Tea at Trianon: Art in the Service of the Church

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Art in the Service of the Church

From Regina:

In a daring voyage of self-discovery, two women leave their lives in NYC and Seattle to study painting in breath-taking Florence, Italy. Here, they discover their ability to make beautiful Catholic art modeled on the Old Masters. On the way, one of them – fascinated by the life and work of St Francis of Assisi – becomes Catholic. They decide to work together to produce a master copy of the “The Triumph of St. Augustine,” a Baroque masterpiece (Claudio Coello, 1664). As Catholic artists, their purpose for this painting is to focus on art in service of the Church.

Art produced in collaboration is not about the individual artists but about the power of art to give glory to God. Sacred art of this kind has a long and rich historical tradition and the power to transform lives. While contemporary art has moved away from this historical basis, today there is a resurgence of interest in sacred art based on realist principles. (Read more.)