Ah! how the sight of God, poor and humble, lodged in a stable, lying on straw, weeping and trembling, pierced the loving heart of Mary! Ask the inhabitants of Bethlehem what they thought of the Child. You know what answer they gave, and how they would have paid court to Him had He lodged in a palace surrounded by the state due to princes. Then ask Mary and Joseph, the Magi and the Shepherds. They will tell you that they found in this extreme poverty and indescribable tenderness and an infinite dignity worthy of the majesty of God. Faith is strengthened, increased and enriched by those things that escape the senses; less there is to see, the more there is to believe.
Jean-Pierre de Caussade, S.J. (The Sacrament of the Present Moment: A Spiritual Manifesto Reminding Us that it is Only in God that We Live, Move, and Have Our Being, 1.2.2)
MWW Artwork of the Day (12/24/22)
El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos)(Greek/Spanish, 1540-1614)
Detail: Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1614)
Oil on canvas
Museo del Prado, Madrid
This ecstatic painting is one of El Greco's most colorful works. Light radiates from the Child and the dazzling white cloth on which He lies, illuminating the figures of Mary and the amazed shepherds. From the very outset of his career El Greco had been interested in the problem of light: his early work "Youth Blowing a Charcoal" is primarily an exploration of the way in which a flaring light is reflected by the features of the face. When he painted "The Adoration of the Shepherds," light was no longer used for its own sake but as a means to convey an idea. The words of the Pantocrator are occasionally to be found in Romanesque churches, usually inscribed in the apse, thus: Lux mundi (the Light of the World). In El Greco's picture this theme is now perfectly expressed in purely pictorial terms. The elongated figures, like tongues of fire, and all the indications of enthusiasm, faith and passion, are characteristic of a number of Mannerist painters but especially of El Greco.
An entire MWW gallery/album is devoted to this artist:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.516545091784198&type=3
al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1251
first posted in facebook december 23, 2023
guido reni -- "adoration of the shepherds" (ca. 1640)
"what had alerted me […] to guido reni was some current research being done by professor semir zeki, chair of neuroaesthetics at university college, london. ordinary, non-artistic folks have been hooked up to brain sensors and shown a bunch of paintings by a variety of historical artists. the probes were set to access blood flow in those parts of the brain that register the kind of pleasure you get when you’re looking at the love of your life. out of all the art flashed at these folks, the painters whose work got the hottest reactions were the english landscape painter john constable, the french neoclassicist j.a. dominique ingres, and, yep, the 17th century italian high-baroque painter guido reni" … lifted from "the painter's keys"
"and you light up my life
you give me hope
to carry on
you light up my days
and fill my nights with song" … joseph brooks
"and what is it, you might ask, that caused those pleasure synapses to light up in the brains of ordinary folks? we can’t put it down to lust for the human body — constable’s landscapes were often unpeopled. and ingres’ folks were often prim and proper. but i think i know. it’s good drawing and a sense of form. in italian, modelled form in light and shade is called 'chiaroscuro.' guido reni had lots of it" … lifted from "the painter's keys"
"oh darkness and light will be married tonight
in chiaroscuro
your body on mine—two colors combine
in chiaroscuro" … paula cole
"so mary and joseph, HOW DID YOU get your kid to light up the room for us like this? … al janik (speaking on behalf of the shepherds … who shortly afterward, left their sheep to form commonwealth edison)
08. Adoration of the Shepherds by Jorge Sanchez Hernandez
Jorge Sánchez Hernández [1926 – 2016] was a Mexican Catholic painter and continuator of the style of 17th century Spanish Baroque painters. Collections include: Portraits of Colonial Nuns; Scenes from Ancient Mexico; the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Collection; the Mother of Jesus Collection; the Gospel Scenes Collection; the Collection with scenes from the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe; and…
Jacopo Bassano (Italian, c.1510-1592)
The Adoration of the Shepherds, ca.1546
Royal Collection Trust, London
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). - The Bible.
another @shepherds-of-haven pair done, this time my own Lyka Layosa (they/them pronouns) and the love of their love, Tallys Ironwood ❤
art done once again by @serahlink, and I can't recommend commissioning him enough! he's wonderful to work with, and I mean, just look at how pretty that is?? I rest my case.