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.” …
Category: Art
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 …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
The Uglification of the World
Increasingly, I have found myself wondering why the world is so ugly. I do not mean the natural world, which always retains its created splendor, but the art and architecture of the modern world. It seems that almost nothing in …
Remembering Bernini
On November 28, 1680, 340 years ago, under the reign of Pope Innocent XI, the eleventh pope he served, the genius symbol of Roman Baroque art died in Rome at the age of 81: the architect, sculptor, painter, and set …
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 …
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