Something Beautiful

Extraordinary portrait bust

Take a look at this magnificent bust, supposedly of St Rossore, 1425-27, by Donatello (gilded bronze). (detail).  There is just a bit of information about it here.

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Stained glass sites

Right now I have to hurry into town, but I definitely want to check out these sites asap.

 

Last Bard of Wales

Do you have to be a Celticist to be touched by this portrayal of the mythical last bard of Wales? --

The Bard, ca. 1817, by John Martin 

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Two sculptures

Here are two sculptures that I came across rather by accident.  They are very different in subject but share something, it seems to me, in terms of impact. 

St Mark, 1411, by Donatello (marble) (statue in its niche)

 Pietro Mellini, 1474, by Benedetto da Maiano (marble) 

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St. Peter's (tombs)

While putting together my links on sculptures of past popes, I noticed that the Web Gallery of Art site (one of the world's finest sites) permits you to search for artworks by location.   So it occurred to me that I could try putting together a kind of "tour" of the interior of St Peter's Basilica in Rome. 

To get started, here is an impressive monument to Pope Sixtus IV, 1484-93, by Antonio della Pollaiuolo (bronze) --

view from the front 

from side 

from above 

Another very fine work --

Tomb of Pope Gregory XIII, 1719-1725, by C. Rusconi (marble)   (second view)

Two influential, almost contemporaneous, tombs --

Tomb of Pope Urban VIII, 1627-47, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (golden bronze and marble)

Tomb of Pope Leo XI, 1634-44, by A. Algardi (marble)  (second view)   

Another tomb by Bernini --

Tomb of Pope Alexander VII, 1671-78, by G.L. Bernini (marble & gilded bronze)    (second view, detail)

And here are some other, more extravagant but less pleasing papal tombs within the walls of St. Peter's --

Tomb of Pope Innocent VIII, 1492-98, by A. della Pollaiuolo (gilded bronze)   (detail)

Tomb of Pope Paul III, 1549-75, by Guglielmo della Porta (bronze and marble)

Tomb of Pope Clement XIII, 1792, by Antonio Canova (marble)

 

Papal sculptures

I am feeling a need for sculpture, especially marble and especially Renaissance or baroque.   Given recent events in Rome, I thought it would be interesting to look for paintings and sculptures of past popes.   Here are a few of those I found. 

Pope Pius II, 1501-04, by Michelangelo (marble)

Pope Paul III, ca. 1547, by Guglielmo della Porta (marble)

Pope Urban VIII, 1632-33, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (bronze) (personal favorite)

Pope Benedict XIII, 1724, by Pietro Bracci (terracotta)

Pope Benedict XIII, 1762-73, by Pietro Bracci  (marble)

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A Zen Dominican?

I enjoy Nancy N.'s Just Thinking site and try to check in there regularly.    Today I found a prayer there by St Thomas Aquinas.  The first lines of it struck me as having a very Zen-like spirit --

Grant, Lord my God, that I may never fall away in success or in failure; that I may not be prideful in prosperity nor dejected in adversity. . . .

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Contemplating mind

From Bodhidharma (via Daily Zen) --

Huike asked: If there are people intent on seeking the Path of Enlightenment, what method should they practice, what method is most essential and concise?

Bodhidharma answered: Let them just contemplate mind—this one method takes in all practices, and is indeed essential and concise.

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Honor

From Mark Helprin, American novelist and writer --

From long familiarity, we know what honor is. It is what enables the individual to do right in the face of complacency and cowardice. It is what enables the soldier to die alone, the political prisoner to resist, the singer to sing her song, hardly appreciated, on a side street.

Giotto

The "Masterpiece" of the day at the Met Museum site is The Epiphany, early 14th century, by Giotto. 

According to biographer Giorgio Vasari, Giotto "alone succeeded in resuscitating art and restoring her to a path that may be called the true one." Among his innovations are clear spatial organization and natural poses.