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Each cell was decorated
with an image to aid religious meditation. These frescos,
by the Dominican Fra Angelico and his workshop, marry extreme
clarity with stylistic restraint. Christ appears in most,
often in scenes of the Crucifixion. He appears like a vision,
as if materialized from thin air. The paintings seem to
hover like images projected on to a screen. Now that San
Marco is an Era Angelico museum the visitor may walk at
will from cell to cell. But this denatures the works of
the painter, making them into a sequence — an exhibition
of Angelicos — which is not how they were intended
to be seen. They were pictures to be locked away with, one
to one, for hours on end. They have the character of hallucinations.
That is, possibly, what they were intended to stimulate.
Long, hungry contemplation of the image might bring it to
life.
~ from BBC,
Andrew Graham-Dixon RENAISSANCE
.
... in our hearts
and in our imaginations.
Beauty motivates
our very intent - it inspires love and moves us to actions
of kindness.
January
continued - The Bloom... >>1.2
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