The Last Supper by Leonardo DaVinci

The Crucifixion by Diego Velazquez

Traditional icon of the Ressurection

This is just a note to let you know I won't be blogging over the next week. :) In the meantime, enjoy these wonderful pieces of art!

Also, I recently read this journal by an artist on DeviantArt. It's an absolute must-read for every Catholic artist. Read it here. The article is all about the vocation of the artist... here's just one of several epic quotes:

"We must depict Christ. I don't mean we have to just draw pictures of Him (though that's very important). We have to depict the object of human longing, or a very small glimpse of it anyway. Jesus Christ IS beauty, just assuredly as He is Truth, and Goodness. And One. It is part of His identity, of who He is. He is the most beautiful person of all time. Our lives have to be an image of that beauty, as we strive for sanctity living in "imitation of Christ". Our art must be the fruit of our own sanctity, of the divine indwelling of God within us. So we must depict the hope that is within us, we must depict the beauty of Christ, by making beautiful art.

Make good, excellent, beautiful art. A lot of modern Christian art makes a very utilitarian mistake of utilizing poor art for the sake of telling the truth of our faith. It's not authentic, it's not sincere. It's preachy: preaching is boring. It's not beautiful because it isn't sincere, and it shoots itself in the foot. You can be sure no poor work ever came out of a certain carpenter's shop in Nazareth."

~Aodhagain on DeviantArt

This article really struck me... I'm determined to go read JPII's Letter to Artists and actually slow down and appreciate it more.