Liturgical Art

 Two years ago, I wrote a  feature on the American artist Carl Schmitt (1889-1989).  What has prompted me to look at his work again is the publication of a beautiful book of his work called Carl Schmitt, The Vision of Beauty. Schmitt was a classically trained American artist who was a friend of Hilaire Belloc, who [...]

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The rich artistic fruit of the spirituality of charity and poverty. Following the excellent feature introduced by Shawn Tribe – the Sacred Liturgy and the Apostolate - on how liturgy is the ‘indespensable’ source of momentum for increased charity and social and cultural regeneration; and my own piece Should We Sell All the Art in the Vatican [...]

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One of the tasks that those who are interested in cultural renewal have to face today is one of reawakening to the symbolism of the cosmos. This faculty can be stimulated, I believe, by incorporating a language of symbolism into art. I have written before of how when painting today, the artist has to decide [...]

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For me a living tradition in art (and the argument would apply equally to music), is not simply one that preserves and hands on the great work past, it is one also that reapplies its core principles to create new art or music. But one might ask, why bother? With the standard of reproductions in [...]

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Pope Gregory IV and the Mystery of the Square Halo

by David Clayton on April 6, 2012

I was contacted recently by a reader, a priest who had concelebrated a Station Mass at San Marco di Campidoglio in Rome. He had notice a square halo on one of the figures in the 9th century mosaic in the apse and wanted to know the reason for this. The figure, he told me, was [...]

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Raphael’s Crucifixion – a Portrayal of the Mass

by David Clayton on March 30, 2012

This article about the ‘Mond’ crucifixion, which is in the National Gallery in London, is another by Dr Caroline Farey of the Maryvale Institute. She and I worked together to design the Institute’s degree level diploma (6US credits): Art, Inspiration and Beauty in a Catholic Perspective. A distance learning course requiring one residential weekend. This [...]

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Giusto’s Institution of the Eucharist

by David Clayton on March 2, 2012

This article is by Dr Caroline Farey of the Maryvale Institute. She and I worked together to design the Institute’s degree level diploma (6 US credits): Art, Beauty and Inspiration in a Catholic Perspective. A distance learning course requiring one residential weekend, this can be taken either by application tothe Institute in Birmingham, England; or [...]

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This short posting, which focusses on the symbolic content in a painting is written by Dr Caroline Farey of the Maryvale Institute. She and I work as a double team, teaching in July at the residential weekend of the one-year distance-learning course about Catholic art and culture called Art, Beauty and Inspiration in a Catholic [...]

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