Category: Art - ROBERT E DUNN

passion of the christ 2?

11/24/2022

Following is a detailed article about Mel Gibson and the possibility of Part 2. If made, it is unlikely I will see it, because Jesus' face will be on screen. I would rather see the face turned or in shadow. "Jesus Wept" by James Tissot (French), which shows Christ covering His face with His hands, is what I prefer. www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4536 Let me know if you see the film.
https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/passion-of-the-christ-2.html

french art

11/16/2022

I previously posted a music video whose thumbnail was the painting below. This time I wanted to comment on the art.

The painting is better than a photograph because it idealizes the subjects. At the same time, the painting is realistic in every detail. Imagine what the artist had to do. He couldn’t ask them to pose for hours while he worked. He had to work from his imagination and very likely from what other painters had done before, which required careful study.

The picture shown is named “Louis XIV receiving Prince de Condé at château de Versailles”. The artist was Jean-Léon Gérome, and the painting was finished in 1878, long, long after Louis XIV.

Gérome belonged to the category of the official painters of the French Third Republic like Rochegrosse, who were called ‘Peintres Pompiers’ for specializing in historical representations.

In 1846 he entered the prestigious Prix de Rome, Prize of Rome, but failed in the final stage because his figure drawing was inadequate, yet he went on to become one of the world’s most famous living artists.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:R%C3%A9ception_du_Grand_Cond%C3%A9_%C3%A0_Versailles_(Jean-L%C3%A9on_G%C3%A9r%C3%B4me,_1878).png

red

11/6/2022

Red stained glass is my favorite. Here is instruction on using red, orange, yellow, and black paint.

Joni Young Art. Gesso is like white acrylic paint, only thinner. It dries hard, making the surface stiffer. “Sunset” in Latin is solis occasum.

I chose and tinted the passage below from today's Mass because Esther seldom appears in the Missal.

This is the offering the priest prays loudly for himself. It changes from day to day.

young boy reads

11/5/2022

Antonius et Filius, his son, read the Douay-Rheims. Classical pronunciation. Raca (rɑːkə), origin Aramaic, is an adjective meaning “worthless” or “empty”. Filius says “revile” beautifully. He was five at the time of the reading. Tittle is the dot in the i and j.

Is the Douay-Rheims Bible a Catholic imitation of the KJV Bible?
Answered by Jim Doherty on Quora

“No, for the simple reason that it came before the King James Version.

“However, the revision of the Douay-Rheims Bible that was prepared by Bishop Challoner was certainly influenced by the KJV, which is not altogether surprising when one recalls that Challoner was raised Presbyterian and later converted.

“Naturally, the translation he was familiar with would influence his revision.”

The New Testament translation from the Vulgate was completed in 1582, and the Old Testament was completed in 1609/1610. Challoner’s version appeared over the years 1749-1752.

artists & musicians

10/29/2022

Here is a link to Catholic artists and musicians currently working. I know one of them. The directory includes bookbinders and illustrators, and one does illustrations to enhance works of literature. https://catholicartistsdirectory.com

dollfuss

10/26/2022

Pictures sent to me by Dr. Josef Ketzer, Vienna, my friend and tutor. The pictures are of Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß, 1892-1934. Joe lamented, “A very fine painting of ‘Hero Chancellor’ or ‘Martyr Chancellor’, as he was sometimes called, hung until a few years ago in the parliamentary office of the Austrian People’s Party and now hangs in the provincial museum of Lower Austria in her capital of St. Pölten, named after a rather unknown Saint Hippolyt.”

Wikipedia on the Austrian People’s Party: “The ÖVP … has also been described as a catch-all party of the center-right … For most of its existence, the ÖVP has explicitly defined itself as Catholic and anti-anarchist, anti-communist, anti-socialist and anti-liberal, with the ideals of subsidiarity as defined by the encyclical Quadragesimo anno and decentralization.”

