Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin

 

Rogler van der Weyden, Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin, 1435-1440.
(Image: Web Gallery of Art)

Saint Luke is the patron saint of healers and artists, and, in this 15th century masterpiece, he is drawing the Blessed Virgin Mary as she feeds the infant Jesus.  Luke is working with concentration, attention, devotion, and tenderness.  According to Sebastian Smee, in this painting, van der Weyden "cunningly integrated Christian symbolism into images that were spatially unified and consistent with reality." Mary's position on the step of the throne is a symbol of her humility, and the enclosed garden represents her purity. 

Pursuing the goal of perfection

 In his article about stories about the lives of the saints, Robert Louis Wilken included this observation about the variety of ways that God may call one to follow:

The lives, then, do not present a single ideal of virtue, nor do they offer one paradigm of holiness. They recognize and recommend different ways of pursuing the goal of perfection, focusing less on traditional virtues than on the unique qualities of a particular person. By displaying how a single person can respond to new and varied situations, they implicitly suggest that there is no single standard, no one catalogue of virtues, no one way to serve God.

A story in the Lausiac History makes the point. It tells of the two sons of a Spanish merchant. When their father died, they divided the estate, consisting of five thousand coins, clothes, and slaves, and deliberated as to how they should deal with this wealth. Neither wanted to be a merchant. Each wanted to live a holy life, but they disagreed as to what form that should take. So they went their separate ways. Paesius gave everything he had to churches, monasteries, and prisons, learned a trade to provide for his own needs, and devoted himself to a solitary life of prayer. Isaias kept the wealth, built a monastery, took in some brothers, and welcomed the poor, setting three or four tables on Saturday and Sunday. When they died, a dispute arose as to who bad chosen the better way. Some claimed Paesius excelled because be had hearkened to the command in the gospel to “sell all you have” and follow Jesus (Luke 18:22); others said that Isaias was the greater because he had served others. But Pambo, a wise old monk, declared that “both are equal,” and he told of a dream in which he “saw both of them standing in paradise in the presence of God.”

Giovanni Bellini's St. Francis

 

Giovanni Bellini, St. Francis, c. 1430 (image from Web Gallery of Art)

According to Sebastian Smee, this painting of St. Francis of Assisi "is regarded by many as the most beautiful painting in America" (it is in the Frick Collection in New York).  The painting shows the saint in a Tuscan setting that resembles the mountain where he fasted for 40 days, but plants and animals (including a donkey, a heron, a rabbit, and sheep) are present throughout the work.  Smee observed that this masterpiece has "a minty freshness, as of vegetable patches at dawn or tulips breaking through frost, and on a spiritual level, a sense of dazzling profusion and potential, like the heart of a person at morning prayer."

Among the Sierra Nevada

Albert Bierstadt, Among the Sierra Nevada, California, 1868

Albert Bierstadt created numerous paintings of the American West, including this masterpiece, which is six feet high and ten feet wide. It is now part of an exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Bierstadt took his paintings on tours in which he would dramatically unveil them to audiences.

Field with poppies

 

Vincent van Gogh, Field with poppies, 1888

In 1888, Vincent van Gogh moved to Arles, France, where he was extremely prolific.  This painting is from that period.  According to his Wikipedia article, "The portrayals of Arles are informed by Van Gogh's Dutch upbringing; the patchworks of fields and avenues appear flat and lacking perspective, but excel in their use of colour." 

In 2013, we were fortunate to visit the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, where we saw many works by this talented artist.  We brought home a postcard of this work (one of many with bright red poppies); the postcard has the following information: Vincent van Gogh 1853-1890 Field with poppies / Arles, May 1888, oil on canvas, 24 x 35 cm / Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation).