Tea at Trianon: Paintings and Perverts

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

Thursday, October 9, 2025

Paintings and Perverts

A good article although I would not lump Fra Filippo Lippi, Caravaggio or even Klimt in the same category as a monster like Gill. From The Catholic Herald:

The Methodist Church, to whom the Annunciation belongs, decided to remove it from a place of worship once Gill’s proclivities became known, but has agreed to show the painting alongside studies of the daughters, and Petra’s handmade wedding dress — itself an object of beauty — so that victims are not lost in the narrative surrounding Gill himself. Adjacent are other interpretations of the same scene by David Jones and Philip Hagreen.
The visitor is told that “a key part of the exhibition looks at the work and legacy of Eric Gill. In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, survivors of abuse have co-curated the display which focuses on the experiences of Gill’s daughters, Petra and Elizabeth, offering space for a thoughtful and sensitive retelling of their stories, family lives and creative careers.”
But what of Gill’s other work? Among the best examples are his Stations of the Cross in Westminster Cathedral, praised for their simplicity and for their lack of sentimentality. The narrative speaks its own tragedy without further embellishment; the reliefs recognise the practicalities of the crucifixion through the eyes of working people. Gill’s work acknowledges the relationship between spirituality and simple, honest labour.
The reliefs, with their large gold haloes and red Latin calligraphy, became subjects of controversy as details of Gill’s abuse emerged in the 1990s. There have been calls to have them removed from the cathedral. Victims of sexual abuse feel it is impossible for them to worship there, but the reliefs remain in place.
Is it possible to separate the art from the artist? In the notorious case of Fr Marco Rupnik, reported in the Herald and elsewhere, the Vatican has clearly decided that it is not; or at least the removal of his work from the Vatican Media website suggests that it is not. His extraordinary mosaics remain in place in many churches across the world, however. The shrine at Lourdes, for example, destination for many in need of spiritual healing, has become a focus: its Rupnik mosaics have been boarded up. Now the mosaic on the nearby Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary has also been replaced by ugly boarding. There is no solace there for the sick in mind or body; the jury is out on whether or not they are to be removed. (Read more.)