Cathedrals and an inner life

Dreams of rooms and interiors. Always thought that the interior of Flemish cathedrals reflected a state of mind.
Antwerp Cathedral has two Rubens' masterpieces. In The descent from the Cross below: Christ is dead and all life has gone from him yet he is still the source of light and centre of the painting despite the brilliant colours of people's clothes around him. (Cannot take credit for this brilliant thought - it was drawn to my attention this morning.)

Thoughts on pilgrimage from Gerard W. Hughes

En route to and from Antwerp reading Gerard Hughes' thoughts on pilgrimage in his book In Search of a Way/Two journeys of Discovery...

Blake: 'Great things are done when men and mountains meet.'

The challenge when travelling is to work out what NOT to take: a suitcase and possessions form an identity.

Gerard Manley Hopkins' black sonnets: a mental point of reference.

Walking is for contemplation, not meditation

Gerard Hughes had been University chaplain in Glasgow. His thoughts on his students' faith:

- what use is a God of 'wrath and vengeance, only interested in failure and sin'?

- a frequent hidden resentment of a God who would not let them be - but instead controlled/directed/judged

- the nature of prayer is not thinking. 

Frequently quotes Hilaire Belloc's The Path to Rome

A colleague advised a ten minute rest every hour on long distance walks, and walking the first hour in silence

On a meeting in Paris with Bernard, an elderly man whose insistence on talking and introducing him to friends/acquaintances irritates him because it delays him on his way. He later regrets this:

"Our whole life and character is contained in any incident, no matter how trivial it seems. In the peace of this forest I caught a glimpse of myself in the meeting with Brenard and I did not like it. "

Saint Ignatius at one stage of his life signed himself 'The Pilgrim'.

One of many thoughts from the Gospels: Unless you lose your life you cannot find it.

The greatest commandment of some Catholic priests: 'Thou shalt not rock the boat'.

"We need mystics far more than theologians; poets and artists far more than we need lawyers or industrialists, city planned or politicians. The New Society, if it is not to be more hideous than the old, needs spiritual more than economic growth, education in contemplation rather than schooling in manipulation of the world's resources and of each other."

"On the road, as an anonymous human being, I became more sensitive to people's reactions, whether of acceptance or rejection. Kindess elated me; suspicion, which was frequent especially in france, or hostility, which I encountered only once, depressed me."

"Sometimes a phrase from one of the psalms or prayers would strike me and keep returning to my mind during the day, but it had to be something very simple. Its slow rhythmic repetition in time with my steps would still my mind."

"I am told that there are roads in Spain where the distance between places are measured by the number of rosaries you can say."

"I suddenly felt very sorry, not so much at this particular incident, but for all the harsh words I had ever spoken and all the hurt I had caused, especially to friends. We do not have each other for long."

En famille in Antwerp

Jan Vekemans/Cornelis de Vos

Elisabeth Vekemans/Cornelis de Vos

Maria Vekemans/Cornelis de Vos

Maria Vekemans/Cornelis de Vos

Portrait of Joris Vekemans/Cornelis de Vos

All at the Museum Mayer van den Bergh: merchant riches and family affection. Made me think of Veronese's portraits of Iseppo da Porto and his family living in another vastly wealthy port.

Good Friday and a story of sacrifice in Sancreed

Good Friday - and like John Donne we are travelling west, not east.

Hence is't, that I am carryed towards the West

This day, when my Soules forme bends toward the East.

Spring in the graveyard at Sancreed Church - and inside a meemorial

It's a monument to Alexander Stanhope Forbes, son of the famous painter William Alexander Stanhope Forbes.

He was killed weeks after arriving in France in 1916. His father had painted a portrait of him before he left, but the paint had not dried by the time of his death.

This cross was erected where he died on ground subsequently lost to the Germans. When the position was re-taken, the cross was found intact and eventually transported back here to Sancreed.

Earlier in the week, went back to the Royal Academy to see the Rubens exhibition.

Some paintings for Good Friday there.

