Art As Prayer

This began as a comment on Nina West’s Facebook Page when she brought up this subject.   

I agree with you Nina. We can make our painting, drawing or sculpture into a prayer by offering our hands as a channel for God to use. 

After all don’t we imitate God by our little act of creation?  Is it not an offering of our self ? As you say, so many prayers are petitions that look for something…. and nothing is more human. 

But to try to channel what may be Gods desire by being present to what that may be… through the art we make? Surely this is a noble aspiration?

This is at the heart of what prayer is… To Listen.  I was always taught that being able to make art was a gift from God to begin with. It’s seems to make perfect sense that we might offer it to be put to use in this way. Perhaps we might even reflect something of Gods Love back into the world. Especially in a world that so obviously needs it.  Who knows, perhaps art made with this pure intention might serve as a channel of grace? 

I feel there are certain artists that have done this.  Rembrandt , Raphael, the PRB’s some Surrealists, some classical Greek art , Chinese painters also …. who have managed to retain this quality which opens a window into The Real World allowing a viewer to glimpse something that goes beyond this shadow world. It allows them to see beyond the everyday and lift us out of our daily chores even if only for a moment. 

And what a Moment , an eternal moment, when we see “La Belle Dame Sans Merci“ a favorite subject painted by the PRB’s (based on a Keats Poem)  where a beautiful maiden leans closer to the knight wearing his armour, whom he has placed on his horse and he becomes completely disarmed by her unable to defend himself from her call of love. 

Extract from Ballad by Keats….

 I met a lady in the meads,

       “Full beautiful—a faery’s child,

Her hair was long, her foot was light,

       And her eyes were wild.

I made a garland for her head,

       And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;

She looked at me as she did love,

       And made sweet moan” 

See the rest of the poem here 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44475/la-belle-dame-sans-merci-a-ballad

Then see the images here 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Belle_Dame_sans_Merci#

The Frank Dicksee and John William Waterhouse painted versions…. are the ones that appeal  to me.  And they do depict a moment when one is completely taken over by love, an idea of love,  a sort of love you might give up everything for. An otherworldly love that makes you want to stay forever in that world and yet suffer the pain of being pulled away from such a love to realise it was a dream of such completeness and perfection. And how such a painting  can make you feel that in  a perfect frozen moment. 

Witnessing a painting like this in the gallery may stay with you all your life. And when you have such dreams of otherworldly possibilities you may always remember its scene and how it caught the feeling of pain that comes with having to leave that perfect intensity of love found and come back to our drab shadow world.

Truly this is love without mercy. A type of consuming vision that we beg never to have to leave.  Caught in passionate colours of redness and entangled in branches that reach out to grow around us as we realise how completely we long ourselves for such a love, need such a love. The painting by Frank Dicksee on the subject shows the knight having placed the maiden on his horse with his arms outstretched as she leans down as if to kiss him. The experience appears mystical , he is enraptured .  Even the horse is in complete obeisance to it.  Her beauty , fairness of skin is palpable. Keats and the painters who illustrated this ballad  surely saw something that goes way beyond mere mortal experience and they captured it here and our gaze drank it in . Once seen it cannot be unseen. 

It’s works such as these that allow us to hope , to dream, we may capture such a vision, one that pulls the spectator into that otherworldly awareness and perhaps makes them think in a moment, when they have almost lost faith in it, that such a thing may still exist and may even still be waiting for us.  

Did the artist succeed in helping us to believe in Love , a perfect idea of it? Perhaps this image does not capture this for you but other images do. They are reminders that our world is not limited by the chains of destruction that seem to wrap around life where the very idea of love is under such extreme imprisonment .  A place where humanity has almost forgotten what the suffering of those trapped in conflict and struggle is like. If we were to listen to the news media it appears that they would have you believe that the battle is lost , we are completely surrounded by despair and pointless pain.

Even in such a world could an artist be employed by God to create visions that remind us that She exists? Perhaps Dicksee and Waterhouse truly succeeded in painting their visions of this scene .  Perhaps She is the maiden, perhaps it is God in Her feminine form in these paintings who is yearning to be loved looking for a saviour to love them and protect them?    Maybe this painting we see encapsulates the most Perfect Prayer of all, the Prayer of our God calling us to love God ? 

See short essay on Rembrandt in relation to this subject. 

https://perfectvisionguild.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-goodness-of-rembrandt-on-observing.html

Hidden Symbolism In The Tradition Of Images Showing Mary Magdalene, A Summary Introduction.

