A Journey into Christian Art

by Helen de Borchgrave

Depicts the methods used by Christian artists, including mosaic, paint, and stone, over a 2,000-year period to portray their search for spirituality.

Genres: Art, Religion, Christianity

223 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This art book was published in 1999, and gives a very good overview of the state of Christian Art from the days of the catacombs of Rome to the late twentieth century. It is the kind of book that, if I did not respect it, I would be tempted to take plates out to frame them. And I loved reading this book.

In the very early days of Christian art, the focus was on the Resurrection; it was not until things settled down after the Church became official that the Cross became a focus of Art. The Mosaics of Ravenna are featured, along with the early Italian artists. The Wilton Diptych is given prominence, along with Fra Angelico and Piero della Francesca. After a visit to the Fleming artists, we are back in Italy with Leonardi da Vinci, Raphael, Michaelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto, El Greco, Caravaggio, and the Dutch artists Peter Paul Ruebens and Rembrandt. After the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation the emphasis is on British artists, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais. Jean-François Millet of France and Vincent Van Gogh get mention. We then move to post War art done by John Singer Sargent, Stanley Spencer, Cicely Mary Barker, and Henry Moore. One fault I have with the book is that the author mentions paintings or aspects of paintings for which she did not provide illustrations; one can use Google to see the paintings in question, but it is a fault. And while she did cover paintings in Europe and Eastern Europe, I think Christian fine art can be found in Africa, the Americas, Russia, and Asia.

This was a very good volume of art, and one that I enjoyed reading.

[Dominik Wrześniak · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, this book contains significant number of factual errors, ranging from minor (like calling the Dominicans “monks”) to major (according to the author, Mausoleum of Galla Placidi in Ravenna plan was based on the Latin cross, whereas in fact it was the Greek cross). I came across these inconsistencies in the Polish translation, so maybe they don’t occur in the English version, though it seems unlikely. Either way, I don’t recommend this book, since one can find way better, mistake-free publications that would introduce him to the subject of art (e.g E. H. Gombrich “The Story of Art”).

[Carla Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful writing and a great selection of art. There is a special reverence for faith by this author and the connection between faith and art is brought out in such a lovely way that this has been a book of devotional quality for me.