In 2006, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles held a most remarkable exhibit, featuring ancient icons from Sinai’s St. Catherine’s Monastery. The first-ever exhibit from this 1,500 year old monastery included a video of the monastery, the vast surrounding desert, snippets of the monks’ daily life and local traditions such as Christians making the significant…
Vatican News (VN)–The Laocoön group is a defining piece of the Vatican Museums that was found nearly intact underground in a vineyard in 1506. Its right arm was discovered just meters from that spot, 400 years later. The discoveryis credited to the Jewish art dealer Ludwig Pollak, who was targeted by the Nazis but refused…
More than 1,000 (some accounts report 2,000) construction workers, craftsmen and artisans — in five years — restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Better than ever. The cost of rebuilding Notre Dame is reported to be about $767 million, with a reported $928 million in donations pouring in from 340,000 donors in 150 countries,…
Update on Jimmy Lai. The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C., has installed a drawing of the Crucifixion by imprisoned Hong Kong Catholic and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai. Father Robert Sirico, a supporter and friend of Lai’s, said during the installation ceremony on Thursday that the sketch is a testimony “not just of…
Can A Dream of a Statue that Recognizes the Dignity of the Human Person Through “Mother and Child” Come True in Today’s America? Some years ago my wife Pat and I were at a Legatus Summit in Florida and on display there were pictures of the beautiful sculptures by internationally known sculptor Timothy Schmalz. We…
CNA—In the late summer and fall of 2016, central Italy was devastated by several powerful earthquakes. Numerous historic churches and buildings were destroyed in the quakes — including one of the oldest monastic complexes in Italy, the Abbey of Sant’Eutizio, whose bell tower and church roof collapsed. One of the Benedictine abbey’s artworks, a crucifix…
Rome-CNA—Natalia Tsarkova, official portrait artist to the popes for more than 20 years, likes to work from real life. “I am so meticulous about details. I have to see and touch and feel everything,” she said. But for her latest painting, a portrait of Benedict XVI in his life as pope emeritus, some objects could…
CNA—Catholic artist Timothy P. Schmalz calls Padre Pio his favorite saint. And so, when he learned that four of his sculptures would honor the Italian mystic on his feast day—Sept. 23—he was overjoyed. “I thought a couple years ago about that moment in my life where Padre Pio gave me that peace and comfort and…
CNA—The Vatican Museums are preparing to reopen by reservation only with new health measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to the general secretary of Vatican City State. “For the incoming public, we are completing the installation of some thermal scanners for detecting temperature,” Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga said in an interview published…
With what art and beauty do you surround yourself during the biggest part of your weekday, at work? It could be important. Does it even matter? Does Beauty matter? Surely beauty matters to the human soul in subtle yet powerful, fundamental ways. Why else would God have been so attentive to it in creating all…
On Veterans Day, Sunday November 11, 2018, a new portrait of Servant of God Father Vincent R. Capodanno MM was unveiled at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA. The portrait was painted by the Artist-in-Residence of the North American Province of the Society of St Sulpice, Father Peter W. Gray, PSS,…
CNA—The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday in favor of two Christian artists who argue that they should not be forced to create custom artwork for same-sex weddings in opposition to their religious beliefs. “The rights of free speech and free exercise, so precious to this nation since its founding, are not limited to soft murmurings…
December 11, 2009
Researching how to best create an illumination of Our Lady of Guadalupe for an upcoming week-long workshop (Jan. 18 – 23, 2009) on the Techniques of Tempera Painting and Gilding, Chicago-based illuminator Jed Gibbons drew unexpected inspiration from the following description of Our Lady of Guadalupe found on this website: http://www.sancta.org/nican.html: Then he climbed the…
