I’ve taken hundreds of photos of artwork. Since some churches have closed, their art usually ends up in a diocesan museum. Sometimes to preserve the art, a local public museum will hold the pieces. Most of the photos are shot in their original setting though.

I’ve never taken a course on art; so I’m a perfect audience for this religious art. I don’t know anything special about themes, compositions, style, or paint. Rather accurate or not, I’ve crystallized an intuition regarding the Jesus- thematic. When I move around a church, and I look primarily straight ahead, I find that the dominant emotional impact is a somber, heavy feeling. No surprise here! When I allow my eyes to look upward, toward the art above the main portal entrance or toward the ceiling, a different emotion of confident, hopeful victory emerges. Again, no surprise here.

On one hand, the location of the art allows a person to sense that the brief artistic episodes of the narrated Jesus and we the viewers are on the same level. Our lives are lived in different circumstances, but both Jesus and we are surrounded by others, wear clothing (most of the time), and find ourselves in various bodily positions. Beginning with nativity scenes through the crucifixion, we are on the same level. And, when you add other depictions such as the Stations of the Cross, there is a primary, but not exclusive, somber feeling.

On the other hand, the art above us reminds us of a different realm. While the art is more distant being on the ceiling apse or dome or above the portal, the distance is not as important as the feeling of difference. Here the episodic presentation of Jesus is as Risen Christ, the Pantocrator Christ, the Lord of the Universe Christ. Confident, hopeful ( yes frightening as hell in the Last Judgment depictions) victorious emotions.

I’m including both representative art as well as those pieces which show a particular twist on the theme. Since I’m going through six weeks of church and museum visits, my organization skills are not the best. Plus, I can’t figure out how to edit and reorganize photos on FB. I’ll start with infancy in this post. I’ll move in the next posts to crucifixion, and then to resurrection. I may include another post on other interesting art. We’ll see.

Early paintings of Mary and Jesus. In several of these, Jesus is not going to win the “Cutest Baby of the Year” award!

Does Jesus have a tattoo?

A year ago, I started to fixate on Joseph. He is either old, looking bored, or almost painted out of the nativity scene. In one case, he is actually portrayed as a younger man.

One of the few paintings where Joseph is looking interested.

After giving birth, Mary is being cleaned. All women in this depiction.

In some of the depictions, Jesus is playing with “little John.”

I love it when some later historical figures get called into action. We certainly need more than shepherds and magi.

Then there are the full-figure nativity scenes. As is well-known, Francis created the first nativity scene in 1223. Last year was the 800th anniversary!

Finally, one of my favorites. The Visitation. The Angel is talking to Mary. If you can read Latin, you can read what the Angel says. Mary consents to the Angels word. If you can read Latin and can read the Latin upside down, then you can understand Mary’s reply!