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Elizabeth Atherton

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My post about the Maya vessel proved so popular that I thought I’d do a few more art history posts. Today I want to talk about another of my favorite works, “The Apparition of Saint Peter to Saint Peter Nolasco”, by Francisco de Zurbaran in 1629. The Spanish Baroque has qualities you’ll see in the Italian Baroque—maybe these big, photorealistic bodies make you think of Caravaggio. And yet the Spanish Baroque is singular. Caravaggio’s black backgrounds are luxurious, the fat dark of the stage outside the spotlight—his handsome bodies pose. Here something else happens. This is my theory: study this painting and you’ll see the hallmarks of Spanish mysticism, characteristic of Spanish Catholic thought and distinct from any other culture, especially the gorgeous Italian. The background here is an austere roil, ceding focus to the matter of the human bodies’ exercise, which is ascendance. This theory of mine was dismissed contemptuously by a professor when I was younger, and so I never pursued it farther than an undergrad paper—maybe someday I will write it longform. (As a side note, did you know that Saint Peter is typically depicted as having been crucified upside-down? I wonder how many edgy occultists know that they’re wearing the Petrine cross!) #baroque #baroqueart #spanishart #catholicart
Hedgehog / Augustine
Knock knock. Let me in your country
Friends, I am making a responsible social-distancing choice. I am moving into the bole of a pine with a family of raccoons. I read My Side of the Mountain and so I feel I am prepared
Cosmoprof
A selfie from one haircut ago ft. a familiar snake / lady
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