Happy New Year 2017

Simply learn that life is a Book, Everyday is a new Page, Every month is a new Chapter, and Every year is a new Series!

Wish You A New Year 2017

Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence

Caravaggio (b. Michelangelo Merisi or Amerighi, Italian, 1571-1610) - Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence, c.1600-09 (Oil on canvas. It was stolen on October 18, 1969 from the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo, Sicily) - Caravaggio is always original. His Mary is in disarray, slumping back in exhaustion like any woman who has just given birth. Joseph gazes unblinkingly at the little form on the floor -  new life, full of promise. The shepherds crowd around, talking among themselves. An angel hovers overhead, holding the banner that proclaims 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo' - Glory to God in the Highest…

The Nativity

Federico Barrocci (Italian, c. 1526-1612) - The Nativity, c. 1597 (Oil on canvas, Prado Museum, Madrid) - Of all the many thousands of nativity scenes in western art, this one is among the most tenderly maternal. Mary kneels humbly before her God, but she is equally full of love for her newborn baby. Mother and child gaze into each other’s eyes and the whole composition emphasises their mutual bond. The art of Barrocci, until recently one of the most overlooked of Italian masters, was especially popular with women in his lifetime and it is not hard to see why from this nativity, in which the radiant child illuminates the exquisitely loving face of Mary…