FAITH AND ART: Christ healing the Mother of Simon Peter’s Wife by John Bridges, 1839
Balance, elegance, harmony, symmetry of composition, flatness of paint….these are probably the ad hoc adjectives to describe the painting in consideration. These features also adhere to the Renaissance style of art that focused on the ‘eternal’ in an earthly setting.
However a glance at the date of composition of the painting flings forth an artistic shock. Why does John Bridges, an English painter of the 19th century employ the artistic traditions of the 15th century age of revival? Is he consumed by a culture lag? Or does he seek to revive the swag and the style of a ‘forgotten’ era?
Read forth to explore the mental dynamics and the origins of his style.
As the Renaissance galloped its way to the Baroque and the Rococo it confronted an art of persuasion accentuated by drama, realism, bold contrast, physicality, palpability and exuberant ornamentation. Beaming with energy, this art was meant to capture the senses and awaken emotions. The figures of the painting and the viewers of art merged together to share each other’s space and time. The divine and the earthly collided.
But not everyone was happy with this encounter. A few artists decided to do away with the vigour and passions provoked by the French Revolution (1789 – 1799). They left Germany and France and marched forward to Rome – Rome, which had lost its worldly powers but not its essence of the eternal and the universal. Thus sprung forth the ‘Nazarene movement’
Their main aim was to deny the ‘materiality’ of the painting and to direct the viewer to a more abstract spiritual quality. Art to them was not a de luxe product meant to beautify private homes or sold at exhibitions. Rather they believed in art as the crib of the expression of the daily and a meditation of the heavenly.
They lived to relive the Renaissance. Quite literally! For they worked not in studios but in the monastic existence of a small cell. They took small, simple meals and met each evening in the foyer to discuss and exchange ideas. They could not afford to engage live models and hence modelled for each other. Female models were out of question for fear of impurity affecting the quality of their art. They styled their hair ‘alla Nazarena’ i.e. shoulder length parted down the middle, perhaps in an attempt to imitate Raphael or even Christ.
Christ and His Gospel was their primary subject and objective. John Bridges pursues this psychology through his painting in consideration. It is a rendezvous between faith and art. The narrative is derived from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, verses 29 to 39.
At once we encounter the perspective of space. The scene is set in a stone walled room with a linear tiled floor. A cylindrical beam supports the structure at the outside. On the inside a group of figures surround the protagonists. To our extreme right is the youthful John, his curious curls stream down his neck as his gestures attempt to anticipate the desired.
On the either side of Jesus stand the two brothers, Peter to his right and Andrew to his left. Andrew is seen comforting possibly, Peter’s father in law. Besides him stands James who lifts his hands in prayer while his eyes display astonishment. An angelic maiden kneels before the Lord, pleading in prayer and hoping in faith. Will Christ hearken her heart?
Fr. Warner D'Souza is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Bombay. He has served in the parishes of St Michael's (Mahim), St Paul's (Dadar East), Our Lady of Mount Carmel, (Bandra), a ten year stint as priest-in-charge at St Jude Church (Malad East) and at present is the Parish Priest at St Stephen's Church (Cumballa Hill). He is also the Director of the Archdiocesan Heritage Museum and is the co-ordinator of the Committee for the Promotion and Preservation of the Artistic and Historic Patrimony of the Church.
