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The Art of Faith 
 Exploring Sacred Images
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9 ~ The People of the Book

8/31/2012

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Fifteenth Century Illuminated Manuscript, Ecclesiastes 1
Before the invention of mechanical printing, books were handmade objects, treasured as works of art and as symbols of enduring knowledge. Indeed, in the Middle Ages, the book becomes an attribute of God.—The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the early centuries after Christ’s departure, his followers became the People of the Book. Christians read, revered, and thrived according to the Scriptures, a combination of ancient Jewish and Christian apostolic texts written through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration.

Because Christians considered the Bible sacred and the rule for godly living, devout leaders and laypeople insisted on its preservation in successive centuries. This meant copying the text by hand onto manuscripts read privately by the clergy and aloud to parishioners at church services. Most Christians could not read, so hearing the Bible’s words proved crucial for understanding and living their faith. Even if a layperson could read, it required influence and wealth to create a biblical manuscript for personal use. Commissions belonged to royalty, the wealthy, or selected clergy.

In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, from the fifth through the fifteenth centuries, manuscript illumination grew into a significant art form. It developed into an elaborate marriage of words and images. The Latin word manuscript translated to “written by hand” and illumination meant “to light up.” In scriptoriums around Europe, scribes and artists illuminated texts with beautiful, expensive, and precious materials to commemorate important texts. They created small pocket Bibles for traveling missionaries, luxurious gospels for emperors, prayer books for aristocrats, and scriptures for working priests and secluded monks. Due to the intensive hand work, elongated time, and significant talent required to create a medieval Bible, whoever held or listened to one considered it a treasure. Page by page, it honored and affirmed their faith.

Unfortunately, as formal education spread, illuminated manuscripts couldn’t serve the needs of increasingly literate Christians. The intricate handwriting and painting process all but vanished, replaced by the printing press. The Gutenberg Bible, printed in the fifteenth century, ushered in a more efficient way to produce and distribute sacred literature. Eventually the masses could hold Bibles—or the Reformation’s religious propaganda—in their own hands and read for themselves. Engravings and woodcuts decorated the pages, and books no longer safeguarded one-of-a-kind artwork.

From an artistic standpoint, Christians traded beauty and mastery for the ability to spread God’s Word faster and farther. But we can hardly blame them. They stepped ahead with progress, following Christ’s command to preach the Gospel throughout the world. Above all, they were People of the Book.


Learn more about Christian art and illuminated manuscripts in The Art of Faith by Judith Couchman. Available at amazon.com and paracletepress.com.




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8 ~ When East Met West

8/27/2012

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Byzantine Mosaic at the Abbey Church of Montecassino
Byzantine art exerted a profound and continuing influence on the art of the West . . . transmitted first by artists and then later by handbooks.—Marilyn Stokstad

In sixth-century Palestinian churches, the clergy sometimes placed a reliquary—a stone box for holy objects—beneath the altar. The reliquary looked like a small sarcophagus (stone coffin) with two to four compartments. The reliquary housed bits of martyrs’ bones, sometimes encased in smaller, precious-metal boxes. The center of the lid contained a funnel-shaped hole, with another one in the reliquary’s side. A goblet stood beneath the side hole. Worshipers poured oil into the top hole and recaptured it in the goblet. They considered the oil sanctified because it touched the sacred relics, and hoped the freshly produced “holy oil” would protect them as they ventured back into everyday life.

Although this Palestinian ritual may seem strange today, it capsulated a predominant Byzantine belief. Eastern Christians especially honored saints and martyrs, and considered their bones and artifacts sacred. They believed touching or owning a relic—the remains of something or someone sacred—transmitted healing and holiness. Ancient Christians traveled far to visit relics safeguarded in beautiful reliquaries, and churches collected these sacred remains as signs of protection and prestige.

As trade increased, more people traveled and Christianity proliferated, Eastern art and practices influenced Western Christians. Byzantine artists especially mastered painting icons, carving ivory, shaping metal, and designing mosaics. When artists passed along information about style and technique, tourists and merchants carried back works of art, or warriors carted home war booty, East and West shared their creativity. Artisans and craftspeople experimented, improved existing techniques, and introduced new stylistic approaches. Even when the Church split over theological differences, declaring distinct and bitter differences between the East and West, the artistic influences lingered and mingled.

For some projects the crossover was deliberate and planned. In the eleventh century Abbott Desiderius organized the decoration for the new abbey church of Montecassino in southern Italy. Sometime after 1066 he sent envoys to Constantinople “to hire artists who were experts in the art of laying mosaics and pavements.” The monk Leo of Ostia recorded, “The degree of perfection which was attained in these arts by the masters Desiderius had hired can be seen in their works.” Desiderius also arranged for the Byzantine master artists to teach his young Italian monks the art of mosaics. Italian artists revived the ancient art practiced by their ancestors.

Eventually, an appreciation for Eastern art spread. The abbott’s decisions blessed the world with beauty.


