Pages

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Art History for Dummies

 Hopefully we've seen the end of Candy's Catholic rant for a while.  I personally think she decided to rerun all of her Catholic stuff because the attention going over to Jennie's blog and DOW started to bother her, especially since her Google rank has dropped from a 4/10 to a 3/10 and doesn't seem to be springing back easily.

Anyway,Candy went to a lot of trouble today to put images on her blog comparing Mary to the Egyptian Goddess Isis.   Apparently her readers aren't versed in art appreciation and had a hard time telling the two apart!  So here are some tips in discerning Mary from Isis.

First of all Isis started out in Egypt and then her lore moved to Greece and elsewhere in the ancient world.   So any statue that looks distinctly Egyptian is most likely Isis.  Also, Marian art would be more recent and you really wouldn't expect to see much before the 2nd century AD.

Also, Isis is frequently depicted with wings.  Mary be may be depicted with 12 stars. I would hope bible readers would be able to figure our the significance of the #12.   Big differences.

One of the most idiotic things Candy posted was a picture of Michelangelo's Pieta.  I have no idea if the majority of Candy's readers are illiterate enough not to know this piece, but it is very famous and a renowned piece of art, and it was Michelangelo's first piece that brought him attention as an artist. You can see the wounds of Christ clearly in the figures hands and feet.

For more information please see the links below.

Early Christian Art

Ancient Egyptian Art. 


 



AddThis Social Bookmark Button

7 comments:

Clare@ BattlementsOfRubies said...

I find it very interesting to note the kind of comments Candy doesn't allow through, and those she does.

I left this comment:

"" What did and does God think of transubstantiation? Let us take a look:

"The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger." -Jeremiah 7:18 "


I don't understand.
How does that scripture verse tell us what God thinks about transubstantiation?
Surely it is talking about making offerings to 'other Gods'? It doesn't say anything about transubstantiation at all.
Is it possible that you may be reading too much of your own perspective into this scripture and interpreting it according to your own bias?


And this one:

"The Pieta is beautiful don't you think?

I find it very moving and a wonderful devotional aid to contemplate images such as these.
I have a lovely picture of the Blessed Virgin with the child Jesus on my blog. It lifts my heart and reminds me to pray.
Thanks be to God for beautiful art!
"

Neither were published.
Perhaps she thought the second one was just being provocative. And I suppose it was, a bit ( Although I DO wonder whether Candy and those who think like her are completely unmoved by beautiful religious art.)

But the first one was a completely sincere question.

It really makes me wonder, what IS her game here? It has to be more than illuminating her readers as to the error of Rome.
I don't understand the Google ranking thing. But perhaps she's just a shameless attention seeker?

Unknown said...

I believe you have missed the point of the comparison article.

Elena LaVictoire said...

No I got it. I guess you missed my point- it was absurd.

Dr _MikeyMike said...

... Uhm.

Even if its true... so what? Look at the Renaissance, for example. The art style, form, and topic itself were heavily influenced by the Classical Greeks and Romans. Even Neo-Classical paintings of Kings and etc. had them in pastoral or mythical settings. ... So what?

What is she going to do when she finds out that the Mesopotamians and the Greeks have their own versions of the flood stories? I guess one culture cannot influence another culture without it being Satan's work.

Kelly said...

Isn't her point that motherhood is universal?

Odin sacrificed himself to himself by hanging from tree. I guess that makes the crucifixion pagan, too.

Daughter of Wisdom said...

Elena and Kelly,

I managed to peek at the 'art' on Candy's site. Poor scholarship. As a matter of fact, her comparison could be construed as being racist and blasphemous. Seems like she is blaming all the sins of the world on black people, and how dare she compare Mary and Jesus to some pagan gods!

Peace.

Saved Sinner said...

I know nothing about art but I managed to get them all correct which shows it isn't that hard to tell the difference.