The art of depicting holiness

The Catholic tradition of art patronage needs reviving, writes Paul Delaney
SINCE the earliest days, religious art has been part of Catholicism. From the crude images in the catacombs, the mosaics of Ravenna, the sculpture, stained glass and illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, to the painting and sculpture of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, the Church has inspired much of the greatest art of successive epochs. This was seen as glorifying God as well as communicating His message to the faithful.
Yet, in the twentieth century, there are few Catholic churches in Britain that are noted for their artistic contents. What has, happened to the great tradition of Catholic art?
In Britain, the Reformation not only destroyed the monasteries, but also cut the island off from the great flowering of Catholic art on the continent. Nevertheless, religious art was seen by English travellers and bought by British collectors.
Out of love for the Great Masters, English artists made copies of religious masterpieces, like Gainsborough's copy of Ruben's The Descent from the Cross.
Some artists emulated Catholic art. Though Sir Christopher Wren had not envisaged art decoration to his great cathedral, Sir James Thornhill did his large grisaille panels of the life of St Paul in the dome. Reynolds painted the Holy Family. Constable did a few altarpieces. Though such occasional works throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries showed the attraction of Catholic art, they were never an important part of the artists'
work or school of painting.
A Madonna (1828) by the Scottish artist William Dyce introduced to Britain the influence of the Nazarenes, who were seeking to regenerate German religious art. In their effect on the Pre-Raphaelite painters, they helped to regenerate British religious art.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, religious painting entered the mainstream of British art. It was the time of the Oxford Movement. With the Pre-Raphaelite painters' desire to follow early Italian painting, these mostly Non-Catholic artists produced some early paintings that caused them to be accused of being secret Romanists; only one, James Collinson, a convert, was a Catholic, but he was a minor figure.
The first exhibited work by Rossetti, no Catholic in spite of his Italian name, was entitled The Girlhood of the Virgin Mary. Since then, religious subjects have become more acceptable, though not always better understood.
In the twentieth century, the situation has been complex and is still changing. Sir Frank Brangwyn, RA was of an AngloWelsh Catholic family. The occasional religious paintings he did at the turn of the century got a rather bewildered reception from the critics.
He later did two sets of Stations of the Cross. One was printed lithographically, and a copy, printed on wood, was presented to Campion Hall, Oxford.
These two sets are not considered among the artist's greatest achievement, unlike Eric Gill's Stations of the Cross for Westminster Cathedral, which are his masterpiece. After his conversion, Gill's Catholicism became central to his life and work. At the successive artistic and religious communities he set up, several of the artists were Tertiaries of St Dominic and interrupted their art to sing the I.ittle Office.
From the artistic point of view, one of the most interesting Catholic churches in Britain was St. Peter's, Morningsids, Edinburgh, built after the turn of the century by two survivors from the 1890s, John Gray, poet and priest, and Andre Raffalovich. Canon Gray's contacts with the leading artists and writers of the nineties were put to good use in the decoration of the church. Brangwyn contributed a large painting of the confession of St Peter. Glyn Philpot, RA later presented a large picture Of St Michael the Archangel. The Stations of the Cross were by John Duncan.
Liverpool's Catholic Cathedral is a gallery of contemporary art, with works by leading artists, a reredos and stained glass by Ceri Richards, a crucifix and figure of Christ by Dame Elizabeth Frink, RA, and stained glass by John Piper. Even those who do not care for modern art must applaud this example of the traditional patronage of artists by the Church.
That many non-Christian as well as Non-Catholic artists now try their hands at religious themes, like the Jewish artists Jacob Epstein and Hans Feibusch and the agnostics Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell,• shows how attitudes to religious art have changed.
This brings up the fundamental problems of Catholic art today. The Church and the artists can often find themselves at cross purposes. While the Church wants its art to be doctrinally orthodox, the artist seeks to express his personal feelings, which may lead to an unorthodox interpretation.
Such a division did not exist in earlier periods, when the artist and society worked in greater harmony and when artistic theories stressed convention more than originality.
By imposing limitations on the artist, Catholic religious art presents a particular challenge: how to reconcile their own feelings and artistic beliefs with the teaching of the Church must be decided by each individual. The successful result will enhance the meaning of belief for everyone, which is why the Church has always recognised the value of images.
This conflict between the interests of Church and artist may partly explain why Catholic churches became full of saccharine, mass-produced statues and pictures, though of course finance played a role.
Now that Vatican 11 has swept many of them out of the churches, let us hope that they will be replaced by works of art and that the ancient Catholic 'tradition of art patronage will be even further revived. This is in keeping not only with earlier centuries but also with the decrees of Vatican H that "all things set apart for use in divine worship should be truly worthy, becoming and beautiful, signs andsymbolsofthesupernatural".