Wow, what a trip to hell. That cosmicism is purely diabolical. After reading this (thank you for the analysis) and then thinking of the pure and light-filled Romanesque and gothic art, and the manuscripts we've been studying, I see why I'm so glad to study them. God and goodness and hope are found there.
Wow. What a journey. This was difficult for me to read, since I disagree with almost everything said in it. Props to the author for writing something with which I disagree so vehemently and making it so interesting.
That Gasparro really is horrific. Ech. With that weird facial expression it has a schmaltzy emotionalism on the one hand, but with the bloody body it looks more like something you'd find in a bad parody horror movie. Truly diabolic, and obviously crafted for shock value.
There's an interesting line of argument that some Orthodox critics make (and I'm only presenting it here, not endorsing it as I think some of its proponents try to carry it too far), that the corruption of telos in sacred art can be pinned to something a couple of centuries earlier: the shift from viewing Christ's work as making the Kingdom of God immanent on Earth through the Resurrection, to becoming fixated on the Crucifixion and the suffering thereon. Proponents of this line of argument point to the pre-Renaissance shift in depictions of the Crucifixion, and how there was a gradual but noticeable shift from depicting Christ on the cross dispassionately, to clearly showing the suffering and high emotion of that moment and making that pain and suffering central.
Like I said, I think proponents of this argument can push it too far, but I can see a connection between the increasingly bloody depictions of the Passion and that Gasparro monstrosity - the latter being a clear mockery.
An alternative view on the Renaissance as a Christianity in which the incarnation and the suffering Christ are key, and not a classical Humanist philosophy. If you watch it, you will spot the wonderful Sir Roger Scruton in the audience. https://youtu.be/kKxV8b0LTlc?si=hUEPmIxLUusrFQjg
Wow, what a trip to hell. That cosmicism is purely diabolical. After reading this (thank you for the analysis) and then thinking of the pure and light-filled Romanesque and gothic art, and the manuscripts we've been studying, I see why I'm so glad to study them. God and goodness and hope are found there.
Wow. What a journey. This was difficult for me to read, since I disagree with almost everything said in it. Props to the author for writing something with which I disagree so vehemently and making it so interesting.
That Gasparro really is horrific. Ech. With that weird facial expression it has a schmaltzy emotionalism on the one hand, but with the bloody body it looks more like something you'd find in a bad parody horror movie. Truly diabolic, and obviously crafted for shock value.
There's an interesting line of argument that some Orthodox critics make (and I'm only presenting it here, not endorsing it as I think some of its proponents try to carry it too far), that the corruption of telos in sacred art can be pinned to something a couple of centuries earlier: the shift from viewing Christ's work as making the Kingdom of God immanent on Earth through the Resurrection, to becoming fixated on the Crucifixion and the suffering thereon. Proponents of this line of argument point to the pre-Renaissance shift in depictions of the Crucifixion, and how there was a gradual but noticeable shift from depicting Christ on the cross dispassionately, to clearly showing the suffering and high emotion of that moment and making that pain and suffering central.
Like I said, I think proponents of this argument can push it too far, but I can see a connection between the increasingly bloody depictions of the Passion and that Gasparro monstrosity - the latter being a clear mockery.
I did a post on that shift. It was the Franciscan influence, responding to the Catharist heresy.
https://hilarywhite.substack.com/p/ecce-agnus-dei-13th-century-umbrian
Thanks, I will check that out.
Thinking here of that ghastly crucifixion by Matthias Grunewald in the Isenheim altarpiece …
An alternative view on the Renaissance as a Christianity in which the incarnation and the suffering Christ are key, and not a classical Humanist philosophy. If you watch it, you will spot the wonderful Sir Roger Scruton in the audience. https://youtu.be/kKxV8b0LTlc?si=hUEPmIxLUusrFQjg