Today, May 2nd, is the “Memorial” day of St. Athanasius, a Doctor (profound theologian) of the Church. There are four “giants” of the Nicene and Post Nicene period, all are known as […]
Sacred Icons and Sacred Images – the Nicene Debate Continues!
I would like to thank one of my readers who identified the contemporary icon of St. Spyridon (thanks Carol!). The iconographer is the Catholic priest William Hart McNichols. He is a very […]
St. Athanasius and St. Spyridon: A Correction and Another Interpretation – Let’s Take A Closer Look!
I am always very appreciative of my readers writing to me and providing new information and interpretations of sacred icons and images. Happily, that occurred last evening when a reader, Mr. John […]
St. Athanasius – Coptic and Eastern Orthodox Icons
St. Athanasius of Alexandria was “the Lion” of the Council of Nicaea. He was instrumental in providing well argued testimony rebuking the heretic Arius during the Council’s debates. His verbal skills, as […]
Saint Nicholas Slaps a Heretic! A Reflection Appropriate for Palm Sunday
The extensive Gospel reading for Palm Sunday relates the Scriptural and historical truth that Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem, yet, five days later He was arrested, put on trial, tortured, and executed. As […]
Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32. The Prodigal: Which Brother Are We?
I once heard a friend repeat a quote by the author Katherine Mansfield: If you wish to live, you must first attend your own funeral.” How true. We begin to live life […]
Luke: 16: 19-31 – Is Lazarus in Your House?
This passage from the Gospel of St. Luke is a parable about a destitute man named Lazarus and a rich man, who at times is called by the name Dives (the word dives […]
Christ in the Wilderness: Lent – the Season of Preparation – Luke 4: 1-2.
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing […]
Icons – Important Similarities/Differences
Can you pick out the seven similarities between the two sacred icons of Church Apologists that are below? The differences? Let’s take a look at the two icons above. Both are […]
Christian Witness and Sacred Art – The Early Church Fathers – Part 7
A Challenge: Are you as a Christian artist willing to internalize the message of the saint, scene, or Scripture passage you are artistically representing, and then, correctly portray it according to Church […]
Amazing Grace – Amazing Piano!
Okay, we have reached Wednesday, the supposed day that if we can just get through it we will be on the downward slide toward the weekend. In an attempt to put a […]
Roman Catholic Sacred Art – Three Major Stages
Allow me to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I can do that because, liturgically, we are still in the Christmas Season! That Season ends this Sunday […]
Art Schematic of Church Painting
This is an easier way to view the material within yesterday’s post. Copyright © 2011- 2018 Deacon Paul O. Iacono All Rights Reserved
Roman Catholic Sacred Art – Categories
Tonight we will use yesterday’s post as a starting point to examine Roman Catholic painting. I mentioned that there are seven disciplines within the definition of Art. One of those disciplines is […]
St. Joseph’s Art Workshop: Lesson 4 – Applying Color and Modeling the Face
Just wanted to notify the people who are following the art lessons in my St. Joseph Art Workshop tab that I just published Lesson 4: Applying Color and Modeling the Face. You […]
Fra Angelico and the Armadio degli Argenti – Part 3 of the “Heaven on Earth” Exhibition
Today’s post is Part 3 in my series that began on May 16, 2018 concerning the recently concluded exhibition of extraordinary egg tempera paintings by Fra Angelico. The exhibition was held at […]
St. Joseph’s Art Workshop – Lesson 3 – Applying Pigment
To all those that have expressed interest in the FREE on-line sacred art workshop that I am offering here at fraangelicoinstitute.com please note that yesterday I posted Lesson 3 in Exercise 1: […]
Fra Angelico – “Heaven on Earth” Exhibition – Part 2 – Ascension, Pentecost, the Last Judgement
I hope you had a blessed Feast of Pentecost! Please read Part 1 of “Fra Angelico – Heaven on Earth” (posted here on May 16, 2018) in order to receive a proper […]
Fra Angelico – The “Heaven on Earth” Exhibition – Part 1
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts is the only venue in America for the extraordinary “Fra Angelico: Heaven on Earth” exhibition. This amazing collection of reliquaries which express the life […]
St. Joseph’s Art Workshop, Lesson 2: Obtaining, Drawing, and Applying the Sacred Image to A Panel
If you click on the Tab in the Menu titled St. Joseph’s Art Workshop, and scroll down, you will find my recent addition (as of April 26, 2018) on painting a sacred […]
St. Joseph’s Art Workshop – Part 3: Pigments and Mediums
Good day, I just posted, starting at # 8 in the list, Part 3: Pigments and Mediums, required to paint the sacred image. Please note that the pigments in bold face are […]
St. Joseph’s Art Workshop: Part 1 and 2 – Materials
I just posted Part 1 and 2, which deals with the materials needed to paint a sacred image. It can be found within the St. Joseph’s Art Workshop tab in the Menu […]
The Canon of a Catholic Sacred Artist
Allow me to suggest to my fellow Catholic sacred artists a “canon” of ten fundamental propositions. These ideas and proposals are my personal musings. They assist me in organizing my thoughts and […]
Jesus Our Savior – An Image that is a Work in Progress
I have the happy service of presenting a new workshop to interested adults from Massachusetts and Rhode Island beginning on Saturday February 14th, 2015. In an attempt to give everyone individual attention […]
Link to the Film Within the Post: The Sacred Artist’s Cultivation of Silence
A few readers have emailed me to say that they are having a problem linking to the film mentioned in yesterday’s post. Since many subscribers receive these postings through their email address the […]
The Sacred Artist’s Cultivation of Silence
I recently received a post from the always challenging and informative blog entitled Catholicism Pure and Simple. It features a short film by the Benedictine monk Abbot Christopher Jamison, O.S.B. In this […]
Albert Lapierre – Sacred Artist and Iconographer
This past July I had the pleasure of restoring an icon that was written by the fine artist, Albert Lapierre, from Attleboro, Massachusetts. It is a beautifully done and was commissioned by […]
Lesley Green – A Rhode Island Sacred Artist
One of the great blessings the Lord has granted me is the privilege of meeting so many wonderful people who are interested in studying and creating sacred art. An example of this […]
Eugene Burnand and The Greatest Easter Painting Ever Made | Crisis Magazine
Clicking on the attached link found below produces an excellent article by Elise Ehrhard in Crisis Magazine describing the Swiss painter Eugène Burnand’s late 19th century masterpiece The Disciples Peter and John Running to […]
Beautiful Russian Sacred Icons at the New Haven Knights of Columbus Museum
If you are in the vicinity of New Haven, Connecticut within the next two weeks take the opportunity to stop by the Knights of Columbus Museum for their magnificent exhibit entitled “Windows […]
Correction on Medieval Graffiti Post
It has come to my attention that the links for today’s post that was sent by email to my subscribers are not appropriately linking to Matt Champion’s or Robin Stummers’ articles in The […]
Medieval Graffiti in English Churches – The Case of John Lydgate, O.S.B.
