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Date: 2007-05-24

The Devotional Dürer; a Marian Month Treat

Spiritual Portrait of an Artist

By Elizabeth Lev

ROME, MAY 24, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Albrecht Dürer, the Northern genius of the Renaissance, has been firmly associated with Martin Luther for centuries. From his engravings to his paintings, many historians have seen the works of this German artist as a sort of Protestant manifesto.

A new exhibit, "Dürer and Italy," held in the stunning exposition space of the former Quirinale stables, challenges this assumption by emphasizing Dürer's close ties to Italian art, especially devotional imagery. The show, open until June 10, features more than 100 of Dürer's paintings, drawings and engravings.

Born in Nuremberg in 1471, Albrecht Dürer began his painting career much like his other German contemporaries until his first trip to Italy in 1494 convinced him that the works of his fellow Northern painters lacked rules of proportion or composition. It would be Dürer who would bring the Italian Renaissance to Germany.

Dürer's incredible success on both sides of the Alps brought him into contact with the most renowned figures of his day, from Martin Luther to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. Dürer's brilliant artistic eye was drawn by the great innovations under way, but also recognized the importance of the past.

Dürer's initial foray into Italian art led him to the Venetian school of painting. He learned to use softer, warmer colors and atmospheric effects that infused his work with freshness and liberated him from the stiffer Northern style. But it was the painter Andrea Mantegna, working in Mantua, who most influenced Dürer.

Like Dürer, Mantegna was also an engraver, and the young German's style was transformed by the contact with the Italian's prints. Mantegna used sharp light and dark contrasts for greater dynamism and gave his engraved figures a sculptural weightiness. These studies paved the way for Dürer's first great undertaking, "The Apocalypse," also significant as the first book designed, illustrated and published by an artist.

Published in 1498, Dürer's "Apocalypse" consists of 15 full-page woodcut prints, several of which are displayed in the exhibit. The volume of the figures and the dramatic shading effects reveal their debt to Dürer's Italian sojourn, as does the tight and organized composition.

"The Apocalypse" has been often interpreted as a preview of Dürer's anti-papal sentiments even though it was published 19 years before Martin Luther's 95 Theses. But anachronisms aside, the images seem to reinforce Church authority rather than challenge it. In the "Four Angels Holding the Winds," the saved are marked by the signing of their foreheads, while in the "Adoration of the Lamb," the blood of the Lamb pours into a chalice held by a bishop [see www.conncoll.edu/visual/Durer-prints/apocalypse.all/big/Box%2022-30.jpg].

As these details are not part of the text, it seems that Dürer chose to add his own conviction of the Church's authority to grant sacramental grace. The very compositions emphasize the principal concern of the Book of Revelation. Instead of reading left to right as a narrative, Dürer's "Apocalypse" images read top to bottom, underscoring the vertical line of salvation.

Unlike Lucas Cranach the Elder, who published and illustrated the first edition of Martin Luther's translation of the New Testament with inflammatory images such as the "Harlot of Babylon" with the papal tiara and the city of Babylon as contemporary Rome, Dürer's woodcuts try to mediate between Church authority and popular piety.

Personally, Dürer seems to have retained a belief in the efficacy of the sacraments throughout his life. After the death of his mother, he wrote, "My pious mother Barbara Holper Dürer, died in Christ with all the sacraments, absolved of punishment and guilt through papal authority." Writing these words in 1523, well after the criticisms of the use of indulgences, implies that Dürer was not entirely willing to ignore the spiritual authority of the pope.

The exhibit features a moving portrait of Albrecht Dürer the Elder, the painter's father. Dürer's father worked hard to instill piety in his family, and the portrait from 1490 shows a serene man whose eyes gaze slightly upward toward heaven. Dürer's consummate drawing skill shines in the representation of his father's hands, delicately fingering a rosary [see www.wga.hu/art/d/durer/1/01/02father.jpg].

For all of his elevated humanism, Dürer also wrote and illustrated a great many devotional poems published with sacred images. The poetry was rough and simple and often directed to saints asking for intercession.

Dürer made a second trip to Italy from 1505 to 1507 during which he produced one of his greatest masterpieces, "The Feast of the Rosary," completed in only five months. This enormous altarpiece (152 by 192 centimeters, or about 60 by 76 inches) was commissioned by German merchants for the Church of San Bartolomeo in Venice [see www.wga.hu/art/d/durer/1/05/03rose.jpg].

The Madonna sits regally in the center of the work framed by a panel of green silk. Angels hover above her head holding a meticulously painted crown in the finest German tradition of oil painting. Baby Jesus lies diagonally across her lap, as the pope and Maximilian I kneel on either side. Dürer himself stands on the right, proudly proclaiming his authorship of the work.

The "Sacred Conversation" -- the Madonna and Child with saints and donors arranged and interacting in space -- was unknown in Germany until Dürer introduced this popular Italian devotional image. The exhibition had only a copy from Vienna as the original, now in Prague, is so damaged that it cannot be moved.

