Finding God in Art
Recently, our former curate, Ayla Lepine took a group of parishioners on a very special tour at the National Gallery. Looking at paintings by Jan Van Eyck, Piero della Francesca, Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable and Rembrandt we were encouraged to look and then go beyond our first impressions and consider how the artist may be delivering a spiritual message and also how these paintings may be speaking to us as individuals.
Several members of the group kindly shared their reflections on the painting that resonated most with them.
“I have very little experience at all of art appreciation. I have been so completely aware of the world of music all my life, which is my main route to thoughts of God. However, with Ayla’s help, all the paintings yesterday did speak to me, and now I am left especially with thoughts of generosity in particular. In the famous Van Eyck (‘The Arnolfini Portrait’), I was especially touched by the inclusion of the family dog at the feet of the two central figures, a gesture of tender and generous inclusiveness either by them or by the artist…..and the Rembrandt (‘Anna and the blind Tobit’) took me back again to thoughts of giving, and to the idea that to wait unconditionally and with patience for someone else is itself a selfless and precious gift. Two paintings, so different, and yet with such a common ethos of caring about ‘the other’.”
“The painting I loved most was Rembrandt’s “Anna and the blind Tobit”. The artist might have chosen to paint the joyful return of Tobias, but instead depicts the patient waiting of Anna and Tobit in sober brown and gold. Life moves on round the blind old man – the fire crackles near the cooking pots, and Anna deftly spins – but the light from the window catches the resignation of his closed eyes and the stillness in the quietly interlocking fingers of his gnarled old hands.”
“Anna and blind Tobit made me reflect on the frailties of old age and one’s dependence on others. The theological learning was to cultivate patience – which is not normally something I am good at!”
Art can give us “ precious glimpses of uplifting, God-given beauty. …….I’ll retain in memory particularly the wonderful Constable landscape. I love to undertake lengthy country walks and it reminds me of the stretch of the Hillingdon trail from Rickmansworth to Ruislip.”
“The Baptism of Christ altar piece (by Piero della Francesca) was the one that spoke to me most in a spiritual way, especially as I contemplated the expressions on Christ’s and John’s faces….I must find out more about the Arnolfini too. Such a familiar image but full of symbols which lead to many questions.”
An “enlightening”, “contemplative”, “lucid”, “joyful” and “wonderful” tour.