Louvre, Virgin of the Rocks 1483-1486 Leonardo da Vinci Louvre, Paris Wikipedia/public domain London Virgin of the Rocks 1495-1508 Leonardo da Vinci National Gallery London Wikipedia/public domain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_of_the_Rocks A friend of mine and I were discussing the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, possibly because the Catholic Church just celebrated the [...]
Category: national gallery of art
The Shy Museumgoer discusses Magritte
I enjoy Diane Tucker’s exquisite art blog, "The Shy Museumgoer". She has a new article up discussing the Belgian painter, René Magritte, (1898 - 1967) and you should just go read it.https://theshymuseumgoer.com/2025/07/15/magritte-surrealist-paintings-analysis/ Tucker does fascinating, carefully researched stories, and uses lots of images to make her points. Included in her discussion are some of Magritte’s [...]
Saint Peter and Saint Paul
Suburban Banshee wrote a lovely column here https://suburbanbanshee.wordpress.com/?wref=bif about the reading for Sunday, June 29th, celebrating the Solemnity of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Her discussion is both hilarious and informative. The reading from Acts 12:5-17 is about the rescue of Saint Peter from the dungeons of Herod, after Herod had executed Saint James the [...]
Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist with pictures from the National Gallery of Art
Today, June 24, is the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist. He is so important that he actually gets two feast days, the other being his death, celebrated on August 29. As a solemnity there are extra readings at Mass and we say the Gloria and recite the creed. The first reading was [...]
Ordination
Saturday I’m going to the ordination of Catholic priests for the Arlington, VA, Diocese. I happen to know that Harrisburg and Allentown up in Pennsylvania are also doing ordinations that day. Philadelphia is done. Lincoln, Nebraska is done. Washington, DC ordinations will take place on June 21. That seems very late to me. I would [...]
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