Brom Robert H., Bishop of San Diego, “The Great Heresies” Catholic Answers to Explain and Defend the Faith (August 2004) http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-great-heresies…
this stance is referred to as contrapposto, and the Kritios boy is one of the earliest examples of it mastered. (One of the greatest examples of contrapposto in history was during the neoclassical period ‘David” by Michelangelo, 1504) but this could not have been achieved without Kritios. The kritios boy also shows a number of other innovations that distinguish it from any of the Archaic Kouroi or anything from the Archaic period. The muscular and skeletal structure are depicted with an unforced life-like accuracy as well as…
In Dante’s Inferno and the Apocalypse of Peter the sinners experienced the notion contrapasso which is that for every sinner's crime there was an equal and fitting punishment. There was some kind of connection between sin and punishment. As in God’s Demon, there was not a connection between sin and punishment. The demons and some human souls were all just punished with the ultimate punishment of converting them into bricks.…
How did both John Calvin and Sebastian Castellio respond to Luther’s paradoxical skepticism? By asserting the supremacy of scripture while simultaneously advocating for the reliance and utilization of one’s consciousness and reason to fully understand and believe such scripture, Martin Luther triggered the Northern European quest for religious knowledge and Truth. John Calvin provided an additional element to Luther’s paradox—an inner persuasion, given to us by God, guiding us towards the true meaning of God’s word (Popkin 10). Calvin adopted Luther’s ideas regarding scripture’s supremacy yet amended and elaborated upon Luther’s stance on conscience and reason. In my opinion, Calvin’s addition of the notion of inner persuasion was an attempt…
In his book, Francis of Assisi, William R. Cook seeks to provide a better understanding of St. Francis of Assisi as an individual rather than in conjunction with the order he founded. Cook divides the book into six sections, each section concentrating on an important aspect or experience in Francis= life and spirituality. The six sections focus on his conversion; his relationship to the created world; the creation of the Christmas crib at Greccio; the role of learning; the relationship between the active and contemplative life; and his stigmatization at LaVerna in 1224.(pg. 18) In order to provide a general understanding I believe that these six sections can be narrowed down into three major themes that Cook sets forth; full surrender to God, a balance between world and self through an understanding of God=s will, and the importance of experiencing scripture over studying it. To support these themes Cook utilizes a number of reliable resources, both written and visual.…
Alas, in the midst of our exchange, Columbus became extremely furious. His pale skin went from white to boiling red in rage. I had no clue why he was so frustrated, when just a second earlier he was the happiest person on earth. He shouted at his men, but I couldn't understand a word he said. The only thing I knew was that we had done something wrong, so all I could say was, “Sorry,” over and over again.…
He trained whith Hendrick Goltzius, who was one of its leading advocates of the current mannerism style, in its prime at the time. This style of Italian origin, and was mostly embraced in the Netherlands through indirect sources, such as prints from Italy and inspiration from other foreign works. This explains the specific aesthetically peculiar quality of the Northern Mannerism, compared with Northern Renaissance. The painting The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, where according to tradition Saint…
Another work painted by him in the same Chapel, The Tribute Money, (Fig 5) all the characters have different postures within different scenes. Viewers can very easily tell the storyline by just looking at the fresco. Naturalism is certainly the key for narrative story to Masaccio, and it helps him to transmit the emotional impact immediately with those realistic postures. Especially back then, not too many people read, thus a visual emotional connection is definitely a better option to inform majority of people what is the meaning of those scenes. On the other hand, Masolino’s Temptation of Adam and Eve is set against a dark background, which was well depicted before, but it had disappeared over the years. The two characters are parallel to each other. They almost display the same gesture and pose. Both of them are looking at opposite direction and showing a three-quarter view of the face. The body languages for the characters in both frescos reflect the understanding of nature human body studies. Accounting to Lilian H. Zirpolo, who wrote in The A to Z of Renaissance Art, Masaccio’s figures show his advanced understanding of human anatomy, while Masolino's Adam and Eve is quite simple in poses, even though he had studied anatomy.6 In this case; notwithstanding, Masolino was skilled with painting human figures, his Adam and Eve could be any nude characters, if there are no other symbols in the painting. It doesn’t truly tell…
In Under the Feet of Jesus Viramontes plays with the heartstrings of those who read the story. It explores deeply the subjective and symbolic violence of the exploitation and destruction of migrant workers. The beautiful prose fantasizes the horrid conditions and everyday struggles that plague the family. With one misstep they are crushed beneath the societal system that is meant to even out the playing field. They are set up to fail. The focus is not truly on Alejo’s tragedy, but the symbolic destruction and disposal of a “tool” for the farm owners. Easily replaceable Alejo is nothing more than a broken basket. As Estrella puts it aptly “it was their bones that kept the air conditioning in the cars humming,…
Have you ever wanted to pray before a test, but didn’t know who to pray to? Saint Thomas Aquinas is the patron saint of students and education. Throughout his life, he taught us various ways on how to believe in what we believe in. He also taught us to chase our dreams, even when it is not approved by the people around us.…
Francis of Assisi, occasionally regarded as the “hippie of the saints” and the lover of animals, lived from 1181-1226. At the beginning of his life, he lived a rather well-to-do lifestyle, with a carefree view on life. He partied, got drunk, and hung out with friends- Francis was your average medieval teenager, who had a generally happy view on life. In young adulthood, though, Francis was enlisted in a feud with a neighboring city, and was captured. There, he became ill and, once released, went home to recover. It was at this point in his life that he turned to the Church for guidance, and became a religious man. Years after he turned to God, Francis has was worshiping on a mountainside, when he had vision of a divine figure, and woke up with the markings of Christ’s stigmata on his hands, feet, and side. It is in this paper that I observe multiple views various historians have of Francis’s…
displays good use of contrapposto, albeit more dramatically as he bends and twists his body and…
Classical Greek Art is characterized by the emerging need among artists to imitate and perfect the ideal human form through idealized naturalism. The Classical period is marked by the introduction of the contrapposto position first seen in the Kritios Boy (ca 480 BC). The function of sculptures during this period was mostly to glorify gods and athletes usually depicted as male nudes. One of the most renowned sculptures of an athlete from that period is Polykleitos' Doryphoros a bronze original (ca 450 BC) that now only exists in marble copies. Polykleitos made it to serve as a standardization for future sculptures. He intended to perfect the human being using the contrapposto pose as well as measuring the body to be able to fit eight heads stacked on top of each other as the dimensions of the ideal. The flexed limbs and the relaxed limbs oppose each other diagonally, with right arm and left leg relaxed while left arm and right leg are ready for action. The head is turned in opposite direction of the slight twist of the hips and is a much more natural pose for a human than the stiff awkward poses of Ancient Egyptian Art. Classical Greek art also had innovations in bronze.…
St. Francis of Assisi was one of the most famous of saints. So popular, the current pope, Pope Francis chose this as his catholic name – the patron saint of animals.…
Saint Sebastian was born on 256 in Narbonne of Gaul. He died on 288. Saint Sebastian was venerated in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and Oriental church. His feast days are on January 20 (catholic), and on December 18 (eastern Orthodox), and his attributes are arrows. He is the patronage of soldiers, plagues, arrows, and athletes.…