A fascinating series of articles came to my attention today by Tatjana Jovanovic, a top contributor of a Linkedin group called Medieval and Renaissance Art, Antiques, Architecture, Archaeology, History and Music. Her article […]
A Recent Art Workshop Leads to Another! – The Fra Angelico Institute
This past month the Fra Angelico Institute for the Sacred Arts was happy to sponsor a two day workshop. The purpose of this workshop was to introduce people to the idea that […]
Christ in the Wilderness, a Russian Artist, and a Challenge
In the late 19th century a Russian painter, the noted portraitist, draughtsman, and teacher Ivan Kramskoi painted a haunting image of Jesus alone in the desert. It is a painting which expresses […]
Sin and the Sacred Artist
Our society is quite adept at pointing out the sins and foolishness of others. Cable TV, radio talk shows, and various web sites love to dwell on the ignorant and immoral actions […]
PREPARE! Bruno Mars in Light of Matthew 5: 13-16
If you had the opportunity to watch the Super Bowl half-time show last weekend you saw that there were a number of symbolic messages that were being sent by the producers and […]
Baptism, Discipleship, and the Art of Lorenzo Lotto
In our Gospel last week we stood at the banks of the Jordan River and witnessed Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. Today we hear John announce to all that the Spirit of […]
“The Nativity” – Presented by the Jim and Jane Henson Family Puppets – Christmas Eve on CBS
Floridian Sean Keohane, a member of the Fra Angelico Institute for the Sacred Arts, and a participant in the beautiful CBS/Paulist Production of “The Nativity” sent me the following information on an […]
Sun Rainbow Photos by Joan Weist
Joan Weist, a good friend of ours here in South Kingstown, Rhode Island was doing some gardening on Saturday afternoon May 18, 2013 and her neighbor brought to her attention an amazing […]
Roger of Helmarshausen O.S.B. – Theophilus the Presbyter: Part 3 – The Prologues
Last February, in Parts 1 and 2 of this article, I shared with you some thoughts on an important figure in the history of Western European art: the Benedictine monk, Roger of […]
Aidan Hart’s New Book on Sacred Iconography
The article below is reblogged from the always informative Orthodox Arts Journal. The article is the 9th in a series about sacred iconography that was written by Brother Aidan Hart, a British […]
St. Peter’s Affirmation of His Love for Christ Is A Model for Us
In our Scriptures for the 3rd Sunday of Easter we have the extraordinary contrast of St. Peter’s deeds in the first reading with that of his behavior in our Gospel. In the first […]
Evgeny Baranov’s Miniature Icons and Rashid and Inessa Azbuhanov Icon Carvings
My sincere thanks to Jonathan Pageau at the Orthodox Arts Journal, http://www.orthodoxartsjournal.org/, for permission to repost his wonderful presentation of the sacred icon miniatures of Russian artist Evgeny Baranov and the spectacular icon wood […]
The Last Supper – Jesus as Servant, Christ as Sacrifice: An Evening Meditation
At the Last Supper, on the night He was betrayed, our Savior entrusted to His Church the memorial of His death and resurrection. This memorial came to us through the Institution of […]
Theophilus, the Art of Iconography, and the Contemporary Sacred Artist – Part 2
Please take a moment to read the first part of this multi-part essay that I posted a few days ago. I am requesting that you do this in order for you to […]
St. Teresa of Avila – On Love
On October 15th we celebrate the Memorial of the great Spanish saint and the first woman declared a “Doctor of the Church” – Teresa of Jesus, also known as Teresa of Avila. […]
The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today is the memorial of the Queenship of Mary. Through the centuries, sacred icons and images have expressed the Queenship and Coronation of the Holy Theotokos – the Mother of God. The […]
St. Lawrence – Archdeacon and Servant of Christ
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Lawrence, a deacon and third century martyr. St. Lawrence was one of the seven deacons of Rome who served as the Pope’s ministers during Holy Mass […]
Fr. Richard Reiser’s Beautiful Icon of the Transfiguration
The article that is found below my opening comments, and the image of the Transfiguration, is reblogged, through the courtesy of Fr. Richard Reiser, pastor of St. James Catholic Church Omaha, Nebraska. […]
We Receive and Give Awards – We Are Deeply Touched!
The Fra Angelico Institute for the Sacred Arts is truly honored to receive three blogging awards. Teresa Rice at Catholiclibertarian has nominated this blog for three awards: The Illuminating Blogger Award, The […]
