or When is an Angel not an Angel? How to Draw Angels, part I How to Draw Angels, part II How to Draw Angels, part III Angels are not human beings and humans do not become angels. Even so, there are times when angels are depicted as humans in religiousContinue Reading
How to Draw Angels, part I How to Draw Angels, part II In part II I described how angels should generally be depicted in religious art. Angels are not humans and humans do not become angels. Artists, therefore, should be careful not to depict angels as too human-like or theyContinue Reading
How to Draw Angels, Part I Angels in Contemporary Art More often than not angels in contemporary art are depicted in one of two ways, either as pudgy children with small wings or as graceful winged female figures, with shining golden hair, sweet faces, and impossibly long flowing garments. These images mayContinue Reading
The depiction of angels offers a wonderful example of the difference between Secular Art and Religious Art. I am going to concern myself here primarily with Religious Art (shocking, I know) but first let me offer a definition of the term, at least how I use it. By Religious ArtContinue Reading
I recently came across an online discussion that compared opera in America, which is largely privately funded (i.e. funded by its audience) and opera in Germany which is largely publicly (government) funded. The point was that opera in Germany seemed more free to criticize society and government while opera inContinue Reading
Either teach not, or teach by your way of life, Lest with one hand you draw them, and with the other repel them. You will entreat less by speech, doing what is needed;The painter teacheth better by his pictures. –Saint Gregory Nazianzus, doctor of the ChurchContinue Reading
“Art demands an artist. Random chance has never explained a waltz or a symphony, a physical equation or an epic poem. It cannot.” -Fr. Thomas Dubay “The Evidential power of Beauty”Continue Reading
In 1952 Pope Pius XII addressed a group of Italian artists he received in audience. The entire address is only 15 very short paragraphs but of great value for artists struggling in the darkness of the secular world looking for a light to guide them. The Function of Art 1.Continue Reading
“Moreover, that the images of Christ, of the Virgin Mother of God, and of the other saints, are to be had and retained particularly in temples, and that due honour and veneration are to be given them; not that any divinity, or virtue, is believed to be in them, onContinue Reading
In the parable of the talents (Mt 25:14-30) three men receive large sums of money from their master who then departs on a long journey. When he returns he calls each of the men to give an account of their stewardship over his gifts to them. While two of theContinue Reading