Humans are needy. We need things: keepsakes, stuff, tokens, tchotchkes, knickknacks, bits and pieces, junk and treasure. We carry special objects in our pockets and purses, or place them on shelves and desks in our homes and offices. As profane and ordinary as the objects may be, they can also be extraordinary. Some things even become Read more
A Vatican monsignor arrested on a money-smuggling charge lived in such luxury that police were shocked when they visited his apartment and saw his art treasures. “We asked ourselves how did this monsignor come to own this place and possess these expensive works of art,” an investigator said. Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, who lived in an Read more
French photographer Léo Caillard visualised a project which brings a little modern flair to some perfectly sculpted, centuries-old masterpieces. To create this project called Street Stone, Caillard first photographed the statues and then he photographed his friends in similar poses, wearing selected trendy outfits. Using digital manipulation, and with some photo retouching assistance from French art Read more
A controversial Russian artist is using blood donated by Catholics in politically motivated art works being exhibited in Northern Ireland. In Andrei Molodkin’s “Catholic Blood” exhibition, freshly donated human blood from a pharmaceutical refrigerator is pumped through a replica of the rose window adorning the façade of the British Houses of Parliament. In an adjoining Read more
The Vatican will take part for the first time this year in the Venice Biennale, a contemporary art exhibition with a reputation for avant-garde works. The theme of the Vatican’s pavilion, “Creation, Un-Creation and Re-Creation”, will have the aim of promoting modern dialogue on faith. It will use the first 11 chapters of the Book Read more
The Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments has been restructured. The main change is an office to promote the development and use of appropriate liturgical art, architecture and music. The office will provide advice, encouragement and guidance, but it will not attempt to impose specific styles, according to Marist Father Anthony Ward, undersecretary Read more
The recent death of the Art historian Leo Steinberg has revived interest in his controversial book “The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion.” The book grew out of a question that had apparently occurred to no other modern scholar: Why is it that in so many Renaissance paintings of the Madonna and Child, Read more