I have been lucky enough to have visited Saint Baume and the area near Marseilles where Mary Magdalene is believed to have landed when arriving from the sea in a place now called Saint Maries-De-La-Mer with Our Lady and a young girl called Sarah. This is the Saint Sarah that many Travellers who used to be known as Gypsies (from the word Egyptian ) believe they are all descended from. It's for this reason that many travellers visit Saint Maries-De-La-Mer to celebrate over the weekend of October there every year. 

Procession at the Basilica of St Maximin of the skull of Mary Magdalene in a gold reliquary,

where her skull is said to be held.  

The Church at Saintes-Maries-De-La-Mer, the port at which the boat arriving 

from Judea is commemorated as having arrived there carrying Our Lady Mary Magdalene,

 her child and a servant girl. 

It’s important to understand the background to story of Mary Magdalene , to understand the meaning behind images in the European painting tradition that revolved around the making of images of her. Certain attributes appear in works about her and they form a language that tell the viewer that the painter is initiated into what the church would have seen as the heretical tradition surrounding her

Two Mysterious paintings by Del La Tour Showing a pregnant looking Mary Magdalene holding what we now can interpret as the skull of Jesus, though art historians used to explain it as a symbol of repentance and her fecundity would not be mentioned. 

Mary The Magdalene is believed to have lived  and spread her teachings from the Grotte Sainte-Marie Madeleine not far from there and inland in Provence. This is a very dramatic cave high in the cliff of the sheer faced mountain there . When you take the walk through the shady forest and climb the many steps up and enter there in the cool darkness you can see there a statue of her holding a tiny egg and a very old marble altar amongst other things. 

Penitent Magdalene Caravaggio 1597: Her Jewels are scattered,rejecting her past life…..

 but a golden jar remains beside her on the floor . Here the redline of the bloodline is conveyed  by her hair

leading down to her waist and the red bow tied above her abdomen . 

Her hands and crossed fingers convey her concern for the safety for her unborn child in the womb she is carrying . 

Meanwhile the presence of The Grail is also woven cleverly into  the tapestry of her dress. Beneath the red cloth on her lap that both conveys and yet at the same time,  hides the mystery of Mary Magdalene 

Caravaggio Magdalene: Another work by Caravaggio emphasising the womb of Mary Magdalene Here hair curling around the global shape of the unborn within the womb. The skull of Jesus lies under her elbow. 

This grotto has changed since Ive been there becoming in recent years a more accepted site amongst pilgrims and people wishing to acquaint themselves with her story.   The tradition and numerous others such as the idea that Jesus had a physical twin which was known through the painters guilds was that she came to the south of France bringing with her the child of Jesus. 

The Grotto viewed from a distance in the cliffs there

Her imagery is strongly associated with the sea for this reason of arriving on the shores of the mediterranean and also for the belief that she brought with her the child of her union with Jesus…. Saint Sarah (this is regarded as apocryphal by the Christian orthodoxy of course ) Her association with the sea allowed her imagery to absorb imagery associated with other pagan cults that flourished around the Mediterranean Sea such as the cult of Artemis the Greek Goddess of the moon ,wildness, nature and hunting. Artemis is also the twin sister of the sun god Apollo and known in Roman culture as Diana. But the absorption of this imagery was also taken into imagery surrounded Our Lady, The Stella Maris , the star of the sea, so it is a less clear cut matter. 

Albrecht Durer: The Elevation of Saint Mary Magdalene, ca. 1504/1505

here we can observe the sea in the background of the image. Here her hair creates a modest covering for her.

she is shown lifted by angels from her rocky grotto in the mountains.(we can see its a cave from the black gap at th every bottom of the image ).

The Association of Mary Magdalene with the sea can be seen in the background of paintings behind the cave and the story has been contained in  folk tales one that we have come to know as the story of The Little Mermaid. Of which there were numerous versions before we received the modern watered down version. This idea is particularly well covered in Margaret Starbirds book, The woman With The Alabaster Jar . I mention this because Starbird traces many bases her arguments in her numerous books on the subject through Art and symbolism. I will come back to this connection again

An embroidery showing many attributes of Mary Magdalene most of which are of the crucifixion. Beside her is The Grail and on the right hand side beside the foot of a cross is The Skull. Tradition also has her with an open book an allusion to her life as a teacher after the death of Jesus. 