The artistic document that most represents Dürer's association with Luther's ideas is the "Four Apostles," given to the city of Nuremberg in 1526. Asserting the authority of Luther's Bible, these two panels represent Sts. John and Peter on one and Sts. Paul and Mark on the other [see www.contracosta.edu/Art/Images/NorRenDurer4apostles.jpg].

And yet, the figures are arranged as in a Sacred Conversation, albeit missing the central Madonna and Child to anchor them together.

The grandeur of these apostles, called together to promote Luther's interpretation of Scripture, nonetheless represents the Catholic vision of monumental and dignified saints, in communion with Christ, actively concerned for our spiritual welfare. In the context of this exhibition, Dürer appears more as a soul teetering on the brink of a precipice, rather than a firm follower of Luther's teaching.

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The Rosary, to Music

This week, in preparation for the feast day of St. Philip Neri on May 26, the little Church of San Gregorio dei Muratori offered an event befitting that great saint: the rosary in Latin accompanied by musical settings.

This delightful initiative proposed the traditional devotion of the rosary during the Marian month of May, with musical interludes interspersed between the mysteries. The site, San Gregorio dei Muratori, is the official church appointed by the Vicariate of Rome for the Traditional Liturgy and is staffed by priests of the Fraternity of St. Peter.

The music was selected from 17th-century composers such as Francesco Soriano and Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. Some of the pieces were unpublished and specially arranged for this occasion. The selections wafted from songs of love to compositions of praise, reclaiming the sacred function of beautiful music. Music, therefore, not for mere enjoyment in a concert hall, but performed for its original purpose, prayer and liturgy, for the glory and love of God.

The evening was sponsored and organized by the Association Pro Missa Romana and the Elsa Peretti Foundation. The latter sponsor is particularly interesting as Elsa Peretti is a world-famous jewelry designer whose works for Tiffany & Company comprise some of its signature pieces.

New York jewelry companies seem like an unlikely place to find Catholic devotion, but Peretti has designed, along with her celebrated teardrop earrings and open-heart necklaces, a subtle yet lovely Madonna and Child pendant, as well as a striking crucifix.

For the Italian model-turned-designer who started her career in the wild days of the notorious disco Studio 54, these new offerings already signaled a change, and the presentation of this rosary, in memory of her father Nando Peretti, seems to crown her conversion.

For more information on this series of rosaries that will be taking place in various Roman churches, one can contact the Peretti Foundation at: info@nandoperettifound.org.

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A House Maligned

Reporting on the Vatican invites exaggeration. Granted, St. Peter's and the Sistine Chapel can't really be described as understated, but one wonders whether this justifies the kind of stretching of facts that one often encounters.

A personal pet peeve is journalists' propensity to refer to the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican residence that houses guests of the Vatican as well as cardinals during a conclave, as some kind of super luxurious palace.

Jason Horowitz, writing in the International Herald Tribune at the time of the 2005 conclave, described it as a "lavish hotel" with "opulent touches" and "doting service."

Another news service dubbed the Casa Santa Marta "the New Vatican Hilton," while yet another called it a "small palace" and "most exclusive hotel in the world."

Even veteran reporter John Allen, in a recent column, fell into the same inexplicable hyperbole, referring to the residence as "the five-star hotel inside Vatican grounds."

Or perhaps hyperbole isn't quite the word. Would it be hyperbole -- or simply falsehood -- to call a Dodge Dart a luxury sedan? Sure, it has four wheels, four doors, and even air conditioning, but that's where the comparison ends.

The Casa Santa Marta is a five-story building with 130 rooms primarily intended for the cardinal electors. The idea for it came after the second conclave in 1978, during an exceptionally hot September, which provoked great suffering particularly for the elderly cardinals who had to walk down long halls to find one of the few bathrooms which were more often than not occupied.

To relieve this physical burden, Pope John Paul II ordered the construction of the Casa Santa Marta and hired Pittsburgh architect Louis Astorino, who completed the structure in 1996.

The Casa Santa Marta, however, lacks virtually every amenity that international travelers expect from a standard hotel room: there is no TV, no Internet access and no minibar. The rooms are austere, with simple wood furniture and plain decor (no Hermes toiletry products, high thread count sheets or designer pillows here!).

The rooms do have a desk and an empty bookshelf for working, but visitors must make do without a concierge, morning newspaper, hair dryer, evening turndown and chocolate, or room service. Just try asking one of the religious sisters who run the place for continental breakfast in bed!

One illustrious visitor was heard to exclaim as he saw his stark and simple suite, "I can't stay here!"

In one respect the Casa Santa Marta is better equipped than a five-star hotel, however. Each room contains a wooden kneeler for daily prayer and there are private chapels and confessors available. Many luxury hotels have to scramble just to get clients a Sunday Mass schedule.

While this may be the least important inaccuracy in Vatican reporting, these epithets promote the false impression that Vatican coffers are teeming with gold, and this wealth is put at the service of its own hierarchy. Responsibility in reporting starts in getting the basic facts right.

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Elizabeth Lev teaches Christian art and architecture at Duquesne University's Italian campus. She can be reached at lizlev@zenit.org.