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Sacred Paintings

  • Home
  • New Page
  • Writings on the Theology of Art by James Patrick Reid
    • Fitly Framed Together: Art, Sports, and the Building Up of the Body of Christ
    • Matisse and Russian Icons
    • A Few Words on Traditional and Modern Art in the Light of Metaphysics
    • The Art of the Beautiful Lecture Series in New York
    • The Metaphysics of Art (Article in "The Catholic Thing")
    • Invisible Things Clearly Seen
    • Art and the Transfiguration of the World
  • Paintings by James Patrick Reid
  • The Iconography of The Baptism of Christ
  • The iconography in the "Annunciation"
  • The iconography in "Nazareth"
  • Byzantine Icons by the hand of James Patrick Reid
  • About James Patrick Reid
  • Blog -- Meditations on Sacred Masterworks
  • Contact
elgreco_thevirginoftheimmaculateconception1.jpg

The Immaculate Conception, painted by El Greco

December 08, 2016

"God helped her in the early morning light; the Most High sanctified His dwelling." El Greco's masterpiece, with its refulgence of both the sun and the moon, conveys the feeling of this antiphon from 2nd nocturn of the feast. Also this response to the 4th lesson: "I made an unfailing light arise in the heavens." And yet more: ""She is the splendour of the eternal light and the mirror unspotted. For she is more beautiful than the sun, she is purer than light itself." (response to 5th lesson) The painting furthermore contains imagery from a homily by Saint Germain: The ship at lower right alludes to the "port of salvation;" the "fragrant lily and unfading rose;" the "palace wherein is the spiritual bridal chamber;" and the "fountain of flowing waters."

There is a close connection between the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. Both feasts celebrate the fact that she offered no resistance to divine grace. And El Greco's painting celebrates that connection. Consider the following verses from the Liturgy of the Hours for the Feast of the Assumption: "Mary has been taken up into heaven! The angels are rejoicing;" "The holy Mother of God has been exalted above choirs of angels."

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Sacred Paintings Blog

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