Dali, Gross, Chagall, Matisse, Raphael, Convents and Miracles

I'm not a great collector of fine art, primarily because I can't afford to be. But I do have several wonderful signed prints that hang on our walls where I can enjoy them every day. 

"Piccarda Donati" by Salvatore Dali

The first is a print from a wood engraving of one of Salvatore Dali's series of 101 water colors depicting events in Dante's Divine Comedy. This particular print is of Piccarda Donati, the sister of one of Dante's friends and the first person he encounters in Paradise. Indeed, she is the only heavenly character Dante recognizes, and even then it takes him a while. The glorified bodies of the saints are so completely different, so much more beautiful than their earthly bodies, that they are difficult to recognize. It is during this encounter that Piccarda teaches Dante a lesson in saintliness. When he asks if she does not long to be at a higher place in heaven, she tells him that she wants only what God wants, that His will is her will, and so she is perfectly content to be where she is. Whenever I pass by this print, I make an effort to remember that lesson myself, and remain content with my place in the world that I trust reflects God's will for me.

I also have a print by the late Jewish artist, Chaim Gross. Born in Austria, Gross emigrated to the US as a teenager in 1921. Known more for his sculpture than for his paintings he became quite famous for his wood sculptures which I'm pretty sure I could never afford. He also taught printmaking and sculpture and, I believe, spent his later years as an artist in Provincetown, Massachusetts on Cape Cod, where he died in 1991 at the age of 87. This large signed and numbered print -- "In Front of the Ark"-- is among my favorites because of the aura of holiness it presents. Whenever I look at it, I can't help but recall that command to Moses as he approached the burning bush, "Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground."

"In Front of the Ark" by Chaim Gross

Another print hanging on our walls is a signed print by Marc Chagall. It's a rough sketch of his "Tribe of Joseph", one of twelve windows representing the twelve tribes of Israel that Chagall designed for the Synagogue of the Hadassa at the Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem. I particularly like the description of Joseph that accompanies the print:

Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall. The archers fiercely attacked him; they shot at him and pressed him hard. Yet his bow remained taut, and his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, by the God of your father, who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father are stronger than the blessings of the eternal mountains, the bounties of the everlasting hills; may they be on the head of Joseph, on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers. (Gen. 49:22-26)

All of this came to mind this morning when I read two fascinating stories published on EWTN's website on June 23. The first tells of Henri Matisse and his last major work which involved the construction of the Dominican convent at Vence in southeastern France. The second, which immediately follows the first on the linked page, relates the story of the Renaissance artist Raphael's painting memorializing the Eucharistic miracle at Bolsena. Read them both here: Surprise in the Vatican Museums & Church of the Eucharist