Art is the Solution

For the last day of religious art week, I want to focus on one of the most common subjects in Christian artistic tradition: The Annunciation. This term refers to a passage from the Gospel of Luke that describes the angel Gabriel coming to the Virgin Mary to tell her that she will give birth to the son of God and his name will be Jesus: And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. Luke 1:26-31 In art,...

Saint Barbara Source: Museo del Prado The art of the Northern Renaissance holds a special place in my heart. The Northern Renaissance (a term I’m using pretty loosely here) refers to an artistic movement in northern Europe that occurred at roughly the same time as the Italian Renaissance. Art of the Northern Renaissance is characterized by increased attention to the accurate portrayal of three dimensional space and greater realism in the depiction of the human form. However, art of the Northern Renaissance lacks the grandiose style of its Italian counterparts; instead, northern artists focused on more down-to-Earth scenes of everyday life and religious subjects. Robert Campin is one such artist. Although he is primarily a painter of religious scenes, Campin’s art is very much grounded in everyday life. His painting of Saint Barbara—one third of a lost triptych—is a good example of his style. Here we see the saint—not yet crowned by a golden halo—reading a book in front of a fire, j...