Find out more about this image at the link below 

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/research-journal/issue-no.-7-autumn-2015/an-unusual-embroidery-of-mary-magdalene/

Here in this painting ""Mary Magdalene in Meditation" by the French Brothers Antoine (Brother) Le Nain ....

The open book is shown as a sign of her spiritual cation as a teacher of the Gospel and she holds across her concealed abdominal area and between her knees the skull of Jesus. This is very done highlight th idea that Jesus gave her a child. She appears in the Grotto high above the French are of Provence at Sainte Baume that became associated with her .  

Sainte Baume: The Grotto of Mary Magdalene

Sarah means Princess in Hebrew. This belief was accepted by the French monarchy who believed they were descended from this bloodline. Hence the reference to the “Sang Real” (meaning the blood royal and also becoming known in time as the Holy Grail, the cup believed to have been used at the last supper ). For this reason in many paintings of Mary Magdalene she is also depicted with a skull fand a cup or alabaster jar. 

The skull is depicted also  because  it was believed that she brought the bones of Jesus with her and they came to be hidden somewhere in France  (to look into this aspect of things research ideas connected with Rennes Le Chateau ) . Her hair is also depicted as long and red symbolising the Holy blood and long royal bloodline Sometimes she is shown with red hair flowing over her body.  She is often shown as fecund in her midriff in paintings and sculptures of her. Her hair would conceal her modesty but this "ambiguously" means wflowing over her womb and sexual organs. This is no coincidence. 

The sign along The Path of The Kings at Sainte Baume . Here the symbol of the fleur de lis is used .

Through the Merovingian line,  French Kings who believed they were descendants of this Royal Bloodline  were known to have brought their wives tor their brides to be to visit the cave there. Many kings sought to intermarry in Europe to attain the entry of their descendants into this sacred bloodline believing it to bestow them power and prestige amongst the nobles who understood and accepted its significance. This practice continued into what is left of the aristocracy who still display their family heraldry containing this imagery whose real symbolism is known only to those initiated into this belief.  Of course this idea of the sacred bloodline has become  a reason and an excuse  in history and contemporary times for institutionalised human cruelty and political manipulations by those who say “God is On their side” giving them the right (they think) to forcefully cling to temporal power. 

Inside The Grotto at Sainte Baume showing the natural spring there. 

Louis the fourteenth is included in the list of 40 French kings who are said to have visited the Grotto which also includes Louis IX, Louis XIII and Francis I. For this reason the walkway leading to the foot of the cliff is called “The Kings Path” (Chemin des Roys).  A pilgrim in past times made the approach to the Grotto on their knees.

Here we see at Versailles the image of "The Sun King " at the top of the doors in the kings chambers 

This brings a whole new meaning to Louis XIV’s title of “The Sun King”, the imagery of which proliferates Versailles which I visited last week. This was why he and other Monarchs almost fanatically  came to believe in the “Divine Right of Kings. “ 

(The Repentant Magdalene :Cagnacci 1660

If you look closely you can see the opened jar of ointment beneath the arm of Martha and in front of the face of Mary Magdalene. she has stripped herself of her rich clothing belongings and behind her plays out an allegorical scene symbolising repentanc in the spiritual space so to speak. Mary is ......" almost completely naked. With her, there is her sister Martha who urges her to abandon her sinful life and join Jesus. She is pointing at the angel representing Virtue behind them who is pushing out a devil, Vice. Moreover, in third plan, there are a couple of women. One of them is crying while the other seems annoyed, personifications of Contrition and Vanity, respectively.)"

As I mentioned I would come back to,  In the imagery of many, many paintings we can see references to these ideas about Mary Magdalene. The story in the bible that she broke a jar of ointment on the floor and washed the feet of Jesus with her hair is a conflation of two stories. This idea can be explained by reading a book written by Brian Cleeve Called “The Fourth Mary” which is available online. https://sevenmansions.org/the-fourth-mary-brian-cleeve/

Mary Magdalene 

Here is depicted the tradition of The Magdalene's Nudity being modestly covered by her long red hair (though it is gilded here ). This long hair is the symbol of her divine bloodline. A living Grail. 

"This unusual nude figure represents saint Mary Magdalene as a mystic ascetic. According to legend, the repentant sinner lived a secluded life in the cave of Sainte-Baume, clothed only by her hair.

Every day she was raised up in the sky by angels to hear the heavenly chorus. The statue appeared on the German art market in the 19th century and was purchased by the Louvre in 1902."

