Monday, October 03, 2011

Old Testament Scenes and Figures in Art

We have often made comment here on the NLM about the importance of familiarity with the Old Testament. Too often does it seem that the Old Testament is forgotten or given a cursory glance at best -- indeed, I can recall recently overhearing a Catholic parent discussing the fact that he wanted a book of bible stories for his children in order to teach them the events of sacred scripture (so far so good!) but he then quickly added, "well, what I really want are the bible stories from the New Testament." Obviously he should want the stories from the New Testament of course, but as the conversation continued it became reasonably evident that, to him, the bible stories from the Old Testament were apparently not of major interest or concern -- or at least non-essential and optional. How unfortunate! His children are being potentially deprived of some of the most colourful stories of salvation history, indeed stories of their Faith -- and the same can be said generally, young and old alike.

Aside from the lack of familiarity with salvation history that comes with such a blind-spot, many related insights and truths can be lost as well. As Fr. Aidan Nichols noted in his wonderful book, Lovely Like Jerusalem, a "grasp of the great lines of Scripture, both Old and New Testament, is vital to a Christian culture..." He further commented that the study of biblical typology "enables a unitary reading of the Bible, Old and New Testament alike, and a reading, moreover, which chimes with that found in the Church's liturgical feasts and texts." In short, there are a variety of reasons why we should not only be aware of the events and figures of the Old Testament, but that we should want to be aware of the same, instead of viewing them as secondary, non-essential frills.

This is one of the significant reasons why, over the years, we've tried to make our readers aware of the presence of the prophets and righteous of the Old Testament as seen through the liturgical year. As part of this, we've shown you various examples and Old Testament scenes in Christian art, and this is something we hope to continue to pursue.

This brings me to the subject of today's piece. I was quite interested to receive a copy of a book published a few years back by the Getty Museum, Old Testament Figures in Art:


Like a similar book I also received from Getty, Icons and Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church, I find this book extremely useful as a condensed visual guide to (predominantly) Christian art showing Old Testament figures and scenes, and also for the reason of some of the contextual information provided with the depictions, most especially the inclusion of the relevant biblical sources. The book is also neatly organized into particular events and figures; a very handy aspect in its own right.

NLM readers may also be interested to know that the art shown within comes from a variety of periods, from mosaic work and work in the iconographic tradition, to medieval illuminations, renaissance and baroque masters, and even a bit of representation from the likes of the contemporary Jewish artist, Marc Chagall. (Though the significant majority comes from the aforementioned periods rather than the modern period.)

If you would like to browse within the pages of the book to get a better sense of its contents, organization and layout, may I recommend Google Books.


The Creation of the Stars, Monreale, Sicility

At the very minimum this book can provide you with a visual catalogue of the great events and figures of the Old Testament as pictured these past two millenia, but it might also serve as a tool for your own reference and study.

More recent articles:


The Annunciation 2025: Dante and the Virgin Mary
The specific date of birth of the great poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) is unknown, but this Thursday, March 27th, is the anniversary of his baptism, which took place during the Easter vigil of 1266. The language which we call “Italian” today originated as the dialect of his native region of Tuscany (more specifically, of the city of Florence, but...

The Messenger Angel
Anonymous, the Archangel Gabriel, depicted on the predella of the high altar at the subsidiary church of Pesenbach, Upper Austria, 1495In the traditional Roman calendar, the feast days of saints are sometimes clustered together to form archipelagos of holiness that allow the faithful to meditate longer on a sacred mystery. These archipelagos do not...

The Third Sunday of Lent 2025
At that time: Jesus was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb: and when he had cast out the devil, the dumb spoke: and the multitudes were in admiration at it: But some of them said: He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. And others tempting, asked of him a sign from heaven. But he seeing their thoughts, said to them: Every ...

Pictures of Montecassino Abbey
Following up on yesterday’s post of pictures of the crypt of Montecassino Abbey, here are some of the main church and some of the things around it, starting with the most important part of it, the burial site of St Benedict and his sister St Scholastica, behind the high altar.As I am sure our readers know, Montecassino Abbey was heavily bombed duri...

The Prodigal Son in the Liturgy of Lent
In his commentary on the Gospel of St Matthew, St Jerome writes as follows about the parable of the two sons who are ordered by their father to go and work in the vineyard (21, 28-32). “These are the two sons who are described in Luke’s parable, the frugal (or ‘virtuous’) and the immoderate (or ‘wanton’).” He then connects these two sons with the f...

Another Chant for the Byzantine Liturgy of the Presanctified
Now the powers of heaven invisibly worship with us, for behold, the King of Glory entereth! Behold, the mystical sacrifice, being perfected, is carried forth in triumph. With faith and love, let us come forth, that we may become partakers of eternal life, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! (Recording by the Lviv Archeparchial Clergy Choir.) Нині сили ...

The Crypt of Montecassino Abbey
For the feast of St Benedict, here are some pictures of the crypt of the abbey of Montecassino, the site where he ended his days. The crypt was built in the early 16th century, and originally decorated with frescoes, but by the end of the 19th century, these had deteriorated so badly from the humidity that they were deemed unsalvageable. The decisi...

An Interview with Fr Uwe Michael Lang on Liturgy
I am sure that our readers will enjoy this interview with the liturgical scholar Fr Uwe Michael Lang of the London Oratory, which was recently published on the YouTube channel of the Totus Tuus Apostolate. It covers a wide range of subjects: Pope Benedict’s teaching on the liturgy, the liturgical abuses in the post-Conciliar period and our own time...

Dives and Lazarus in the Liturgy of Lent
Before the early eighth century, the church of Rome kept the Thursdays of Lent (with the obvious exception of Holy Thursday) and the Saturdays after Ash Wednesday and Passion Sunday as “aliturgical” days. (The term aliturgical refers, of course, only to the Eucharistic liturgy, not to the Divine Office.) This is attested in the oldest liturgical bo...

The Feast of St Joseph 2025
Truly it is worthy and just... eternal God: Who didst exalt Thy most blessed Confessor Joseph with such great merits of his virtues, that by the wondrous gift of Thy grace, he merited to be made the Spouse of the most holy Virgin Mary, and be thought the father of Thy only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Wherefore, venerating the day of his b...

For more articles, see the NLM archives: