesus to leave. Like the neoclassicists, Overbeck has kept his composition cool and uncluttered; our eyes move to different areas of this painting with ease but we always return to the interaction between Jesus and the girl.

This exceptionally well-balanced composition does not break new ground in art, yet in Overbeck’s painting there is subdued color that gives it serenity. It gives us a story without overwhelming us with details. There is a sense that he wanted to depict this event simply and honestly without taking attention away from it with excessive visual effects.
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David Playing the Harp before Saul | Art for B Proper 7

1 Samuel 18:10 The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day.

Note: Today’s image depicts the ALTERNATE Hebrew Bible reading
(1 Samuel 17:57-18:5, 10-16).
The normal reading is David & Goliath (1 Samuel 17: [1a, 4-11, 19-23], 32-49).

LEYDEN, Lucas van
(b. 1494, Leiden, d. 1533, Leiden)
David Playing the Harp before Saul
c. 1508
Engraving, 254 x 184 mm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkClick image for more information.

Commentary by Hovak Najarian

(Post from June 24, 2012)

Dutch artist, Lucas van Leyden, was an extraordinary printmaker; only Albrecht Durer, whom he met and admired, was better known in his time. Like Durer, he was a master engraver and he too used Biblical stories as subject matter in his works. The engraving, David Playing the Harp before Saul, gives us an example of Lucas’ exceptional technical skill.

In the First Book of Samuel (16:23) we are given an account of the calming affect David’s music had on King Saul: “And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.”

In Lucas’ engraving, Saul is in a troubled state. David is standing to the left with fingers on the strings of his harp and the seated Saul is slumped in his throne and motionless. His face is passive, his eyes are turned aside unfocused, and he seems to be unable to understand or deal with his depression. There is nothing regal about him and in a different setting he could be overlooked as simply an old man. Following our initial study of David and Saul, our attention is shifted to two men standing behind the right arm of the throne. One gentleman, likely the court physician, is gesturing as they discuss Saul’s condition. Soldiers and guards with their halberd and spears are behind them in the shadows. The source of light, being from the front, leaves the background in darkness. This keeps our focus on the principal characters in the foreground and also adds to the sense of gloom overshadowing the scene.

In this composition, David, standing to the left with his harp, is the first to receive our attention. Our eyes move up to see his face and then we are led visually back down as we follow the edge of the harp and pause briefly at David’s spread fingers. From there the downward line of the harp curves to the right and leads us directly to Saul. The staff in Saul’s hand then points us back toward the center to the two men observing his despair. The back part of Saul’s throne keeps our focus contained and limits this composition to a tightly knit scene.

Art Note

David Playing the Harp before Saul is an engraving on a copper plate. In terms of where ink is placed, an engraving is the opposite of a woodcut. In a woodcut (known as a relief print), ink is rolled onto the raised portion of a plate (a carved wooden surface). In a metal engraving the ink is carried below the surface of a plate. An engraver uses a small chisel-like hardened steel tool (called a burin) to carve shallow v-shaped grooves into a plate of softer metal (often copper). After a composition is completed to an artist’s satisfaction, ink is rubbed into the grooves and the surface of the plate is wiped clean; the ink however, being below the surface, remains in the grooves. A piece of slightly damp paper is laid over the plate and it is run through a press. As it goes through the press, the paper is forced against the plate and makes contact with the ink. When the paper is pulled off the plate, the ink is lifted out of the grooves. The print on the paper will be a mirror image of the composition. An artist must prepare the plate in reverse of the image seen in the print.

All editions pulled directly from a plate are “originals” and thousands could be printed potentially. Today, however, an artist makes usually a limited edition and then destroys or “cancels” the plate. The artist numbers and signs each edition by hand.

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The Tree of Jesse | Art for B Proper 6

1 Samuel 16:1 Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite

Commentary by Hovak Najarian

(Post from June 17, 2012)

During medieval times, light carried mystical and symbolic meaning as it passed through stained glass windows or was reflected from the surface of gold leafed icons. During this time, illuminated manuscripts were written painstakingly on parchment by hand with gold-leafed and vividly colored miniature paintings accompanying the text. Gold itself seemed magical and represented divine radiance; in its reflected light, images were “illuminated” literally.

In manuscripts, early Christian illustrators depicted usually the apostles and events in the life of Christ. During the eleventh century the range expanded to include the genealogy of Christ and from that time forward to the Renaissance, the “Tree of Jesse” remained a popular subject. Its source is found in Isaiah (11:1); “And there shall come forth a shoot from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” Matthew at the outset of his gospel (1:1-16) gives us Christ’s genealogy and Luke (3:23-38) also gives us Christ’s ancestry. The subject is noted once again in the Book of Revelation (22:16); “…I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and shining star.”

