Precious Blood Art Series: Bellini

This is the 15th century artwork The Blood of the Redeemer by Giovanni Bellini.  It is tempera on panel, measures 19 inches by 13.5 inches and is found in the National Gallery in London.

There are many interesting features to this painting.  First, Christ's appearance is very youthful, bringing to mind the theology of Jesus being the "new Adam".  This might well be something like how Adam looked before the Fall in the Garden of Eden.

Also, I found my eye drawn to the two trees on top of the distant mountain.  Upon researching, I discovered that these trees are interpreted as the Tree of Life and the Tree of Death, which fits with the "new Adam" perspective. 

And on the left there is a path leading to a church or should I say to the Church.  In short, there is much to see and reflect on in this painting, which some believe might have originally been the cover to a tabernacle.

The Rose and the Precious Blood of Christ

In the traditional calendar, next Wednesday, July 1, is the Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Many of us will pray the Litany of the Precious Blood daily throughout the month of July and will honor this aspect of Our Divine Savior in some special way in the sacred spaces in our homes.

While many Catholics are aware of the symbolism of the rose in relation to the Virgin Mary, fewer may be aware that Our Lord's Precious Blood is also symbolized by the rose:

"Albert Magnus . . wrote of 'the rose made red by the blood of Christ in his passion' and described Christ as the rose of Jericho blossoming in the resurrection,' A popular guide to rosary devotion similarly alluded to the rosary as crimson 'because the Precious Blood of Our Lord has fallen upon it.' In medieval texts, 'Christ is the rosebush,' 'each drop of his precious blood is like one of its blossoms,' his blood is 'rose colored,' and his wounds correspond to the rose's petals' . The rose represents Christ's wounded sacred heart, the cup that collects his spilled blood and the resurrection as a blood-red blossoming out of death."

A relationship between Christ's blood and the rose is also found in the title and first line of Joseph Mary Plunkett's poem, I See His Blood Upon the Rose.

Source:
The quoted material is from Graziano, Frank; Wounds of Love (Oxford University Press U.S., New York, 2004); p. 72. (Please note that this book on the whole is NOT recommended as it presents a distorted view of St. Rose of Lima.)

Image:
Rose bush from Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.

Corpus Christi Art Series: Raphael

 

This is Raphael's Disputation of the Holy Sacrament, which is found in the Vatican Museum.  It is a fresco measuring 16.4 feet by 25.2 feet.  It was painted in the Vatican between 1509 and 1510.  One can read many details about the fresco here.