.David Playing the Harp before Saul
c. 1508
Engraving, 254 x 184 mm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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Note: This image depicts today’s 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).
Tag: Year B
David Playing the Harp before Saul, 1530, Engraving, Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533)
Commentary by Hovak Najarian
Related post B Proper 7, Art for 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.
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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© 2012 Hovak Najarian
B Proper 6, Art for June 17, 2012
The Tree of Jesse, Twelfth Century, Illumination on Parchment, Unknown Miniaturist, English (active 1140s), Lambeth Palace Library, London
Commentary by Hovak Najarian
Related post B Proper 6, Art for 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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© 2012 Hovak Najarian
B Proper 5, Art for June 10, 2012
Related art commentary by Hovak Najarian.
Christ Taking Leave of His Mother, 1505, Woodcut, Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)
Commentary by Hovak Najarian
Related post B Proper 5, Art for 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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© 2012 Hovak Najarian
Isaiah 6:1-8
An insight into the reading from Isaiah used on Trinity Sunday by Professor (Emeritus) Ralph W Klein.
An insight into the reading from Isaiah used on Trinity Sunday by Professor (Emeritus) Ralph W Klein.
B Trinity Sunday (Pentecost 1), Art for June 3, 2012
Related art commentary by Hovak Najarian.
Retabla of the Trinity, ca. 1936, Watercolor Copy of an Altarpiece, E. (Elizabeth) Boyd, 1903-1974
Commentary by Hovak Najarian
Related post B Trinity Sunday (Pentecost 1), Art for June 3, 2012
When some forms of creative work became valued more than others the concept of art was established and a hierarchy of categories came into being. Painting and sculpture now are called “high arts” and often the crafts and decorative arts are relegated collectively to the category “minor arts.” Today, other creative works are acknowledged only rarely by the art establishment. Folk, naïve, outsider, and visionary are terms used to describe various art forms that are seldom displayed in galleries or museums except for an occasional special exhibition. These works are made typically by people who have had no formal training in art and lack technical sophistication. It is an art that often fulfills personal needs and at times is the result of emotions related to religious beliefs.
During The Great Depression of the 1930s, millions of Americans were out of work but opportunities for jobs in public works projects were made available under the Work Progress Administration (WPA). Among these workers were artists who were employed to paint murals in Post Offices, transportation stations and public buildings. Artists, writers, and photographers also were employed to document our American cultural heritage. [Dorothea Lange’s well known and stirring photographic images now give us a sense of the hardships of migrant workers during the Great Depression.]
One of the artists working for the Federal Arts Project during this era was Elizabeth Boyd. She was enamored by the Southwest after a childhood visit and following the study of art in Paris as a young adult she returned to seek work in New Mexico. The coming of the Depression led her to a government sponsored project that documented a form of folk art called, retablos which were found in churches throughout New Mexico. Retablo is the Spanish term for a shelf behind the altar on which objects are placed; hence, small paintings displayed on it are known as “retablos.” In the Episcopal Church the term for this shelf (on altars placed against a wall) is retable and sometimes candles or flowers are placed there.
When churches were established by Franciscan monks in the American Southwest, materials were in short supply. There was a shortage of art supplies as well and the images that were created tended to be small and personal. Wood was used for painting surfaces and pigments were derived locally from whatever natural sources were available. In subject matter, they represented usually Christ, the Virgin Mary, or one of the many saints. Boyd travelled to churches in remote villages and often her work was in adverse conditions as she drew the retablos and then remained as true as possible to the originals when she painted them with watercolors. With the aid of two assistants, woodblock prints were made of her work and published as New Mexico’s contribution to the Index of American Design.
The Retabla of the Trinity differs from familiar depictions of the Father, Son, and dove representing the Holy Spirit. Instead, the Trinty image rendered by Boyd is of Byzantine origin and is based on an account in Genesis (18:2) that told of three men coming to Abraham. Early portrayals included Abraham as well but later only the three men were pictured. The depiction of the Trinity in this form was carried over into European art but after an edict by the pope in the eighteenth century it was no longer used. It remained in use, however, in the American Southwest and in other parts of the Americas that were settled by Spain.