Dollfuss, trained in law at the University of Vienna and in economics at the University of Berlin, opposed Nazism, communism, and socialism. His widow, Alwine (d. 1973), and two surviving children, Eva (d. 1993) and Rudolph (d. 2011), fled to Switzerland after his murder. For more about the Austrian Heimwehr, see
https://www.jstor.org/stable/259652

chalice

10/11/2022

recently gifted to St. Stephen's

vaganova concert

10/9/2022

September 30, 2022. Miss Koshkaryova, 17, made one counting error, but she performed a difficult Tchaikovsky ballet very well.

hamilton

10/7/2022

always liked the purity in his countenance and his natural conservatism
John Trumbull portrait in WH Collection

bvm

10/3/2022

What do I want Mary to look like when I meet her? Well, this image is pretty good.

Mariano Salvador Maella (1739-1819), “The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (photo: Public Domain, courtesy of the National Catholic Register)

Notice all the happy, goofy boys lifting, pushing, falling, tumbling, and climbing. They are unorganized. The girls above are all singing in unison. They are organized.

I’m the one trying to escape the confusion with my hand on the thigh of the bigger angel and my other arm against the chubby angel. I think Mary has her right foot on fatso and her left foot on my head. The bigger, black-haired angel is there just to see her. I’m there because I want to be in. He seems to be playing with my hair, which is a good sign because it means that an older, stronger boy will protect me and make sure I am in, not out.

My sisters will be furious at me for picking this painting because it appears as if Mary loves all her boys. Nah. They are just helping her get up really, really high, and what’s wrong with some pictorial recognition for effort.

false church

9/24/2022

Below is a picture that means much to me, and the artist does not know it. Signed by Jamie Chreszczyk and titled Still Life, it was in the discard bin at Academy of Art University for another artist to pick up and paint over. Failure? No. There is no external light source on the small painting; Jamie achieved that in the painting.

I placed the crucifix, which is damaged, on top. The two lie on a dresser, and a lamp produces the shadow. Together, painting and crucifix represent failure. I have failed many times.

The painting is real. The new pagan culture surrounding us is real, too. We have entered dark times. I will remain loyal to an America free of socialism, barbarism, and radicalism, and I will stay with the True Church, not the counterfeit one led by Francis.

I have no superior, hooray, so I can say what I want and answer to no one, except Our Lord, and there has never been any other role model. I am extremely fortunate to have had parents who modeled His love. Without them, how could I have come to know Him?

Ancient Greece and Elizabethan England Weigh In

Following is a funeral oration by Pericles (495BC to 429), who grew up among artists and philosophers. He speaks over the brave dead, and his speech is a recommendation to us to defend what we believe in with our lives. Once more, I am amazed how Catholic the ancient Greeks were.

After listening to his oration, look at the list of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. The Church possesses all truth. I shall never apologize for that and never give comfort to those who speak falsely. Pericles’ advice applies.

about Anne Line, martyr

Shakespeare wrote the poem about Anne Line and her husband, Roger Line. Wikipedia states: “Line was hanged on 27 February 1601. She was executed immediately before two priests, Roger Filcock and Mark Barkworth, who received the more severe sentence of hanging, drawing, and quartering. At the scaffold she repeated what she had said at her trial, declaring loudly to the bystanders: ‘I am sentenced to die for harbouring a Catholic priest, and so far I am from repenting for having so done, that I wish, with all my soul, that where I have entertained one, I could have entertained a thousand.’” If she is not someone to emulate, who is?

find the english

9/12/2022

For those following my blog, find the English in the Latin.

The way the Holy Ghost found me was through the love of my parents. That love proceeded forth from them to me…and was returned. The love was more than internal, not merely residing in each one of us separately. It was something external, invisible, but so present.

Painting by Jean II Restout, 1692 – 1768, born Rouen. His son, Jean-Bernard Restout, 1732-1797, also a painter, nearly lost his life during the Reign of Terror.

Fractions in Disguise

9/2/2022

From p 17 –

Quickly, I spotted my first fraud. “That 3/21,” I said. “It’s really a 1/7, isn’t it?” I pointed my Reducer at the fraction and dialed a 3. Both the numerator and the denominator were divided, and now I had a 1/7 before me, as I suspected.

