Tea at Trianon: Mucha and Catholicism

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

Saturday, February 8, 2020

Mucha and Catholicism

Madonna of the Lilies by Alphonse Mucha

From The Catholic Herald:

Mucha’s path to prominence was far from straightforward, and he could easily have become a musician. As a child, he was a chorister at St Peter’s Church in Brno, where he first met the composer Leos Janáček, then a choral conductor in the city. The mystical ambience of the church, with its vaulted Baroque architecture, coloured light, incense and plainchant, left a profound impression on young Alphonse. He even recreated this same fusion of music, art, aroma and architecture in his Paris studio, which he arranged like a chapel. There were screens and drapes, the constant smell of incense and even a harmonium. As he painted, he was like a priest engaged in a solemn rite. Years later Mucha would design a vibrantly colourful stained-glass window for St Vitus Cathedral in Prague, blending religious and nationalist themes.

Mucha had moved to Paris in 1887, then a melting pot of innovative thinking about art, spirituality and the destiny of humanity. Many believed mankind was on the verge of a spiritual transformation, and the arts were to play a crucial role. Among Mucha’s close circle were the painter Paul Gauguin, the composer Frederick Delius and the radical Swedish dramatist August Strindberg, all influenced by the Symbolist movement which proclaimed that art should be atmospheric rather than realistic.

Theosophy had also taken root in France through the writings of the medium Madame Blavatsky, encouraging Mucha to experiment with Spiritualism. Then, in 1891, Mucha was initiated as a Freemason, at that time a closed brotherhood characterised by archaic symbols and rituals. From these disparate sources Mucha fashioned a unique spirituality, grafting idiosyncratic beliefs onto his Catholic background. (Read more.)