Precious Blood Art Series: Cabrera

 

 

This 18th century artwork is The Allegory of the Precious Blood  by Mexican Baroque artist Miguel Cabrera.  It can be found in the Templo de San Francisco Javier in Tepotzotlan, Mexico. 

This extremely large artwork is oil on canvas  It is 23 feet 9 inches tall and  17 feet 7 inches wide.

The image depicts Our Lord as the fountain of salvation and His Precious Blood as providing a river of redemption.  The banner refers to Psalm 130:7 stating that with Him there is plentiful redemption.  On the left one sees Our Lady and St. Peter guiding and protecting a soul on its way toward salvation. The lower portion shows souls in purgatory.

Precious Blood Art Series: Crivelli

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This is Carlo Crivelli's St Francis with the Blood of Christ. It is from the late 15th century and is a small tempera on gold panel (roughly 8 by 6-1/2 inches).  It is believed to have been used as a private devotional object by a Franciscan friar.  One can see many instruments of Christ's Passion in various locations in the artwork.

This painting can be found in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan, Italy.

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.