Published by Charlesbridge, the book is written by Edward Einhorn, copyright 2014, and illustrated by David Clark, copyright 2014.

Fractions are taught early, generally beginning in 3rd grade, but this book is great for all students for its imaginative story and color drawings. I borrowed it and two similar books from Alexander (8).

christ and you

8/31/2022

When all is said and done, what qualities does Christ incarnate that men must incorporate?

Purpose – get to heaven and be with Him
Perseverance – find every means to get to Him
Loyalty – adhere to truth, the Catholic faith He gave
Pleasing – strive to please Him alone
Confidence – know that your confidence is His in you
Battle – fight for what He told you is right
Talents – use what He gave you
Lead – lead other men to Him

Cabanel taught 47 male artists. According to Stephen Gjertson Galleries, his mother, Blanche of Castile, raised the young artist to be a thoughtful and enthusiastic Catholic.

rococo art

8/29/2022

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806), late Rococo artist, died in Paris … almost completely forgotten. "The Rococo style spread with French artists and engraved publications. It was readily received in the Catholic parts of Germany, Bohemia, and Austria, where it merged with the lively German Baroque traditions." 2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Geometric triangles end, always.

stereophonic battle

8/29/2022

Segovia Cathedral cherishes its two organs and between them nearly 5,000 pipes. He plays both from the same console. Joining the first, built in 1702, was another almost identical opposite in 1772.

sewing

8/26/2022

Nana and Mom would be impressed by this young man. Once, Nana broke a sewing machine needle in her forefinger. It finally came out but in another part of her hand. As a patrol officer, I had to take two girls to the ER when sewing machine needles went through their forefingers and had to be removed by a doctor. This young man is not in San Francisco, but if he were, he would shop Britex Fabrics. The girls, Nana, and Mom did. Without Mom, I had to learn how to sew the hems of my pants. She gave me a small sewing kit years ago, and I didn’t think it would be useful. She must have known. Laborious his job is … and self-taught. This is resourcefulness.

Sitwell, poet

8/24/2022

1918 portrait of Sitwell by Roger Fry
British curator, art historian, painter, university teacher, drawer, art critic
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Edith_Sitwell.jpg

Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell (1877-1964) was unusual in appearance, standing six feet tall. She dressed in an eccentric manner with gowns of brocade or velvet, gold turbans, and many rings. That and her verse provoked critics. One was F. R. Leavis. She described Leavis as a “a tiresome, whining, pettyfogging little pipsqueak”.

In August 1955 she became a Catholic and asked Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) to be her godfather.

Quote - “The great sins and fires break out of me like the terrible leaves from the bough in the violent spring. I am a walking fire. I am all leaves.”

www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/dame_edith_louisa_sitwell_2012_7.pdf

https://mantex.co.uk/edith-sitwell-biography/

Author of Brideshead Revisited, Waugh converted to Catholicism in 1930 after his first marriage failed. He strongly opposed all attempts to reform the Church, and the changes by the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) greatly disturbed him, especially the introduction of the vernacular Mass.

villain

8/21/2022

Carbon dioxide is a colorless and non-flammable gas at normal temperature and pressure. Although much less abundant than nitrogen and oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere, carbon dioxide is an important constituent of our planet’s air. A molecule of carbon dioxide (CO2) is made up of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. What gas is frozen and compressed to make dry ice? Carbon dioxide. And you thought it was only good for climate change!

artwork courtesy of Ekoh on spotify.com 2021

Through a process called photosynthesis, leaves pull in carbon dioxide and water and use the energy of the sun to convert this into chemical compounds such as sugars that feed the tree. As a by-product of that chemical reaction, oxygen is produced and released by the tree. In my neighborhood, a fire restriction does not allow us to plant trees, so plant one for me, please.

chopin animated

8/11/2022

nonperformer

8/10/2022

Le grand docteur sophiste, 1886 illustration, Gargantua, Albert Robida, expressing mockery of a casuist education

I said I would no longer comment on F. Now I’m going to because developments are accumulating.

