Bible – Page 8 – dr richard stemp

Lent 12

So this is it, the ‘great multitude’ that Matthew describes, who came ‘from the chief priests and elders of the people,’ bearing ‘swords and staves.’ They look like an unlikely bunch of losers and reprobates to me. It might be as well to see what the other gospels say about them. Mark says almost exactlyContinue reading “Lent 12”

Lent 10

I said yesterday that today I would start to tell the story – so – are you sitting comfortably? Good. However, I have to come clean and say that this isn’t a Lent painting at all. By the time ‘the story’ starts Lent is over by several days, and we are well into Holy WeekContinue reading “Lent 10”

Lent 2

Three more plants today – and we shall ignore the delicate black slipper and the cloth of gold hem, although the scale at which they are depicted does suggest that we are not looking at a landscape painting, even if the landscape could still play a significant part. On the left is a broad-leaf plantain,Continue reading “Lent 2”

120 – The Colour of Virtue

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Maestà, c. 1335. Museo di Arte Sacra, Massa Marittima. I’m giving a talk for ARTscapades on Wednesday afternoon (at 2pm) entitled Good and Bad Government, which would be fine, apart from the fact that it has a subtitle The Lorenzetti Brothers in Siena. What was I thinking? I will have plenty of timeContinue reading “120 – The Colour of Virtue”

An Advent Calendar – 22

‘Gold’ – Born a King on Bethlehem plain, Gold I bring to crown Him again, King forever Ceasing never Over us all to reign. We know what the gifts are – it tells us in the bible. That is how we know there were gifts in the first place. They are in Matthew 2:11, whichContinue reading “An Advent Calendar – 22”

An Advent Calendar – 20

‘Joseph’ – Oh, Joseph! Poor Joseph! Always off to one side, half in the shadows, but with so much responsibility. Of course, the bible says next to nothing about him – apart from the fact that he was of the house of David, and was thought to be Jesus’s father. So almost everything we knowContinue reading “An Advent Calendar – 20”

An Advent Calendar – 15

‘A Magus…‘ – ‘We Three Kings of Orient…’ aren’t in the bible. What it says in Matthew 2:1 is, ‘Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem’. This is all it says – ‘wise men’ – notContinue reading “An Advent Calendar – 15”

An Advent Calendar – 14

More Shepherds So, the Shepherds who were in the foreground yesterday are in the middle ground today – and those in the background seem even further away. Everything is relative. And further forward, we see four more shepherds. We also see the red column supporting the capital carved with the relief of Abraham and IsaacContinue reading “An Advent Calendar – 14”

An Advent Calendar – 13

‘Shepherds’ – This is the first of two days of Shepherds. Today I’m not interested in the two in the foreground – well, the foreground of this detail, anyway, they are quite a way back in the painting. Leaning over the wooden fence, we can tell they are shepherds because they are poorly dressed, withContinue reading “An Advent Calendar – 13”

An Advent Calendar – 12

‘Herod’s Men?’ – We’re quite a long way away here, looking off into the distance where the perspective makes things appear far smaller. Well, the linear perspective does. The aerial, or atmospheric, perspective makes things appear paler. The dust and mist in the air – and the air itself – knocks the light out ofContinue reading “An Advent Calendar – 12”