Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Medieval vs. Victorian

Fr. Blake displays some prints which are meant to illustrate contrasts between the "age of faith" and the industrial age in the care of the poor.
AW Pugin produced a manifesto "Contrasts" he compared his modern and industrial age with that of the "age of faith" and found the former decidedly lacking....

I am not sure it was ever true, but Pugin's vision was one where man was conscious of his intimate connection with the sacred. At its heart was man as as worshipping God or as we might say today "as a liturgical person". For him that was a radical alternative to his society. It was also a Christian alternative to the visions of Bentham or Marx and Engels or any of the other constructors of new worlds of the 19th century. It raised man up from meanness conveying an idea of "Glory" rather mere utilitarianism - see the last of these illustrations, "The Public Conduit" both serve the same purpose of conveying water to the thirsty but the East Cheap Conduit is a celebration of so much more than merely making water available. (Read entire post.)
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2 comments:

Sarah said...

This is great! I studied Pugin's aesthetic in grad school but have not seen too many of his drawings before.

elena maria vidal said...

Thank you for commenting, Sarah. I had never heard of Pugin before.