The Sacred Made Real in Art

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Mar 03, 2010

Those who live in the greater Washington, DC area have a unique opportunity between now and May 31st to view a special exhibit of religious painting and sculpture from the 17th century. The exhibit is on display at the National Gallery of Art. It is called “The Sacred Made Real”, and the subjects are the passion of Christ, the Immaculate Conception and the saints.

The exhibit consists of paintings by such great artists as Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Zubarán and Francisco Pacheco, along with both painted and gilded sculptures by Gregorio Fernández, Juan Martinez, Pedro de Mena, and others. These polychrome sculptures are remarkably realistic. The works come to Washington from Spanish churches, convents and monasteries, to which they will return after the exhibition. Most of them have never been seen before outside of their normal Church locations in Spain.

CatholicCulture.org is indebted to friend and art collector Tom Fowler who alerted us to the exhibit. (Tom is something of a Renaissance man: see my review of his book The Evolution Controversy.) I highly recommend that you get to the National Gallery in Washington to see this exhibit if you possibly can. Check the exhibit’s web page for details.