under grace

 
edvard munch
norwegian
1863-1944
woman on the beach, 1896
burnished aquatint
-munch's color aquatints are rare and highly sought-
~    ~
~    ~    ~ ~
hymn
here is love vast as the ocean
william rees
known also as gwilym hiraethog
welsh
8 november 1802 to 8 november 1883
~ ~    ~    ~
~    ~

maurice denis
french
1870-1943
climbing to calvary, 1889
oil on canvas
16 x 12 3/4 inches
musée d'orsay
メnoticed similar in composition to
jesus falling beneath the cross
a nineteenth century engraving by gustave doréメ
~
matthew 6:33

~
romans 3:19-26
romans 5:2-4
romans 6:14
ephesians 3:17-19
✝

all the days

 
vincent van gogh
les racines, 1882
pencil, chalk, wash and watercolor on paper
20 1/4 x 27 3/4 inches
kröller-müller museum
the netherlands
~
yet
~
ever hold tight
to our blessed assurance
~
...and, lo, i am with you always...
-matthew 28:20
~
deuteronomy 31:8
psalm 25:6
psalm 34:18
isaiah 41:10
mark 9:23-24
2 corinthians 12:9
ephesians 3:20
james 4:8
✝

redounding faith

 
Sofie Ribbing
swedish
Boys Drawing, 1864
oil on canvas
36 x 31 inches
Gothenburg Museum of Art
~
hymn
Day by Day
Carolina Sandell
swedish
1865
caroline w. sandell berg, better known as carolina or lina sandell, wrote hundreds of hymns affirming her faith; some whilst suffering intense grief.
day by day was written several years after witnessing the drowning death of her beloved father, a Lutheran pastor.
~
Deuteronomy 33:25
Proverbs 19:21
Luke 17: 21
2 Corinthians 4:1-18 (directly 2 Cor. 4:15-18)
✝

brought to fullness

 
leonardo da vinci
head of Christ, circa 1494
~study for the last supper~
chalk and pencil on paper
15.7 x 12.5 inches
pinacoteca di brera
milan, italy
~
oh the deep deep love of jesus
'...underneath me,
all around me,
is the current
of His love...'
samuel trevor francis
english
1834-1925
~
lamentations 3:40
proverbs 4:23-27
psalm 11:7
✝

i am...resolved

ellen thesleff
finnish
omakuva (self portrait), 1895
pencil and india ink on paper

12.4 x 9.2 inches

finnish national gallery (ateneum), helsinki
~
drawn to you
audrey assad
~
james 4:8
isaiah 41:13*psalm 136:12*ezra 7:28

~
"God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
these are the words we dimly hear:
you, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
embody me.
flare up like a flame
and make big shadows i can move in.
let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.

just keep going. no feeling is final.
don't let yourself lose me.
nearby is the country they call life.
you will know it by its seriousness.
give me your hand."
-rainer maria rilke, rilke's book of hours: love poems to God
✝

broken...forth

helene schjerfbeck
finnish
1862-1946
fragment, circa 1904
oil on canvas
12.4 x 13.3 inches

signe and ane gyllenberg foundation, helsinki
~
:though oil, painting technique inspired by renaissance frescoes:
<see piero della francesca's madonna del parto to name only one>
~
deuteronomy 31:6
~
hymn
morning has broken
eleanor farjeon, english
1931
bunessan: gaelic tune
~
"morning has broken

like the first morning,

blackbird has spoken

like the first bird.

praise for the singing.

praise for the morning.

praise for them, springing

fresh from the Word. ...

... mine is the sunlight.

mine is the morning

born of the one light

eden saw play.

praise with elation,

praise every morning,

God's recreation

of the new day."

~
psalm 118:24
lamentations 3:22-23
~
✝
κλắω

what's unseen

 
sir george clausen
head of a girl
watercolor
11 x 7.8 inches
signed lower right
sotheby's 3 july 2024
lot 62
'master works on paper from five centuries'
~
:love this image; see a little lilian westcott hale, a little gwen john and a little pompeii fresco:
~
-look closely and notice the fading to see how this image was matted/framed-
፨see what more is/was there yet unseen፨
~
great is thy faithfulness
thomas o. chisholm, 1923
"...strength for today and
bright hope for tomorrow
blessings all mine
with ten thousand beside..."
~
lamentations 3:22-33
✝
~~~
below
pompeii photos and article here

my victory won

 
✝
abbott handerson thayer
1849-1921
a virgin, 1892-93
oil on canvas
90 7/16 x 71 7/8 inches
freer gallery of art
~
irish hymn and prayer
be thou my vision
circa 700
translated by mary e. byrne in 1905
~
♱be thou my vision♱
i read the symbolism in this version
as an interpretation of scripture:
isaiah 43:2, romans 8:35-39, romans 12:12
~
...and more directly,
a visual narrative most likely meant to evoke the legend of st. patrick and the king of laoghaire of tara
in 5th century ireland.
the story states that the king had forbidden any fires be lit until the lighting of the royal fire on the hill of slane commencing the feast of tara, a pagan ritual.
st. patrick, in defiance of the king's decree, boldly lit the paschal fire.
tradition continues that the king, outraged, sought to come against patrick. however, each challenge and attack by the druids and their magic was met with defeat. remarkably, the king, fearful and perhaps, in no small measure, affected by patrick's act of faith and its power, spared him from the penalty of execution and allowed him to continue his missionary work.
worthy of note it is that the king and his followers would convert to Christianity.
several centuries later, dallán forgaill, a monk, wrote rop tú mo baile (be thou my vision)
in remembrance of st. patrick; honoring his faith and courage in Christ.

...over the way

george frederic watts
english
Hope, 1886
oil on canvas
44 x 56 inches
Tate Britain

'hope need not mean expectancy.  it suggests here rather
the music which can come from the remaining chord.'-watts
~
in the sweet by and by
written by sanford fillmore bennett
american
1868
~
hebrews 6:19
psalm 33:20-22
romans 15:13
✝

pentecost

acts 2:2
~

andrew wyeth
pentecost, 1989
tempera and pencil on panel
20 3/4 x 30 5/8
collection of the wyeth foundation for american art
painted on allen island, maine
~
:originally named pentecost island by english explorer george weymouth who made landfall there on pentecost sunday, 1605:
[colby college has taken ownership and now shoulders stewardship of the island]
~
chosen accompanying hymn
come, thou fount of every blessing
brigham young university
john 3:8
'the wind blows where it wishes.  you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.'
~

pentecost, photograph, peter ralston
story here; unfiltered version here

waymouth cross on pentecost island
1905
✝