· Spatial art—art that
exists in the natural, physical world, art that lives in two and three
dimensions, art that we build, shape, mold, wear, touch, embrace and even kneel
before, is an essential aspect of this reflection. Lectionary: 247: “They have
turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten
calf and worshipping it…”
Spiritual
and historical inquiry based on the worshipping of depraved objects and craven
images—particularly in the Lenten season—such as a smelted golden calf as
mentioned above, might provoke the following question: Q: What is the
difference between praying through an object of veneration and praying to an
object of idolatry?
Here is
an anecdotal response to the dilemma of venerating or worshipping objects that
are cabalistic. When we ask (for example) the Blessed Mother to intervene on
our behalf on an issue pertaining to (let’s say) a specific failing as a moral
agent (did we lie to someone, did we steal something?) we might appeal to Mary
through a revered object such as Tintoretto’s timeless masterpiece, The
Annunciation I. Tintoretto’s oil
painting—a recreation of Mary’s terrifying ordeal at the hands of what seems to
be an exterminating angel—but is actually a centennial—is both a point of
departure (a point of anxiety) and a point of reentry (a point of safe return)
for Mary. That is, Mary is both frightened and relieved of her anxiety in the
same moment. Accordingly, logically, this is both an ordeal and an event that
the disconsolate petitioner can relate to—fear and salvation in one stroke of
Tintoretto’s immaculate brush. A model for spiritual and communicative inquiry
might look like this:
Inconsolable > Tintoretto/Annunciation > Mary/Intervention > Salvation
· So Again: Q: What is
the difference between praying through an object of veneration and praying to
an object of veneration?
· A: The difference
between praying through an object of veneration and praying to an object of
idolatry is not subtle. The former is an act of humility; the latter is an act
of obsession, an act of extreme hunger and thirst—an act of indulgence and
perhaps depravity. These differences—humility and depravity—are not obscure. We
as educated, informed, Christians and members of the Roman Rite do not pray to
objects; rather, we live in objects, we live in our shared forms and
experiences; we live in the ordeals of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and the
recreation of those ordeals by master-builders such as Tintoretto. Moses was
many things, but he was not one of the ten greatest painters that ever lived.
Tintoretto was and remains a painter of remarkable compassion. Let’s always
remember this. Especially at the Paschal season.
Timothy
Virgil Dugan, D.Litt.
Associate
Professor of Communication Arts
I
Tintoretto. The
Annunciation. 1583-1587. Oil on canvas. Scuolo di San Rocco, Venice. Late
Renaissance. Mannerism. 422 x 545.
 |
| The Annunciation, Tintoretto |
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