The man has no leadership abilities. He runs the Church as if it were a big experiment. This a leader cannot do. Either he is allowing radical intellectuals to reign over him, or he is with them. His words are Jesuit casuistry, too clever for anyone to know which it is.

His first task is to preserve the deposit of faith. His second task is to keep order. These tasks he has utterly failed to accomplish. Signs have popped up everywhere: Germany, Canada, USA, France, Italy, China. I have written about each country or placed on my website the analysis done by other faithful Catholics. I have quoted popes before him, and what they have said against modernism.

The destruction of the Latin Mass and Latin Mass lay and religious communities symbolizes all that he is doing, but he and his advisors underestimate the numbers of Catholics who are now properly schooled in history.

rose petals

8/9/2022

Here is another painting by Lawrence Alma-Tadema I just had to post, it is so incredible, as are the story behind it and his biography. Because Alma-Tadema was painting this picture during the winter, he arranged to have roses sent weekly from the French Riviera for four months to ensure the accuracy of each petal.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Alma-Tadema#Personality

The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888) Roman emperor from AD218 to 222
The painting is in the collection of Juan Antonio Pérez Simón of Mexico.
Helio must have said, "It's a warm day. Let's have a picnic."

praetorian guard

8/9/2022

Raymond Arroyo says that the IRS, to grow by 87,000 agents under the current creepy crawler, with a stockpile of 5 million rounds and 5,000 weapons, is the new Praetorian Guard. The Praetorian Guard was a unit of the Roman army serving as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors.

Proclaiming Claudius Emperor by Lawrence Alma-Tedama 1836-1912 (1867)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Proclaiming_claudius_emperor.png

3 artists

7/24/2022

The first artist was featured in my post titled, Greek.

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599 – August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, an individualistic artist of the Baroque period (1600-1750), and the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal and of the Spanish Golden Age.

His 1650 painting of Innocent X showed ruthlessness in his expression, according to some in the Vatican, and they feared Innocent would not like it. He was so pleased with the work that it hung in his official visitor’s waiting room.

I looked for contemporary artists who admired Velázquez and found Francis Bacon, the second artist.

“Francis Bacon (October 28, 1909 – April 28, 1992) was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his raw, unsettling imagery. Focusing on the human form, his subjects included crucifixions, portraits of popes, self-portraits, and portraits of close friends, with abstracted figures sometimes isolated in geometrical structures. Rejecting various classifications of his work, Bacon said he strove to render ‘the brutality of fact.’ He built up a reputation as one of the giants of contemporary art with his unique style.” Wikipedia

Then, I located this YouTube video on Bacon.

Is writing a dual performance?

The next video displays a genius at work and symmetry in art. A thing is the same on one side as on the other side, a mirror image of itself, on both sides of a center line.

greek

7/20/2022

My first venture into ancient Greek, a little somber to a Western ear, “Agni Parthene” is an Eastern Orthodox hymn. While much of the grammar and vocabulary of English is inherited from German, over 60 percent of English words have Greek or Latin roots. In the sciences and technology, the figure rises to over 90 percent. Latin and Greek were favored in Catholic schools up until the 1960s when radicals decided that everything old was outmoded, including the linguistic pride of our civilization.

Majestic

Captions are in the Latin alphabet. The breathtaking painting of Father and Son in purple is by Diego Velázquez, 1641-1644, oil on canvas, 69 in by 49 in, held by Museo del Prado, Madrid. The icon of Our Lord holding onto His mother's hand is the choice subject of many artists.

The hymn is perfect for a tenor. I sing along in two registers, the higher one a bit of a strain. Registers include modal (soprano, mezzosoprano, alto, contralto, countertenor, tenor, baritone, and bass), vocal fry (male, very low), falsetto (male, very high), and the whistle (female, extremely high).

I have revised my ideal Catholic K-12 school. Study English, French, German, Latin, and Greek. Add them to history, reading, writing, mathematics, science, art, music, and the Catholic catechism. Tall order. Please.