{"id":851,"date":"2022-04-14T21:28:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-14T21:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=851"},"modified":"2025-09-29T04:20:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T04:20:41","slug":"good-friday-pieta-by-gustave-moreau-1826-1898","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=851","title":{"rendered":"Good Friday – Pieta by Gustave Moreau (1826-1898)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is the cover artwork for the Holy Week edition of the Magnificat prayer book<\/a>.  Commentary below the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mystery of Mary,<\/strong><\/span>
Mother of Jesus and Our Mother<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pierre-Marie Dumont
Front Cover Artwork<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Piet\u00e0 by Gustave Moreau (1826-1898) was painted in oils in
1876 on a small panel of wood. Although a contemporary of the
Impressionist movement, Gustave Moreau did not join it. On the
contrary, he became the leader of the Symbolists: he painted not
what he saw but what he thought, expressing it through signs
and symbols. This sketch is presented as the furtive testimony to
the spontaneous outpouring of his thought. But make no mis
take: behind this instant of genius there is a highly cultured artist
and deep preparatory reflection. Every detail of the work echoes
traditions corresponding to both pagan mythology and biblical
revelation, in the artistic expressions that were given to them over
the centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Balthazar\u2019s gift of myrrh<\/strong><\/span>
The exquisite composition of the work unfolds starting with a di
agonal line running through a mountain pass situated in the depths
of a dizzying gorge. Next it follows the edge of the outstretched
wing of an angel; then it extends following a line that passes over
the knees of the Virgin Mary, on which the shoulders of the dead
Christ are resting. This descending diagonal represents the tragedy
of human destiny which, after crossing through a valley of tears
between two steep mountains, leads inevitably to death. On a rock
beneath the angel\u2019s wing gleams the costly golden urn contain
ing the myrrh offered by the Magus-king Balthazar, which will be
used to embalm Jesus\u2019 body. The depiction of these two figures,
the tortured victim and his mother, is strongly reminiscent of the
masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance. Mary\u2019s mantle repeats the
blue of the angel\u2019s wing, signifying her divine maternity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oddly enough, Gustave Moreau shows the Holy Spirit hover
ing over the scene in the form of a dove emanating light. Many
artists have depicted a bird over the episodes in the Passion from
the deposition to Easter morning. This is the case with the last work
painted by Titian, a magnificent Piet\u00e0 with the figure of a pelican in
the background. It is also the case with the cover illustration of the
April issue of Magnificat, where Mantegna depicted an owl. As we
explain in our commentary on that work, these are references to
Psalm 102, in which the contemplative Psalmist, anguished by these
tragic scenes, is compared (mistakenly) to a pelican or (rightly) to a
bird in the Strigidae family, depending on the translation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An insight inexpressible by words<\/strong><\/span>
Might Gustave Moreau have been mistaken in repeating here
the traditional image of the Holy Spirit as he is represented in all
paintings of the Annunciation? That is very unlikely, because both
his artistic and biblical culture and the depth of his knowledge of
Christian Tradition are above suspicion. More probably the artist
meant to convey to us an original message about the deep meaning
that he intended to give to his version of the Piet\u00e0. Gustave Moreau
repeated here the traditional representation of the Holy Spirit at the
moment of the Annunciation in an attempt to express symbolically
the fruit of his meditation on the mystery. We could hazard an<\/p>\n\n\n\n

approximation, certainly a very imperfect one, of his mystical insight
by formulating one of its premises: just as Mary brought Jesus to
birth in this mortal life by the working of the Holy Spirit, so too,
since Mary was given to us as our Mother at the death of Jesus, in
a way, through the working of the Holy Spirit, she will bring us to
birth to eternal life in his Resurrection. n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the cover artwork for the Holy Week edition of the Magnificat prayer book.  Commentary below the picture. The Mystery of Mary,Mother of Jesus and Our Mother Pierre-Marie DumontFront Cover Artwork This Piet\u00e0 by Gustave Moreau (1826-1898) was painted in oils in1876 on a small panel of wood. Although a contemporary of theImpressionist movement, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=851"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12615,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851\/revisions\/12615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}