OUR LADY QUEEN OF PEACE

We must not forget that we are still celebrating the year of “The God who Speaks” as we remember the 10th anniversary of Verbum Domini https://www.cbcew.org.uk/home/events/the-god-who-speaks/. As part of this celebration there have been many events and projects. One of them explores the Bible and Art. Harriet, a parishioner of OLQP, has been involved and contributed to the Visual Commentary on Scripture. It is really worth looking at this on-line exhibition. She writes below: “As an art historian and curator, I found writing for the Visual Commentary on Scriptures (VCS) both a privilege and a challenge. An online publication comprising mini-exhibitions, the VCS provides theological commentary on the Bible in dialogue with works of art. As an invited author you are asked by the Theology department at King’s College London to choose a Bible passage and three works of art that ‘speak’ to it. The images do not have to be a direct illustration of the passage, indeed (and arguably) abstract art can better express the mysterious, revelatory qualities of the Bible. The final ‘comparative commentary’ enables the author to discuss all three artworks together in relation to the text.” “It was difficult to decide whether I wanted take as my starting point either, a bible passage or an image, and I spent a long time reading and thinking about both. I then remembered Tobias and the Angel, Workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio (National Gallery, London) and everything fell into place. I’d always loved the painting, especially the way Tobias’s thumb touches Archangel Raphael’s wrist. I thought the tiny glass roundel which was found in a Roman catacomb depicting the moment Tobias seizes the fish, was beautiful and became fascinated by commentaries which read the formation of glass from sand as a metaphor for the Resurrection. For me, sight and not-seeing are integral to the canvas by Jack B. Yeats and are of course, fundamental concepts in the passage I selected. The significance of these observations will be clearer if you read my commentary: https://thevcs.org/tobias-and-angel. Please don’t stop with mine though, there are many exhibitions to view, and all of them are thought-provoking.” With my prayers for you each day. God bless you.