Noli Me Tangere by Antonio da Correggio (1489–1534) Circa 1525. Here the hand of Jesus appears to bless the womb of Mary Magdalene at the scene of the resurrection when she is one of the first to see a vision of him risen from the dead. 

But the idea that Mary Magdalene had a Jar of Ointment and that there existed a drinking cup that Jesus carried with him on his travels that was used at the last supper also joins together at times in Marian and Magdalenian imagery. This was the cup believed to have been brought by Our Lady, Mary Magdalene and the third figure that had dark skin who was in fact the servant girl of this holy family.  However the story has numerous versions. The central idea is also that Sarah was the name of the grandchild of Our Lady and the daughter of Mary Magdalene. It is she who becomes known as the princess as the meaning of her name tells us .

Titian: Penitent Magdalene. Here her book is shown resting on The Skull. 

At the heart of this story for anyone who wishes to look, is a truth . This truth is that this part of France was at one time part of the Roman Empire and was known as Septimania. This occupies approximately the same area we know today as The Languedoc Roussillon area which again only recently changed into the province now known as Occitanie. 

Peter Paul Rubens : Immaculate Conception. circa 1628

Here we can see the absorption of Goddess Cults into the imagery of Our Lady when in this case she is depicted with the moon at her feet.

 Also we can see this in images of her as The Star of The Sea : Stella Maris

when she becomes strongly associated with the sea.

This association also evokes the imagery of Venus/aphrodite the goddess of Love who is shown being born from the sea often in a large shell. 

This area was where Herod came to spend his breaks away from the heat of Judea. There is evidence of very early jewish settlement in the region and in Provence. It is also believed that early jewish peoples occupied an area even further inland which became known as Avalon. The family of Jesus came to escape persecution in Jerusalem and to find a safe place for the child who inherited His bloodline. This necessarily had to be kept a secret and it remained so for many years. The Grail travelled eventually with the grandson of Joseph (whose name was also Joseph to England) .This tradition has been kept alive in the imagery of Artist / Writer William Blake amongst others. 

Joseph of Arimathea on the rocks of Albion by Willam Blake.

This itself was derived from Michelangelo's image of him 

For many years this imagery entered into the visual language of the stone masons of Europe who often, unbeknownst to the orthodoxy, incorporated this apocryphal story into the rich and often gnostic imagery of the cathedrals. Many examples of this can be found, I saw, at Notre Dame and Chartres cathedral . A few weeks ago I saw at Chartres a whole line of female figures holding chalices in their hands which when looked at in the light of this story more likely reveals the idea of the sacred bloodline than the interpretation that they were just images of female saints holding chalices. 

Chartres Cathedral Side entrance the second ring up in the tympanum.

Here we can see ladies holding chalices sometimes in an upside down position. This is above the nativity scene depicting Our Lady a descendent of the royal line of David. 

The Jewish kingship from the line of David was a maternal and not a paternal bloodline . So its female members were the living grails starting with Our Lady herself of course. Images of the Tree of Jesse abound in stained glass to reinforce this point. Jesus is often shown nailed to this tree in manuscripts and elsewhere also.The tree becomes The Cross of the crucifixion. 

The Tree of Jesse , British,  Lambeth Manuscript , circa 1140's 

These gnostic beliefs maintained by those who kept these secrets,  along with the presence of jews within the powerful families of southern Europe, became one of the main reasons for the atrocities of Albigensian crusade, effectively a genocide in which many Cathers died . This was led by the French King Philip II and supported by The Pope in order to wipe out Catharism, Catharism was an unorthodox christianity led by "Parfaits" members of the community who gave up their live to preach their religion to others in their community. They were known as "The Pure Ones" or perfect ones. They were horribly massacred by the crusade at places like Montesgur and Beziers sometimes being mass burned at the stake. It is believed that the true story of Mary Magdalene was known to them and also that mysteriously they hid a treasure believed to be the grail itself. It is behind these stories that one needs to look for the real Truth. 

Later came the Spanish Inquisition. This inquisition also took place in places we now know as part of France and other areas. At these times this area was in land that was much envied and coveted by the king and this was another economic reason to use religious persecution as a way of acquiring properties and wealth. A practice we see today being used in Gaza to seize lands and commit genocide upon its people. As we used to say in Ireland, one mans terrorist (or religious fanatic) is another mans freedom fighter.