A picture is worth a thousand words. The Visitation of these two pregnant women,
Mary and Elizabeth, is a favorite topic for religious artists throughout the
Renaissance and even down to our own time.
You can find on the Internet a variety of Visitation images,
a few where the artist took the liberty of depicting some kind of x-ray imaging
of the mothers’ wombs. Clearly pictured the wombs contain the boys
almost as if they are ready to play with one another. Elizabeth’s boy should be leaping for joy; one
image, however, has him bowing across the stomachs in adoration to his
yet-to-be-born kin and Lord.
Brother Mickey McGrath, Oblate of Saint Francis de Sales, has
a wonderful painting he calls the Windsock Visitation. He depicts two African women in full colorful
dress, one older and one younger, as appropriate, joyfully greeting one another. He often includes a text in his paintings and
the margin of this painting includes the words “This is the place of our
delight and rest.”
The McGrath image has a subtle treatment of the x-ray
motif. He agrees with the concept that these holy pregnancies require more than the usual
rounded stomach and overlays some colored spirals of cloth that come together
as the women embrace one another.
No comments:
Post a Comment