Tag: Arts & Tradition

Wisdom and God’s Illuminated Truths: John Martin’s ‘The Creation of Light’

Sometimes things happen in life, and we just don’t know how to respond to them. Nowadays, there are many self-help guides that try to help people navigate their lives wisely. We want to behave wisely, but what is wisdom? An illustration by the 19th-century artist John Martin, called “The Creation of Light” might give us…


Art Worth Visiting: Five US Winter Exhibitions

Across the country, there are some fascinating winter exhibitions that highlight some of the rarest and finest of European art and craftsmanship. From Hans Holbein the Younger and Jacques Louis David in New York to Bartolomé Esteban Murillo in Dallas. A World First: French Painter Jacques Louis David’s Drawings In the 18th century, neoclassical artist…


Toward the Love of Divine Truth in the Age of Misinformation: ‘Calumny of Apelles’

The information age has also brought about a massive amount of misinformation. There’s so much available information that it’s difficult to know what is true and what is false, and because of this, some of us might fall victim to what we call “fake news.” It’s not only the media that spreads misinformation. A coworker,…


St. Cecilia and the Musical Celebration of God

There’s something about the rhythmic expression we call music that affects us emotionally and spiritually. We love music. We hear it everywhere: in our cars while on our way to work, at work, back in our cars when we go to the grocery store, and yes, even at the grocery store. Almost everywhere we go,…


Traditional Art Has Stories to Tell

“[T]rue painting is such as not only surprises, but as it were, calls to us; and has so powerful an effect, that we cannot help coming near it, as if it had something to tell us,” wrote French art critic Roger de Piles in his “Principles of Painting” (1708). Traditional art speaks to our souls—with subjects…


St. Peter’s Basilica: The Most Magnificent Church in All of Christendom

Peter, the first pope and bishop of Rome, appointed by Jesus himself, took the lead to establish Christianity in Rome. He was later martyred; however, his legacy was set. One and a half millennia passed, and the inspired Pope Julius II sought to honor St. Peter and the origins of the papacy. He turned to…


New Hi-Tech Photo Brings Rembrandt’s ‘Night Watch’ up Close

AMSTERDAM—Rembrandt van Rijn’s iconic and huge painting “The Night Watch” is now also a supersized museum photo delivered right to your laptop in unsurpassed detail. The Amsterdam Rijksmuseum on Monday put on its digital portal what it called “the most detailed photograph of any artwork” ready for assessment by scientists and art lovers alike. It…


Between Heaven and Hell: A Moral Ascension

Life is filled with many instances every day in which we must make a choice between good and evil. When evil is made to seem good and good evil, it is difficult to know whether we are making the right choices. Suspending us between heaven and hell, such choices require deep, thoughtful consideration. Heaven and…


The Italian Renaissance: To the Glory of God or Man?

My earliest memories of Italy are of Venice. In such a strange and magical world, I felt like Alice in Wonderland; as a child, I chased pigeons around St. Mark’s Square, while my father painted watercolors of the scene. Later, as part of my art history studies, I traveled frequently from Salzburg, where I studied, to…


Artist Says Shen Yun Is ‘Heavenly Inspired’

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—For artist Pamela Zabala, watching Shen Yun Performing Arts was a “heavenly” experience. “I do feel like this is a privilege, and I think everybody should experience the healing power of art,” said Ms. Zabala, a painter, who watched the performance with Edison Rumbos, a multimedia producer, at the Au-Rene Theatre in Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 29….