Sea at Ogunquit

Edward Hopper, Sea at Ogunquit, 1914 (from https://whitney.org/collection/works/6077)

To celebrate Maine's bicentennial (Maine's secession from Massachusetts was part of the Missouri Compromise), the USPS has issued a stamp that features Edward Hopper's 1914 painting Sea at Ogunquit.  Hopper expressed his views on art in the following Statement ("Statements by Four Artists," Reality, Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 1953, via Wikipedia):

Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world. No amount of skillful invention can replace the essential element of imagination. One of the weaknesses of much abstract painting is the attempt to substitute the inventions of the human intellect for a private imaginative conception.
The inner life of a human being is a vast and varied realm and does not concern itself alone with stimulating arrangements of color, form and design.
The term life used in art is something not to be held in contempt, for it implies all of existence and the province of art is to react to it and not to shun it.
Painting will have to deal more fully and less obliquely with life and nature's phenomena before it can again become great.

The Good Shepherd

“The Good Shepherd ,” Medieval Art, accessed April 26, 2020, http://projects.leadr.msu.edu/medievalart/items/show/15.

Today's Gospel is from the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John (10:11-16):

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

The image here is a fifth-century mosaic in a mausoleum in Ravenna, Italy.  Note that the sheep are all looking at Jesus, the shepherd, who is sitting in a pasture but wearing royal robes.  The shepherd is also a king.

Doubting Thomas

Caravaggio, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, 1602 (Wikipedia)

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and the Gospel is from Chapter 20 of the Gospel of John.  The painting here shows the moment at which Jesus confronts Thomas:

Jesus said to Thomas, "Let me have thy finger; see, here are my hands. Let me have thy hand; put it into my side. Cease thy doubting, and believe." Thomas answered, "Thou art my Lord and my God."

According to Edwin Aponte:

Known for his gritty realism, Caravaggio has Jesus grasping the hand of the apostle Thomas and thrusting it deep within the wound at his side, powerfully aligning Jesus' and St. Thomas' hands to form a lance. St. Thomas' face expresses profound surprise as his finger thrusts deep into Jesus' wound. Perhaps, the surprise has to do with his unbelief. It could also be surprise at the realization that he, too, is also pierced. Indeed, St. Thomas appears to clutch his side as if he becomes aware of a wound at his side as well. And we who wince at this gritty depiction feel a wound at our side as well.

Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene

Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen as a Gardener
(Image: Web Gallery of Art)

This 1507 painting of Mary Magdalene's encounter with Jesus Christ on Easter morning also depicts (in its background) other scenes from that day: the two Marys visiting the empty tomb, Jesus meeting the three Marys, Jesus meeting the pilgrims on the road to Emmaus, and Jesus eating with the pilgrims in Emmaus.  Note also the painting's blocks of primary colors: green and blue and yellow and red.

Jean Tisserand's "O Sons and Daughters" (translated by John M. Neale) is a classic hymn about Easter morning; this video has a beautiful rendition by the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles.

The Resurrection by Piero

The Resurrection, by Piero della Francesco (image: Wikipedia)

This image of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is in San Sepolcro, Italy.  Around 1465, Piero della Francesco created this fresco, which Aldous Huxley called "the greatest picture in the world" because of its "natural, spontaneous, and unpretentious grandeur." 

According to the Web Gallery of Art:

The composition is divided into two separate perspective zones. The lower area, where the artist has placed the sleeping guards, has a very low vanishing point. Alberti, in his theoretical writings, suggests that the vanishing point should be at the same level as the figures' eyes. By placing it on a lower level, Piero foreshortens his figures, thus making them more imposing in their monumental solidity. Above the figures of the sleeping sentries, Piero has placed the watchful Christ, no longer seen from below, but perfectly frontally. The resurrected Christ, portrayed with solid peasant features, is nonetheless a perfect representative of Piero's human ideal: concrete, restrained and hieratic as well. The splendid landscape also belongs to the repertory of popular sacred images: Piero has symbolically depicted it as half still immersed in the barrenness of winter, and half already brought back to life - resurrected - by springtime.

Michelangelo's Pieta

Pieta, Michelangelo (image: Web Gallery of Art)

Michelangelo's Pieta is in St. Peter's Basilica.  It was completed around 1499.  The marble sculpture depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the body of her son, Jesus Christ, after his crucifixion. 

According to Fordham Art History:

The theme of the Pietà, “pity” or “piety” in Latin, depicts a moment immediately after the crucifixion, similar to The Lamentation or The Deposition. However, the Pietà is unique in its focus on the Virgin Mary holding her dead son. This image originated in Germany and moved down to France during the Middle Ages, a time when devotion to the Madonna was particularly intense.

... Christ’s placement on Mary’s lap emulates the tender image of baby Jesus on his mother’s lap. Triggering a pure and natural moment between mother and son, with an image of suffering and sadness, fills the viewer with sorrow and compassion -- with pity. In turn, that pity becomes piety -- reverently accepting the sacrifice Christ made, and the sorrow of his mother as she holds her son’s corpse.

Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist

Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist, by Botticelli (image: Wikipedia)

According to the Cleveland Museum of Art:

The perfectly round form, called a tondo, became popular during the 1440s. Made for domestic settings instead of churches, the circular format challenged the artist to create a harmonious, balanced composition within this more difficult shape. The attribution has been a matter of debate. Botticelli often collaborated with students, including Filippino Lippi, who would himself become a significant painter. Few specialists have doubted that Botticelli executed the central passages: the delicate modeling of the faces, the graceful poses, the figures’ profound interiority, and the diaphanous veil are the artist’s hallmarks. However, someone else in Botticelli’s studio probably painted Mary’s blue garment, also the most heavily restored part of the painting.