A Street in Venice

A Street in Venice, John Singer Sargent, 1882

When I think of Sargent the first thing that springs to mind are his wonderful portraits. Of course, he did much more. He's a master of atmosphere.

Lagniappe: Many Shades of Green

Her eyes were green, although Stallings couldn't decide whether they were sea green or emerald green. But since she looked expensive, he finally settled on dollar green.

Ross Thomas, Out on the Rim

Ross Thomas's books have some of the twistiest plots you've ever encountered. He keeps you hooked until the end. He often works in a kind of code that is funny while conveying information. I love his Artie Wu and Quincy Durant books, of which this is the first I ever read.

Psalm 47 — God is Exalted

Psalm 47 announces the Savior's ascension in to heaven ... and the calling of the gentiles.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

This is a happy one unlike a lot of the others we have read so far. It is a hymn of victory where the Church Fathers see Christ welcomed by the nations with a joyful reception.  There is shouting and clapping, singing and celebration.

Wikipedia tells us that "In Christian scholarship, Psalm 47 is one of seven 'enthronement psalms' which refer to the crowning of God as king at a festive occasion.' It has also been suggested that the theme of Psalm 47 is 'universal rejoicing for God's universal reign'."

From the Utrecht Psalter, singing praises to God with lyres or citharas.

I especially like what Caesarius of Arles says, about how to apply praise of God in our own lives to keep the devil away. It's not a bad reminder that, as Peter tells us "Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for [someone] to devour."

47:7 The Fairest of Humankind

Sing to Frustrate Satan. Caesarius of Arles: Let us, too, lift up our voices by singing or praying in church, so that our adversary, the devil may depart in confusion at the holy sound. If notin deed, then surely in thought or word the devil usually creeps up to those who are silent or speak of idle, useless matters. When they are singing or praying he can in no way take advantage by his cunning of those whom he sees engaged mentally or vocally in God's praises.

Sermon 80.2 

Psalms 1-50 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)

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An index of psalm posts is here.

Madame X

"John Singer Sargent: Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau) (16.53)".
In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/10/na/ho_16.53.htm (October 2006)

You can see why this is so famous.

John Singer Sargent's Theodore Roosevelt

John Singer Sargent, Theodore Roosevelt, 1903

I really love the story that goes with this. It completes the painting for me.

The famous expatriate artist arrived in America in January 1903 and soon received a letter from Roosevelt inviting him to live in the White House during the month of February to work on the portrait....

Together [Sargent and Roosevelt] toured the White House while Sargent looked for proper light and a good pose.... As Roosevelt led the way upstairs, so the story goes, he said, "The trouble with you Sargent, is that you don't know what you want." "No," replied the artist, "the trouble, Mr. President, is that you don't know what a pose means." Roosevelt turned sharply back, grasped the newel-post and snapped, "Don't I!" "Don't move an inch. You've got it now," responded Sargent.

Notes from Kloss, William, et al.
Art in the White House: A Nation's Pride.

Lagniappe: Mixed Signals

We approached the porch. A cockeyed "Welcome" sign hung from the center of the dirty, white door. The sign was hand-painted in blue and silver pain and had a star at the bottom, indicating the previous owners had been Dallas Cowboys fans. The doormat had a picture of a pistol and said, "We don't dial 911."

"I'm getting mixed signals," said Donut.

Matt Dinniman, The Gate of the Feral Gods

Matt Dinniman's books are fun, but fluff. Part of that fun is the sort of thing you just read. They make perfect vacation reading.

Lake in a Park

Lake in a Park, Władysław Podkowiński,
via J.R.'s Art Place

I'd love to be able to wander to this park and spend the afternoon with a book.

The action of God in history and time

The lesson repeated over and over again in the books of the Bible — unlike the one suggested by Greco-Roman paganism — is that man, in the events of history, is not the plaything of a blind fate but in the hands of a Power, a Principle, a personal God on whom all depends and who wishes to lead him to his true goal.

This is what gives the Bible its very special meaning and what was already known by its inspired authors, who, in all they wrote, had but one purpose: to bring home to men the action of God in the world and in the dimension of time. To reproach them with lack of the famous modern "objectivity" is pointless. For them, history is written at God's dictation as part of His designs: the moral writings seek to elevate man to the likeness of God; poetry in its various forms exalts the glory of the Most High and furnishes believers iwth the means of associating themselves with His work through prayer; and the midrashim bring home the infallibility of His actions.

