Art Of The Month – October
October is a month full of tempting feasts to highlight in Art of the Month. The Doctors of the Church, Thérèse of Lisieux, Teresa of Ávila, the Angels and Archangels not to mention the Rosary and Marian Feasts. But I have chosen none of these. Rather I wanted to share with you a painting completed in 1886 depicting Jesus and the woman caught in adultery entitled, “Christ and the sinner woman” by the Russian landscape painter, Vasily Polenov.
He came from a very wealthy and highly educated family.
He got a taste of travelling when he went to Italy to order a larger canvas for this work than was available in his native land. That visit inspired him to travel abroad in order to understand and recreate the sights and colours of different countries. He was thus able to paint in a convincing and realistic style that captured the ambience of the place and of the event.
There are three main groups in our painting. There is the furious, accusing mob, pointing and gesticulating with such rage that you can almost hear their angry shouts. Close by is Jesus, silent and calm with his disciples listening and learning, huddled together, and no doubt perplexed and bemused. In the background, various onlookers stand, like the man on the donkey in the foreground, passing by and merely curious. The colours are fairly muted, probably reflecting the evening tones of the day. But notice how close Jesus is to the rough and scoffing crowd. He is always there on the edge…on the peripheries….ready to bring comfort, healing, understanding and forgiveness. “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Lk. 6.41)
In a school community there is always the possibility that there will be people we just don’t take to. It is so easy to find fault. Even a small peculiarity can put us off. How do we correct this tendency in ourselves? Self-scrutiny is a useful habit. It helps us to keep on the straight road. An examination of conscience helps us to realise how much worse we would be if we did not acknowledge our faults and failings. Even more….it enables us to do something about our inclination to sin. Self-awareness and self-correction helps us to be more understanding of human frailty in others. Maybe if we ever become free of faults, then we can criticize others. But then we would have another sin to confess! Until then….“Remove the wooden beam from your eye first.” When we recognize the worst in ourselves, we might just begin to recognize the good in others, even in the recalcitrant pupil!
Monsignor Monaghan