More about Alexander Stanhope Forbes

FORBES, William Alexander Stanhope (Alec). Second Lieutenant. 1st Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Enlisted in early 1916 and selected for officer training. Originally commissioned into the Military Forwarding Establishment but then transferred to DCLI. On or about 29th August 1916 he crossed to France and joined 1 DCLI with four other young 2nd Lieutenants. On 3rd September 1916 the Battalion took part in the final attack on the notorious Guillemont strong point. The village of Guillemont had been totally razed by shellfire but, because it represented vital tactical ground had been very heavily defended. Already three major attacks had been thwarted at considerable cost of life. This fourth attack was entirely successful and was accomplished with comparatively few casualties. However, amongst those who were killed was Alec Stanhope Forbes, age 23, together with three of the four newly joined subalterns (W.T. Hichens, E. G. T. Kitson and J.G. Teague) who had accompanied him to France. Educated at Bedales College. He was a student of the Royal Architectural Association. Only son of Stanhope Alexander Forbes (Artist) and Elizabeth Adela Forbes (Artist) of Higher Faugan, Newlyn. Interred in Guillemont Road Cemetery, Guillemont, France. Listed on Newlyn War Memorial, on family plaque within Sancreed Church, on Paul Church War Memorial, Tredavoe Methodist Church Memorial and in Penzance Book of Remembrance. On his headstone in Guillemont his parents added the following inscription:- He saw beyond the filth of battle and thought death a fair price to pay to belong to the company of these fellows.

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The Pilgrim's Prayer and the Camino de Santiago

Thinking about the next few months - and plans - possibly a pilgrimage to the Camino de Santiago.

Hadn't been on Ship of Fools for some time - years even!
And was interested to read that 'Augustine the Aleut', one of the site's most seasoned Mystery Worshippers (too hard to explain! you have to go to the site to understand more) had walked the Camino.

He writes with such ease and concludes his report on on the Cathedral in Santiago with the Pilgrim's Prayer...

"Lord, you called your servant Abraham out of Ur of Chaldea and watched over him in all his wanderings; you guided the Jewish people through the desert: we ask you to watch over your servants here who, for love of your name, make the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Be for us, a companion on the journey, direction at our crossroads, strength in our fatigue, a shelter in danger, resource on our travels, shadow in the heat, light in the dark, consolation in our dejection, and the power of our intention; so that with your guidance, safely and unhurt, we may reach the end of our journey and, strengthened with gratitude and power, secure and happy, may return to our homes, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Apostle James, pray for us. Holy Virgin, pray for us."

Renaissance spring

Hazy early morning sunshine at the Botanical gardens in Padua - and these tiny spring flowers are VERY Renaissance.

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Pastels in Padua

On market stalls, in restaurants - and of course in the amazing frescoes.

Mosaics: the colours at St Mark's

St Mark's, Venice and the mosaics close up.
Here - samples of the colours used.

Terracotta at the Frari

A chilly afternoon despite the sunshine in Venice. At the Frari there are so many shades of terracotta. Famously in theTitian over the altar (the largest altarpiece in Venice). Here in these tulips and freesias too. And, of course, it's the colour of the marble underfoot - and of  the beams that seem to hold the church together.
Remember hearing Fiona Shaw talking about tthe Titian this time last year, just before Easter - The Testament of Mary was about to start at the Barbican.
Curiously then, like this year, I'd just been reading Carole Stone. This year it's The Celibate Season - an epistolary novel she wrote with Blanche Howard.
Very interested to read an article suggesting the origin of  'a celibate season' came from St Paul in a letter to the Corinthians; celibacy offers the chance for reflection and prayer, he says.
The few celibate people that I've known have been very wise - as if being removed from the hurly burly of passion offers the chance for deep thought.
But St Paul does advise against abstaining for long - 'that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency'.

Silk, Veronese and a street market

Wonderful to see Veronese's dazzling ceiling paintings of Saint Esther at San Sebastiano (VEroniese's parish church) in Venice.....the usual stormy skies and swirling rich fabrics.... then this heap of brocades in a nearby street stall....

 

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Snow on Trafalgar Square

Spring sunshine - at last.
Though inside the National Gallery there are lots of snow scenes at the Inventing Impressionism exhibition. Very exhilarating paintings and not really about winter at all - all that light is more about adventure and promise perhaps.