Read more about Byzantine artists in The Art of Faith: A Guide to Understanding Christian Images by Judith Couchman. Available at amazon.com and paracletepress.com.



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7 ~ The Sacred Role of Sculpture

8/24/2012

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An Ölberg from Germany.
I say that the art of sculpture is eight times as great as any other art based on drawing, because a statue has eight views and they must all be equally good.
           --Benvenuto Cellini


During the sixteenth century in a town near Ulm, Germany, Anna Brietinger and Anna Mentzen left a local spinning-bee and walked to the nearby church. In the churchyard they illegally uprooted a statue of Christ from the Ölberg, the portrayal of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane before his trial and crucifixion. This arrangement, often set up in churchyards, served as a focal point during the Passion Week. Christians carried the sculpture into the church and placed it in a simulated sepulcher on Good Friday and “resurrected” it on Easter Sunday.

Familiar with this ritual, the two Annas carried the Christ image to a house sponsoring another spinning-bee and placed it on a table. Three men then spoke to the statue, and when it would not answer, a man drew his sword and chopped off its hand. After this, one of the men carried the sculpture to another spinning-bee, sat it on a table, and demanded: “If you are Paul, help yourself!” He knocked the statue from the table and then threw it out the window. Afterwards, Anna Brietinger and another woman returned the Christ figure to the Ölberg.

The Ölberg incident seems almost comical today, but it highlighted serious convictions that factored into the Reformation. Speaking to an image—even daring it to act or save itself—emerged from the medieval idea that sacred art harbored supernatural qualities. Protestantism sought to destroy this belief and smashing or dismembering the object proved it did not possess magical powers to help itself or anyone else.

Even more, the incident underscored the powerful influence of sculpture, handed down from classical Greek and Roman artists. Sculptors often created three-dimensional works, offering viewers a sense of reality and interaction with the figures. In some cases, people perceived sculpture as nearly lifelike and assigned them human characteristics.


However, the Reformation didn’t tell the entire story about Christian sculpture. For many centuries believers regarded it as a beautiful expression of faith, memorializing Christ, saints, biblical characters, and sacred stories. Sculpture also extended beyond figures-in the-round into coins, homes, coffins, icons, jewelry, vessels, reliquaries, church architecture, and more. Sculpture participated in many aspects of Christian worship, and much survived for us to appreciate.

These surviving works compel us to respect the sculptors among us today. They fulfill a sacred role.

Read more about Christian art in Judith Couchman’s book, The Art of Faith, published by Paraclete Press. Available at amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.


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6 ~ The Work of Our Hands

8/20/2012

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Santa Maria del Fiore or Florence Cathedral.
Someone in the whole body of the congregation of the church may have the designation of a “hand” because of his practical gifts.                                                                                                     —Origen

Filippo Brunelleschi believed in quality control. In the early fifteenth century he created a daring plan for the dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence, Italy. Combining the ideal placement of brick and stone, he designed a dome without the support of flying buttresses that bolstered other towering churches. Consequently, he needed perfectly made bricks placed in exact formation.

As the dome rose higher and higher, Brunelleschi often personally inspected the bricks. According to the artist Giorgio Vasari, “[Brunelleschi] himself went to the kilns where the bricks were being formed, since he wanted to see the clay and knead it himself, and when the bricks were baked, he wanted to pick them out as carefully as possible with his own hands. He would examine the stones being used by the stone-cutters to see if they were hard or contained any thin cracks.” Because of this attention to detail, the cathedral’s dome still stands—and ranks as the largest in the world.

Brunelleschi’s story highlights that Christian art and architecture of the past required hand work. Artists and architects planned their work, selected materials, and created images with their hands. At times, artists also destroyed the work of their hands. Vasari explained that Michelangelo Buonarroti “had such a distinctive and perfect imagination and the works he envisioned were of such a nature that he found it impossible to express such grandiose and awesome conceptions with his hands that he often abandoned his works, or rather ruined many of them.”

Scripture reminds us that working with our hands patterns after God. The psalmist exclaimed, “For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands. O Lord, how great are Your works!” (Ps. 92:4-5, NKJV). In turn, the prophet Moses modeled asking God to bless the work of his hands. He prayed, “And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands” (Ps. 90:17, NKJV).

We can imagine this prayer lingering on the lips of Christian artists as they created art styles and forms that spoke to successive generations about the Gospel. Contemporaries of Fr Angelico, the fifteenth century Dominican friar, claimed “he would never take up his pencil until he had first made supplication.” Perhaps before the friar painted stunning angels and tender Madonnas, he implored heaven to guide and bless his hands. The ancient Celts prayed, “May there always be work for your hands to do. May your purse always hold a coin or two.” This blessing was also apt for artists!

Certainly, the history of Christian art is the story of artists and craftsmen working with their hands. Many millions of hands, hearts, and minds left behind a legacy—a testament to the faith—that still teaches and inspires us today. As we explore the eras and forms of Christian art, we can also pray, “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands.”


