Traditional Catholic Art Conference Moves to DC
It is a movement aimed at restoring beauty to its rightful place in our culture and building friendships between those so engaged.
The Synesthesia of Renaissance Art
This connection between music and painting underscores the importance of synesthesia in Renaissance art.
The Music Regained in Heaven
In the Blessed in Paradise, the instruments project us into the spiritual harmony that the blessed regain in music.
Catholic Art Institute 4th Annual Conference
Above: the old St. Alphonsus parish theatre, now refounded as the Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture Our readers should be aware that The Catholic Art Institute will be hosting its 4th annual conference, this year themed “Art & Virtue.” The event will take place on Sunday, October 30th, beginning with High Mass at St.…
The Neoclassical Grandeur of Antonio Canova
Two centuries ago, on the morning of October 13, 1822, in Venice “died a sublime Christian” the artist for whose work “the sculpture came out renewed”, as we read on the memorial tablet placed on the door of his Roman studio: Antonio Canova.[1] He was born 65 years earlier, on November 1, 1757 in Possagno,…
The Great Emperor and the Art He Inspired
Probably, but not certainly, 1750 years ago, on February 27, 272, a great Roman emperor and a brilliant politician was born in Naissus, Moesia (now Niš, Serbia): Flavius Valerius Constantinus, also known as Constantine the Great. His father is Constantius Chlorus, Caesar (deputy emperor) of the northwest, and his mother is St. Helena. Challenging the…
What’s Happening with the Notre Dame restoration? An Advent 2021 Update
Writing about the construction of Notre Dame de Paris, two very different experts said: When it was decided to rebuild a cathedral, the bishop, the canons, rich townsfolk, and neighbouring landowners made the first offerings. The king was next approached, and usually gave a large sum. Collections were then made throughout the city and surrounding…
The Beauty of the Virgin Mary and the History of Art
Art and the Female Principle Other than Our Lord Jesus Christ there has been no more frequent subject in Western figurative art than the Blessed Virgin Mary. If the object of the arts, when rightly ordered, is beauty, then it is fitting that the inspiration of so much Western material and musical culture be the…
Plato and the Idea of Art
Plato was an ultra-realist that stressed, to an extreme degree, objective reality, to the point of believing that concepts were individual entities with their own independent reality, i.e., the world of the “Forms.” The soul actually existed in this intelligible world prior to existing in the body, and will go back to it once the…
The Great Monument of Palestrina
One hundred years ago today, the city of Palestrina inaugurated the monument dedicated to the greatest son of this ancient town located 23 miles east-southeast of Rome, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, the “Prince of Music” born here in 1525. It is the fine statue by the Florentine sculptor Arnaldo Zocchi (1862-1940) which stands in the…
Italian Art Critic on Vatican Nativity Figures: “Don’t Look At Them…The Religious World Has Been Betrayed”
Editor’s Note: by way of a colleague and friend in Italy, we received the following translation for publication. It is a commentary on the much-discussed 2020 Vatican Nativity Scene. Translator’s Note: Vittorio Sgarbi is a very well-known figure in Italian public life, who has served in several political offices, including the ministry in charge of…