Fox Hill, Upper Norwood/Camille Pisarro

The Train in the Snow/Claude Monet

Lavacourt under Snow/Claude Monet

The Watering Place at Marly-le-Roi/Albert Sisley

Mother/daughter faux fur

So loved this pair sitting in front of me on the way home in the bus.
Mother (I think) and daughter, reunited - the daughter - with her yellow wheely suitcase (hidden) had clearly been away for a few days.
They laid their heads on each other's shoulders from time to time, both wearing lovely fur jackets - such a bond - such companionship and love.

Prep for a journey to Venice

Planning a trip to Venice in a couple of weeks - go almost annually now. Is this a pilgrimage? Is any journey made on a regular journey a pilgrimage? What is 'homage'?
Pilgrimages are not, of course, always religious.
Canaletto's paintings at the National Gallery take the breath away.

Later a friend gives me a book by Jan Morris on Carpaccio - which J.M. light-heartedly dismisses as a 'self indulgent caprice' but which really points to the depth of his paintings.
Great spring flowers here to lift the spirit: and an intense attention to detail, as in Canaletto.
Everything seen in a clear and bright light. A great metaphor for looking at life.

Poetry for the tube

White City tube station is not the most poetic place. But maybe there's always poetry in a journey

London Transport certainly thinks so.

Flowers at the dentist

Lots of journeys: one to a potential root canal appointment not the most pleasant.
Flowers in the dentist waiting room lift the spirits, I must say. Ill or tired: flowers are always good.

More about a Hinge Feast

Candlemas.. ..more about a 'hinge feast'. Love the idea of being at a mid point between Christmas and Easter -- birth and death.. .
From Lucy Winkett's sermon at St James's Piccadilly (these sermons are available to download from the church website - an amazing idea):

And today is a hinge day in the liturgical
year. With Simeon’s words to Mary
foreshadowing the tragedy of Jesus’s life,
we turn today from the cradle to the cross.

More spring flowers for the sick

What a miracle. The irises have come into bloom since Saturday.

Thinking back again to Padua, in March last year: there is, apparently, a 14th fresco in the Palazzo della Ragione of a spice shop a.k.a. pharmacy for the ailing.
There are cones for packing sales and albarelli - i.e. covered ceramic storage jars - for the spices.
It was closed when I went: a new pilgrimage is in order.
Apparently St Michael Archangel is sometimes depicted with a balance in medieval paintings of pharmacies, as his usual task is weighing souls in the balance - so he has a lot of practice of measuring things out  - mercy, though I suppose (not medicine).

Grape hyacinths and a hacking cough

Thank goodness spring flowers are exquisite. They make up for grey February. No better viewing for the flu-ridden than these grape hyacinths.

Sorting through photos from last year's visit to Padua remember the Botanical Gardens (the world's first) and cures for ailing pilgrims.

Mimosa and Mediterranean spring

No Mediterranean spring in Shepherds Bush this morning - and am laid up with a cough so not straying far from bed.
Even a small sprig of mimosa (pulled from a bush on Perrers Road) is enough to remember journeys to Italy and Spain just about now - first blossom and signs of spring.  Last Sunday - Candlemas - was a 'hinge feast'' in the liturgical calendar, half way between Christmas and Easter.

Below: Milan, March 2014.

An early morning conversation at Paddington Station

Getting off the sleeper in a daze - SO many journeys start and end at Paddington -  pass the soldier who never sleeps on Platform 1.
And to my astonishment see that he can now speak: this is a 'speaking statue'.

Despite the fact that it's 640am and they have been unable to serve tea on the train due to 'scheduling issues' - stop to listen.
It's very moving: I recommend it.
There's something poignant about this statue: I think it's because the soldier is caught in the moment, a letter in his hand, his head slightly bowed as he reads.
The other 'caught in the moment' work of art I can think of is Piero della Francesca's painting of Christ's baptism  - in the National Gallery.
Christ stands still and ready to be baptised but behind him - just at that very instant, a man is pulling his shirt over his head, crystallising the moment.