The traditional iconography of the Immaculate Conception depicts Mary dressed in white and blue. White, the color of purity, represents the candor that the Virgin enjoys, as she is unstained by original sin. The light white robe is then covered by the deep blue mantle, the color of the sky. Blue, therefore, becomes a […]
The Navicella, by Giotto di Bondone (1266/7 –1337),which illustrates the scene from St Mathew’s Gospel when St Peter walks on water towards Christ, (Mt 14:22-33) is one of St Peter’s Basilica’s most important works. This icon of faith has greeted visitors leaving the Basilica since the early 14th Century onwards. The mosaic that remains today, […]
St Joseph’s fountain, realised in 2010 by architects Giuseppe Facchini and Barbara Bellano in collaboration with artist Franco Murer, brings the number of fountains in the Vatican city to 100. The fountain was commissioned because the Vatican Gardens, so rich in artistic patrimony from every epoch, was not blessed with a monument in honour of […]
In this month of June, in which we are preparing to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, we will delve into the explanation of the Disputation of the Blessed Sacrament (1509) by Raphael that was realized in one of what is commonly recognised as Pope Julius II apartments in the Vatican: the room of the […]
The Resurrection of Christ by Piero della Francesca (1416-1492) was described as “the greatest painting in the world” by the English author, Aldous Huxley. The beautiful fresco, that describes the moment of Christ’s Resurrection from the dead, was realised in the meeting hall of the Palazzo dei Conservatori of Sansepolcro, Tuscany, Italy between 1467-68. According […]
A city like Rome, with its abundance of history and art, can, at times, produce sentiments of inadequacy and disorientation. Here we can find places that open our minds to the possibility of a recuperation of our Christian identity and roots. For a moment, let us abandon the noisy hub-bub of the streets and try […]
The Angelus was painted by JF Millet (1814-1875) in 1859. His early life was spent in rural France working on the family farm whilst being instructed in the classics by the priests from the local parish. Millet inherited his father’s artistic talent and as a boy copied prints from the Bible and so his artistic […]
Francesco Podesti (1800 –1895), the skilled painter and portrait artist, was entrusted with the task of realising a work to commemorate the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the Vatican. The work was to be frescoed onto the walls of the Borgia Tower, in a room that is adjacent to Raphael’s Fire […]
In this month of September, we celebrate the memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary and, in the city of Rome, there is a magnificent Church dedicated to her name in the Trajan Forum. In 1683, the news of the siege of Vienna arrived in Rome and this brought with it the expectation that […]
The Battle of Vienna is a huge, imposing oil canvass that stands 9m by 4.5m in the John Sobieski room of the Vatican Museums. The masterpiece recounts the ending of the Turkish siege of Vienna by the Catholic army led by the Polish King, John Sobieski, on the 11th September 1683. The polish painter, Jan […]