In the Tree of Jesse from the Lambeth Bible, Jesse is seen lying at the bottom of the illumination. From his hip rises what may be interpreted as a trunk of a tree and its vine-like branches forms roundels. In the roundels at the bottom are four old prophets. Isaiah, on the left, holds the scroll of his prophesy and points upward. On the right, an old prophet also points upward as he looks toward the large central figure of Mary who is dressed in blue (the symbol of purity and heavenly grace). Branches move upward from Mary’s head to form a roundel containing a half figure of Christ; He is surrounded by seven doves that represent gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the upper left roundel two apostles are shown with a crowned female figure that represents the triumph of the Church. At the top right, the hand of God removes a veil (symbolizing blindness) from Synagoga, a figure representing the Jewish religion; Moses, depicted with horns on his forehead, is at her side. In the two center roundels are the four virtues noted in Psalm 85:10; “Mercy and Truth are met together; Righteousness [Justice] and Peace have kissed.” At the right, Justice holds scales as she and Peace embrace following a kiss. In the left roundel, Mercy, holding a vase, is with Truth. Mercy represents the Gentiles and Truth represents the Jews; they are holding hands to indicate the unity of the Old and New Testament.

Notes

Medieval describes life during the Middle Ages (from approximately 500A.D. to 1450 A.D.) The Middle Ages came after the fall of the Roman Empire and ended with the Renaissance of the fifteenth century.

Illuminated Manuscript is a term used loosely today to include all miniature book illustrations of the medieval period but true illuminations are only paintings on which gold leaf (or gold dust) has been applied.

Parchment is the surface used for illuminated manuscripts. It was made from calf, sheep, or goat skin. Vellum is a parchment of finer quality.

Lambeth Palace has been the official London residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury since the thirteenth century.

Moses Pictured with Horns is a result of a translator’s interpretation. When Moses returned from Mt. Sinai the second time with two tablets, his face was said to shine. When Jerome, the translator of the Bible into Latin in the fifth century interpreted the Hebrew verb karan, meaning to cast a glow, he took it to be the literal form of the noun keren which means horn. Henceforth, artists depicted Moses with horns. The most noted example is Michelangelo’s sculpture of Moses.

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Christ Taking Leave of His Mother | Art for B Proper 5

Mark 3:33 And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”

Commentary by Hovak Najarian
(Post from June 10, 2012)

During the Renaissance, the German artist Albrecht Durer was the most acclaimed printmaker of Northern Europe and his well deserved reputation can be seen in two notable series of woodcuts. Both of them include the theme of Christ saying farewell to his mother before leaving for the events awaiting him during the Passion. The first series called Life of the Virgin was started in 1501 but not completed until after he returned from an extended visit to Italy. A second series called The Small Passion was started after his return to Germany.

In his woodcuts, Durer deals with a wide range of emotional moments; sometimes there are elements of joy, as in Christ Entry into Jerusalem, yet often there are sorrowful events such as the Crucifixion. Durer used Biblical accounts usually for the subject of his woodcuts but many activities in the life of Christ, as well as in his family and disciples, were not recorded in the scriptures. When direct accounts are not available, artists, novelists, and dramatists often turn to their imagination or go to other sources as they try to depict how events might have occurred.

During the thirteenth and early fourteenth century there was much devotional material written but the exact authorship was not always known. Many works that were at one time attributed incorrectly to St. Bonaventura now are called generally, Pseudo-Bonaventura. Durer’s source for Christ Taking Leave of His Mother is from one of the most popular of these works; “Meditations on the Life of Christ.” The thought of Christ’s farewell is emotionally heart wrenching, especially in view of the fate awaiting him in the days that were to come. This subject received much attention from artists in Northern Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and numerous variations of this theme were painted.

In Christ Taking Leave of His Mother (from the Life of the Virgin), Durer lays out the composition in three divisions. Mary is on the left side seated on the edge of a covered porch; her dress is crumpled, her face shows sorrow, and her hands are clasped below her chin. Two women, also with sorrowful expressions, are standing behind her and are part of this group. Christ, near center and a few feet away to the right of them, raises his hand to bless his mother. Two strong vertical elements, the post of the porch and a dead tree suggesting gloom, serve to frame him and at the same time they tend to visually separate him from his mother and the two women. As our attention moves to the right beyond the figure of Jesus we see a third division; open space and a road that will lead Christ to the world beyond. On the road at mid-distance are the disciples waiting for Jesus to join them. In the background, looming over this sorrowful farewell – and possibly intending to suggest the presence and weight of the physical world – is a huge fortress-like cluster of buildings that is based probably on buildings in Nuremberg during Durer’s time.

This woodcut is not quite nine by twelve inches in size; about the size of a standard sheet of notebook paper. Yet Durer filled it with an incredible amount of detail. He presents the primary action in the foreground and then takes us back convincingly into an illusion of very deep space. Durer was a master of black and white values and he skillfully created “gray” tones; even though there are no actual gray tones in this print. The entire surface of the woodblock is of a “yes-no” nature. That is, the surface of the block is either all cut away (to give the white areas) or left uncut (for the dark lines). The various degrees of gray values are achieved by how near or apart the cuts are made to each other.

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