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© 2012 Hovak Najarian
Pentecost, 1484-1490, Tapestry, Lazzaro Bastiani, ca. A.D. 1430-1512
Commentary by Hovak Najarian
Related post: B Pentecost, Art for May 27,2012
The importance attributed to artists by scholars can be determined usually by how many of their works are projected onto a screen in an art history class. Lazzaro Bastiani’s work is seldom shown or discussed and often he is left out entirely from textbooks. A reason for this is that his contemporaries were the major artists of his time; the fame of Renaissance artists such as Botticelli, Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Durer continue to overshadow Bastiani to this day. Bastiani did not work for the Medici in Florence or the pope in Rome; even in Venice where he lived, the artists of the Bellini family were more widely known. Yet, like a good journeyman, he was employed steadily and produced respectable work.
Before the early Renaissance, there was no separation of the arts but in the fifteenth century, painting came to be regarded as being of a higher order. Craft workers were erroneously thought to be occupied only with repetitious handwork whereas the arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture were recognized as having intellectual content. Although the weaving process was associated with the crafts, tapestries in effect were akin to painting and were admired. Artists such as Bastiani, were commissioned to make cartoons (full scale preparatory designs) that were reproduced in woven form. The creator of a cartoon, however, did not participate in the weaving process; a tapestry was made usually by a guild or a family of weavers
In Bastiani’s Pentecost, the fine wool, silk and silver threads make up a richness of texture that differs from the surface of an oil painting. The materials are different yet, in style, the Pentecost is in keeping with fifteenth century Venetian painting. Because contacts through trade had been going on with the Near East for many centuries, the rebirth of classicism during the Renaissance was not as strong in Venice as it was in Florence and Rome. The influence of Greek sculpture in works such as The Birth of Venus by Florentine artist Sandro Botticelli gives his painting a neat, uncluttered effect. Bastiani on the other hand, seems to be determined to fill all spaces with ornate details. In the tapestry, symbols of rebirth, resurrection, immortality, and purity are found in the form of such fauna as a hare, peacock, and stag; in flowers we are reminded of the transient nature of life and eternal life is symbolized by a palm tree. Unlike the setting described in the Book of Acts (2:1-21), Bastiani does not place the apostles in a room but instead he presents the scene as if it were an outdoor stage with Mary enthroned in the center. He places the apostles in two groups but does not place a tongue of fire resting above them individually as described by Luke. Bastiani gives us simply an overall reddish glow above their heads.
The placement of Mary on a throne (an image derived from Byzantine sources) in the center of the tapestry has made her the focus of attention. She is noted in the Book of Acts (1:14) as being in the upper room prior to Pentecost and she was there apparently during the event but Luke does not single her out as being a central figure. Instead, Bastiani’s placement of Mary seems to be a result of the extraordinary growth in the veneration of Mary that started in the early thirteenth century and continued through the Renaissance.
Like information on Bastiani himself, the original setting for the Pentecost tapestry is obscure. At the present time it is on the altar of Santa Maria della Salute (Basilica of St. Mary of Health) but the church had not been built at the time the tapestry was woven.
Note:
When preparing to weave a tapestry, strong parallel threads are stretched close to each other and tied onto a loom. These are the warp threads through which the weft – the threads that cross over and under them – are passed. If warp and weft are equal in size, color, and texture the fabric will be uniform throughout. When making a tapestry, however, a wide range of colors are used for the weft as the weavers follow an image that was designed by a painter. The result is like a painting except instead of pigments being placed on a woven piece of cloth (a canvas), the pigments are in the threads themselves and are an integral part of the fabric.
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© 2012 Hovak Najarian
Hear what the Spirit is saying 