The Divine Artist
The Renaissance tendency to describe great artists as “divine” is usually considered a rhetorical device to express society’s admiration for the inexplicable talents of a great master.{ref1} Though no doubt true, many artists interpreted the term differently, not through Church doctrine as society did but through the interiorized beliefs of mystics and saints with whom they felt at one (See The Inner Tradition.) The visual evidence for this is overwhelming. Art all over Europe suggests that artists really did think of themselves as divine, not because they had vast egos (which no doubt they had) but because we are all made in the image of God, however well disguised. Just as a saint follows Christ’s path and is an image of Christ that ordinary believers can imitate, so artists undergoing the agony of creation identify with Christ’s suffering too. Their portrait of Christ is thus an image of their own self.
All Articles (Alphabetical by Artist, then Title)
Catching a glimpse of the divine or true good in our own being can be the start of a spiritual transformation as Lotto shows
Lotto’s St. Jerome (c.1506)
Art scholars have sometimes wondered why the execution squad in Manet's Execution of Emperor Maximillian are so unrealistically close to their target. Indeed, on close inspection, their rifles are aimed as though they would miss.
Manet’s Execution of Emperor Maximillian (1867-8)
Joseph, worth only a cameo appearance in the Bible, is a major star in visual art. Cast as a narcoleptic, he falls asleep in one image after another without any art historian, to my knowledge, pausing to ask: Why does he sleep so much?
Mantegna’s Adoration of the Shepherds (c.1450-51)
How to recognize the Madonna and Child as a symbol of the artist
Mantegna’s Madonna with Sleeping Child (c.1465-70)
In this 1490 version of Saint Sebastian in the Ca' d'Oro, Venice, Saint Sebastian has one leg in the "picture", so to speak, framed by the marble, with the other stepping forward out of it into our space.
Mantegna’s Saint Sebastian (1490)
Look for the eyes. Then the face. Never forget to look for them because you can find them anywhere in art.
Matisse’s The Window (1916)
See how Notre-Dame, France's cathedral and symbol of the nation, becomes Matisse's
Matisse’s View of Notre-Dame (1914)
An early example of how art is a guide to what we now call "self-knowledge".
Matthew Paris’ Virgin and Child with Artist Kneeling (c.1250)
Find out what the studio and Golgotha have in common
Mengs’ Christ on the Cross (1761-9), Goya’s and Francis Bacon’s too
Michelangelo's strange scene of a battle is not what it seems
Michelangelo’s Battle of Cascina (1504)
Always look for what is odd. It's often there where you'll find a breakthrough in meaning
Michelangelo’s Christ in the Last Judgment (1534-41)
See why Jonah is the most important figure in the chapel
Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling: Jonah (1512)
Michelangelo's first great masterpiece is widely misunderstood. Like art in general, it is an expression of the creative moment.
Michelangelo’s Vatican Pieta (1498-99)
Discover how you can unlock layers of meaning from a relatively simple composition
Millet’s The Angelus (1857-9) and other works
Underneath the architecture of Monet's cathedrals is a major surprise
Monet’s Rouen Cathedral (1892-4)
When an artist's monogram is more important than a king's.
Monogrammist AA’s Corpse of Maximillian I
Did you know that....? There's so much to see for the first time, even in the most familiar images
Munch’s The Scream (1895)
Many were scandalized by this painting in the 1990's yet still missed the "real" scandal!
Ofili’s The Holy Virgin Mary (1996)
Find out why so many of Perugino's faces look alike
Perugino’s Madonna and Child (n.d.) and Mary Magdalene (1500)
Picasso kills a bull with his own paintbrush while indicating his divinity.
Picasso’s Bullfight Scene (1955)
Learn about the mystery behind Picasso's name and the importance of artist's names in general
Picasso’s Parade (1917) and His Mysterious Name
How a seated harlequin is so much more than a seated harlequin
Picasso’s Seated Harlequin with Red Background (1905)
A resurrection by its very name suggests two realities: the old and the new, the illusory and the real.
Piero della Francesca’s Resurrection (c.1458)
See the miraculous head of Christ in Poussin's painting that no-one but artists has ever noted. The painting is up for sale next week with an estimate of $30 million.
Poussin’s Ordination (1640’s)
How even the young Raphael depicted the divinity of the artist's mind
Raphael’s Saint Sebastian (c.1502-3)
Sometimes the most difficult features to see in art are the most obvious
Raphael’s Sistine Madonna, Part 1 (1512)
How the setting is so rarely what you think....you must think differently
Rembrandt’s Bathsheba at Her Bath (1643)
See the sight which changes the meaning of all Rembrandt's art: Rembrandt is Christ
Rembrandt’s Crucifixion (1631)
This painting which depicts Rembrandt crucifying Christ is an excellent example of the alternative way to read art, not viewing it as an illustration but as poetry.
Rembrandt’s Raising of the Cross (c.1633)
How Rembrandt's method, and that of great artists in general, is present in his earliest extant painting
Rembrandt’s The Stoning of St. Stephen (1625)
Discover a common way how artists demonstrate their identity with their protagonist. You can use the method to interpret other paintings by other artists.
Reni’s David with the Head of Goliath (1605)
The Inner Tradition as practised by a Catholic artist....
Rouault’s Miserere: Eternally Scourged (1922)
Looking at how one great master copies another is a useful lesson in seeing the meaning in art
Rubens’ Copy of Caravaggio’s Entombment (1612-14)
All art depicts the artist's mind. Here's one way you can see it.
Rubens’ Miracles of St. Ignatius of Loyola (c.1619)
In the epistle of an apostle, the letters matter; as they also do in the self-portrait of a prophet, even if self-proclaimed.
Schiele’s Self-portrait as a Saint (1913)
How even in the 15th century an artist thought of himself as Christ...and said so.
Schongauer’s Christ Carrying the Cross (c.1475)
Look at art from every which way you can. You never know what you might see.
Signorelli’s Virgin & Child with John the Baptist and Donor (c.1491-4)
Evidence for art's self-referential allegory pre-dates the High Renaissance
Simone Martini’s St. Luke (c.1330’s) and other saints
It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of how Renaissance artists identified with God. Both pervasive and unknown, the idea needs emphasizing to demonstrate its near-ubiquity. Here is yet one more example by Titian.
Titian’s Christ Blessing (c.1560)
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