Good Friday - Eric Gill's The Good Shepherd

I've found another good artwork site - The Tate Gallery allows browsing the collection and this is one of the featured works. As Gill was a local I think it's appropriate

The featured work on the Tate's home page is Jackson Pollock's Summertime: Number 9A. No comment 

Pictures for Lent - Palm Sunday by Francis Cook

Another picture in the public domain - although 1200 paintings and his studio were  bequeathed by the widow of Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook. These now form the Francis Cook Gallery in Jersey

Pictures for Lent - The Last of England, Ford Madox Brown

We saw this last week at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG)

However, searching on one of my favourite web sites - the BBC's Your Paintings - turned up two copies, the one above and this one at the Fitzwilliam, Cambridge

Pictures for Lent - Tapestry from Turvey Abbey

This was chosen by Mary Saywood:

Mary added this Bible verse and prayer:


'...though he was in the form of God he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,  being born in human likeness. And being in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death….' 

Philippians 2.


Lord, like you, help us to be steadfast in our faith and love

Pictures for Lent - Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel

I thought this would be appropriate today, although the cardinals didn't spend much time looking up at it!

Pictures for Lent - Hagar in the Desert by Marc Chagall

Rather late with this one, I'm afraid. 

Rosie picked this for Sunday with this prayer:

Lord, when we feel abandoned and alone help us to know you close and loving. When we cry  out to you, answer us with your gentle touch

Pictures for lent - Turner

Coast scene with fishermen and boats. Another painting in the public domain

Pictures for Lent - William Eggleston

Untitled (Clouds and powerlines, Memphis, Tenessee)

Enigmatic eh?

Pictures for Lent - Vespers by John Singer Sargent

Another of Our Pictures - publicly owned oil paintings

Pictures for Lent - Purist Painting with Bottles, Roy Lichtenstein

Now for something different

Pictures for Lent - The Avenue at Middleharnis

This picture by Meindart Hobbema, chosen by Brenda, is another that represents the journey of Lent.

The exquisite detail of this and other works by the artist shows the extent to which he studied his local countryside in Holland. He only painted for a few years, having found a well-paid job with a wine importer in Amsterdam, much to our loss. There’s more about Meindart Hobbema on the Wilipedia and National Gallery web sites - search on his name.

Brenda’s prayer to go with the picture: Good God, the creator if light and darkness, You who move the sun and the stars, move us into the place of light, a light so large that it will absorb all the darkness.

Pictures for Lent - Tenby and St David’s Head by Turner

A little late for St David’s Day, two sketches by Turner: North Shore, Tenby, Goscar Rock and First point and St David’s Head

Pictures for Lent - Breezing Up by Winslow Homer

Another Winslow Homer painting. He captures the lines of the boat and the sails beautifully. These curves are difficult to represent authentically and many artists don’t succeed in showing these at all well. The boat in the picture is a catboat, one of the most beautiful small sailing boats. It originated in the US and is still built in various sizes and materials.

Wikipedia says: the painting's message is positive; despite the choppy waves, the boaters look relaxed. The anchor in the bow was understood to symbolize hope. The boy holding the tiller looks forward to the horizon, a statement of optimism about his future. 

The Anchor is a symbol of hope and one of the meanings of the term “hope” is an anchorage: pubs called “The Hope and Anchor” use the word with this meaning - an anchorage and the means of securing the vessel.

Pictures for Lent - West Point, Prout’s Neck by Winslow Homer

I seem to be focussing on seascapes - I wonder why. The American artist Winslow Homer painted some wonderful scenes