What give the historical study of the Bible its whole import and puts the Bible as a history book in a class by itself is that this slice of events cut out of time and space reveals the divine action; in fact, it is the divine action, directed toward revelation. An indissoluble union of human realities — some of them a painful, even a lamentable sight — and transcendent and divine realities; that is the very substance of the Bible; that is what constitutes its greatness, but also its difficulty.

Henri Daniel-Rops, What is the Bible?

The most remarkable record a people ever left

So the Bible is in the first place a history. It is the record of a people, in fact the most remarkable record a people has ever left, for future generations, of all it did, suffered, believed, thought, and hoped. It is the record of a family, Abraham's, kept for about two thousand years, the record of a family that from the Patriarch to Jesus can be followed in its human destiny as well as in its providential mission. That is what gives unity to the Bible and all its heterogeneous parts.

Henri Daniel-Rops, What is the Bible?

I love this little known French author. He wrote a multi-volume series of the history of the Church up to his own time. He wrote many great books including St. Vincent de Paul,  Daily Life in the Time of Jesus, Jesus and  His Times, and he wrote this book about the Bible which is a favorite of mine.

Psyche

Psyche, William Sergeant Kendall

This kind of painting has such wonderful textures to everything — you can almost feel it with your fingertips.

Abbey Bible Illuminated Manuscript

Abbey Bible, 1250 to 1262
via Getty's Open Content Program

I really love illuminated manuscripts. Hey, we all love a Bible with pictures, right? They enhance the whole thing.

You can find more information about this at the Getty link. Here's a bit:

The illumination and marginal vignettes of the Abbey Bible are remarkable for their liveliness and delicacy. Sensitively depicted facial expressions, rare among Bibles of this era, and dynamic compositions, reveal the artist to be a skilled storyteller.

While filled with amusing figures and spirited pen flourishes, the Bible was nevertheless intended for serious use and study. The text contains many edits, corrections, and amendments, suggesting a university origin for the manuscript. The book appears to be made for a Dominican monastery and devout Dominicans and Franciscans appear prominently in its imagery.

Every moment is played against a supernatural backdrop — nothing can be humdrum

You and I are faced with one of those situations (which fortunately are not very numerous in one lifetime) which cannot possibly be adequately judged beforehand. It strikes me as a colossal gamble, or rather, a very great adventure. And personally I am considerably exhilarated by the risks! ... The greatness of the adventure perhaps consists partly in the fact that as a Catholic I can marry only once! But, as with being born, perhaps once is quite sufficient! In the Church, you know, there is a great heightening of every moment of experience, since every moment is played against a supernatural backdrop. Nothing can be humdrum in this scheme.

Marshall McLuhan in a letter to his fiancee,

The Medium and the Light: Reflections on Religion

I love his feeling of excitement at taking the ultimate risk of marriage! He's right!

Notes on Mark: Degrees of Relationship

Nazareth as depicted on a Byzantine mosaic

MARK 6:1-3
Here is one of the things that separates the Protestants from the Catholics. "Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judah and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?"

This commentary explains the reason Catholics read this passage and still say that Mary was always a virgin. I am not putting this commentary up to start any arguing as I think it highly unlikely that anything I write will change someone's mind on this subject. It is just an FYI sort of thing for anyone who is curious as I was about how they described it.

St. Mark mentions by name a number of brothers of Jesus, and refers in general to his sisters. But the word "brother" does not necessarily mean son of the same parents. It can also indicate other degrees of relationship -- cousins, nephews, etc. Thus in Genesis 13:8 and 14:14 and 16 Lot is called the brother of Abraham (translated as "kinsman" in RSV), whereas we know that he was Abraham's nephew, the son of Abraham's brother, Haran. The same is true of Laban, who is called the brother of Jacob (Genesis 29:15) although he was his mother's brother (Gen 29:15); there are other instances: cf. 1 Chronicles 23:21-22, etc. This confusion is due to the poverty of Hebrew and Aramaic language: in the absence of distinct terms, the same word, brother, is used to designate different degrees of relationship.

From other Gospel passages we know that James and Joses, who are mentioned here, were sons of Mary of Clophas (Jn 19:25). We know less about Judas and Simon: it seems that they are the apostles Simon the Cananaean (Mt 10:4) and Judas the son of James (Lk 6:16), the author of the Catholic Epistle, in which he describes himself as "brother" of James. In any event, it is nowhere said they were "sons of Mary" -- which would have been the natural thing if they had been our Lord's brothers in the strict sense. Jesus always appears as an only son: to the people of Nazareth, he is "the son of Mary" (Mt 13:55). When he was dying Jesus entrusted his mother to St. John (cf. Jn 19:26-27), which shows that Mary had no other children.

The Navarre Bible: St. Mark

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Sources and Notes Index