8/18/2023 0 Comments Word among us daily mass readings![]() The artist’s art is to cause this fixed moment to speak by making visible much more than its objectivity shows. By its nature, painting, like photography, is a snapshot. And the reason is to reveal to us the mystery of the Incarnation. ![]() Jesus’ left hand attempts to calm his parents and answers them: How is it that you sought Me? finally, His right hand gives the full story of the episode: Did you not know that I owe myself to my Father’s work?ĭid you not know that I owe myself to my Father’s work? Here we have the first words of Jesus recorded by the Gospel. And look: the interplay of these hands allows us to hear the dialogue of the episode (Luke 2:48): Mary’s right hand resting on her heart says: Son, why have you treated us so? while her left hand, pointing to Joseph, says: See, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously! Joseph’s right hand supports Mary’s words with all his paternal authority and joins in her questioning. He composes his work on both sides of the line traced out by the play of the figures’ hands, a line that ends at Jesus’ index finger, pointing toward the highest heavens. The artist presents to us the moment of their reunion. After seeking him for three days, his parents find him again in the Temple. This principle proves accurate both in the details-the quality of the draperies-and in the groupings-only Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are in the light, thus distinguished from the subjects of the Mosaic Law who remain half in the shadows, since they were unable to recognize the light born from light. Similarly a painter must make use of shadow in order to give distinction and relief to his works. At the time of the original tohu wa-bohu (formless void), there was nothing but confusion, and then through the play of shadows and light the Creator brought differentiation and diversity into the world. We find again here, to an excellent degree, the theological dimension that he usually gave to the shadows. It is a work of maturity, illuminated by the supernatural shades of blue that were his secret-here on Jesus’ toga, Mary’s palla (mantle), and the view of Jerusalem beyond the openwork arcades of the Temple. Philippe de Champaigne (1602–1674) was 61 years old when he painted this picture for the Carthusian church in Paris.
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