Learn more about Christian artists working with their hands in The Art of Faith by Judith Couchman. It's available at amazon.com.

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5 ~ Learn, Learn, Learn

8/16/2012

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Every painting is a voyage into a sacred harbour.
                                                                                                  --Giotto di Bondone

Giorgio Vasari, a Renaissance painter and historian, recalled how the painter Luca Signorelli advised his father.


“Antonio, have little Giorgio learn to draw at any rate so that he will not get even worse,” advised Signorelli. “This art, even if he applied himself to his literary studies, cannot fail to provide him with the same profit, honour, and delight it has provided to all worthy men.”

Then turning to the young Vasari, the old artist said, “Learn, little cousin, learn.”

As with all artists, young Renaissance painters studied technique through apprenticeships with older, experienced painters. They also learned by copying the great artists and reading a limited number of treatises written about art. For example, in the Middle Ages the monk Theophilus wrote On Divers Arts: The Foremost Medieval Treatise on Painting, Glassmaking, and Metalwork. During the Renaissance the painter Leon Battista Alberti wrote a manuscript, On Painting. As an adult, Vasari chronicled the lives of painters, sculptors, and architects, with insights to their working lives and methods.

With all the arts—painting, dancing, writing, weaving—successful practitioners begin with the basics. Devoting time and discipline to enduring techniques rewards later work. Skipping this step eventually degrades it.


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4 ~ When Michelangelo Doubted His Talent

8/12/2012

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Adam and Eve, The Sistine Chapel
Good painting is nothing but a copy of the perfection of God
and a recollection of his painting.—Michelangelo Buonarroti

Michelangelo Buonarroti resisted painting the Sistine Chapel. In fact, he didn’t want to paint at all. He’d acquired his genius reputation as a sculptor, chiseling instead of mixing and dabbing and brushing. But when Pope Julius II asked for a commission at the Vatican in Rome, an artist couldn’t say no. The obstinate religious leader issued a command, not a request.

To complete the complicated fresco, Michelangelo learned how to paint, which he found arduous and aggravating. He complained to his father in a letter: “My work does not seem to go ahead [as I would like it to]. This is due to the difficulty of the work and also because it is not my profession. In consequence, I lose my time fruitlessly. May God help me.”


Steeped in frustration, Michelangelo wrote several months later: “I am attending to the work as best I can. . . . I don’t have a penny. So I cannot be robbed . . . I am unhappy and not in too good health staying here, and with a great deal of work, no instructions, and no money. But I have good hopes God will help me.”

Michelangelo devoted years to lying on his back on a high platform, positioned inches from the ceiling and painstakingly recreating Old Testament stories and characters with paint that often dripped and plopped on his face and the floor. In a satirical poem to a friend, the painter described his back as bent “like a Syrian bow.” Michelangelo also claimed he’d grown a goiter from the strain and a breast like a Harpy. He painted with his “beard toward heaven” and could “feel the back of my brain on my neck.”

But indeed, God helped the sculptor-turned-painter and his team.

Though Michelangelo insisted, “I’m no painter,” he managed to create one of the world’s greatest artistic masterpieces. Some of the fresco’s figures—like the equally guilty Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eve—exceeded conventional expectations and have intrigued  neck-craning viewers ever since.

After the chapel’s completion, Michelangelo worked as a sculptor, painter, and architect for another half century. Despite the artist’s significant flaws and spiritual lapses, financial struggles and artistic rivalries, he recognized the source of his gifting and calling. Toward the end of his life, he explained, “Many believe—and I believe—that I have been designated for this work by God. In spite of my old age, I do not want to give it up. I work out of love for God and I put my hope in him.”

Not all artists who picked up a brush struggled as profoundly as Michelangelo when he decorated the Sistine Chapel. Although third- and fourth-century catacomb painters descended below the ground to paint on damp earth, later many artists sketched and painted on canvases in their own workshops, accompanied by apprentices. However, few creative scenarios were ideal. Over time artists managed picky patrons, mediocre materials, bumbling assistants, insufficient wages, self-doubt, poor health, complacency, and missed deadlines. Fortunately, an artistic passion prevailed, and plentiful paintings, sketches, and even graffiti pay homage to Christianity on surfaces throughout the world.


What’s the point? Don’t doubt your talent. Respect your limited resources. Do the work. The outcome might surprise you, and profoundly influence others.


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    Judith Couchman is an author, speaker, and college art-history instructor. Her recent book release is The Art of Faith: A Guide to Understanding Christian Images (Paraclete Press). Scroll down to view the book cover and video trailer.


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    The Art of Faith: A Guide to Understanding Christian Images by Judith Couchman. Click on the photo to purchase the book through Paraclete Press.
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    The Mystery of the Cross by Judith Couchman. Inspirational readings about images of Christ's cross and how early believers used and respected this sign. Click on the photo to purchase from InterVarsity Press.
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