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Monday, 17 March 2025

Artlyst - Siena: The Creative Achievement Of Christendom

My latest exhibition review for Artlyst is on Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300 ‒1350 at National Gallery:

"... this exhibition opens up another world, a world of devotion and worship that, given the beauty and wonder of these works, we will certainly wish to revisit and maybe even seek to recapture. ‘The Telegraph’ rightly billed this exhibition in advance as Christian art becoming the National Gallery’s next smash hit. That is so, as what this exhibition principally reveals is the immense creative achievement of Christendom and the evolving nature of that achievement."

For more on Saint Francis see here, Fra Angelico see here, Donatello see here, Cranach and Dürer see here and here, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael see here and here, and Caravaggio see here and here.

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -

Monthly diary articles -

Articles/Reviews -

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Staples Jr. Singers - You Got To Believe.

Sunday, 20 December 2015

St Stephen Walbrook, Catharine Macaulay and Thomas Wilson

The Telegraph has an interesting article by Christopher Howse about a controversial commission from the history of St Stephen Walbrook. On this occasion the piece is not about the Henry Moore altar but a statue of historian Catharine Macaulay which was installed at the church by its Rector, Thomas Wilson, in 1778. The statue was installed in the sanctuary but proving controversial was soon removed, eventually finding a home in Warrington Library.

Thomas Wilson "was a pioneering advocate for the propriety of decoration in Anglican churches. He edited and contributed to William Hole’s important Ornaments of Churches Considered (1761), a book which helped mark a new interest in introducing visual art among Anglicans." A memorial to Wilson and his wife Mary is to be found in the church.

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J.S. Bach - Jesu, meine Freude.

Saturday, 26 October 2013

The reality of evil

Susan Hill has been talking about the reality of evil in a Guardian interview:

'Hill, who is a Christian, does believe in wickedness. In an afterword to her classic 1970 bullying novel, I'm the King of the Castle, widely taught in secondary schools, she spelled out that she believed her 11-year-old villain, Hooper, was "evil". Asked about this now, she says: "How do you look at a tiny baby and say it is potentially evil, yet look at the boys who killed James Bulger, what was that? That was evil. It's a knotty problem but I think there are some people, not many, who have … the devil in them."'

This is a theme Hill has pondered previously, as in this quote from an interview in the Telegraph:

'Hill sits forward, hands between her knees, thoughtful: "Why do the innocent suffer? There are these two sides in life, always: the innocent do suffer and there is evil." Evil's presence, she thinks, comes from love's absence. She cites two friends, a forensic psychiatrist and a judge: "They both say they have never really known any serious murderer or psychopath for whom the key isn't somewhere in an unloved childhood."'

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Lou Reed - Waves Of Fear.

Saturday, 8 December 2012

Evelyn Williams R.I.P.

Evelyn Williams was an artist in whom 'From her earliest drawings, vision, dream and reality combined; she characterised her work as "inner thoughts, other worlds".'

John McEwan wrote that 'In his thoughtful and observant essay [Nicholas Usherwood] warns us against the inadequacy of the words commonly used to convey Evelyn Williams’ art: visionary, feminist, Romantic, apocalyptic, expressionist, Gothic, outsider ... Robust generalisation is peculiarly unsuited to an art of such delicacy of feeling, subtlety of tone and exact observation. As he writes: ‘Peel away all those labels however and Evelyn Williams will, I believe, emerge finally, and not before time, as a painter and sculptor, most fundamentally, of ‘people and their attempts to relate to one another’.'

Fay Weldon described Williams' work as ‘awesome’ – 'if we can get back to the true sense of the word. It fills you with awe.' Williams had created, Weldon thought, 'a body of work, imbued by an unmistakable mixture of grace and greatness.'

She spoke of death in typically consoling terms as a space filled with as much energy as the sky is filled with raindrops in a summer storm: ‘As each drop falls and touches the earth seeds of new energy are released to be recycled again and again.’

Read obituaries from The Guardian and Telegraph here and here.

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The Doors - People Are Strange.

Thursday, 22 November 2012

The 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not shoot thy self in thy foot

Allison Pearson's satire in this comment piece from The Telegraph is acute and deserved after Tuesday's Synod debate and vote:

"Like most woolly Anglicans, I assumed that, after an interminable period of reflection, the C of E would muddle its way to the right decision. For heaven’s sake, if Swaziland has a woman bishop, surely Suffolk should be allowed one? A great religion should not be in the business of causing disbelief. But that’s precisely what the Church of England did on Tuesday."

As a complete contrast, in that it is non-satirical and straight out sincere, try this post from 'The Year':

"I know it is not my responsibility to defend the Church of England and actually that’s pretty difficult right now anyway, but please don’t judge those within it by the decisions being made at the moment.

Be assured that those who are not looking forward, are in a minority in the church. Be assured that there are good, faithful, Priests out there who love their communities and their parishioners. Be assured that whilst it may seem otherwise, God is completely relevant in our society today. Perhaps more so now than ever before. Be assured that the church is full of people who love not hate. Be assured."

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Victoria Williams and Dave Pirner - My Ally.
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Sunday, 26 December 2010

Enjoyable, as long as you don't think about the book!

I've enjoyed seeing The Voyage of the Dawn Treader at the cinema today. Welcome respite after the busyness of the Christmas celebrations.

The film raises issues regarding the adaptation of books to screen as much of the original story has been lost in the transition to film, the story's sequencing has altered and new elements have been added to the story. Jeffery Overstreet has written:

"... this is the most enjoyable movie of the series, so long as you don’t think much about the book. Granted, the book was too episodic and meandering to make a great film. They needed to revise the story considerably. But this revision, entertaining as it is, muddles, mangles, and leaves behind many of the book’s most profound moments."

I agree with this assessment. This is an excellent and enjoyable film which works well on its own terms. The story is exciting, the script is well written with particularly subtle use of humour, and the special effects, while often stunning, support the narrative. The acting is particularly strong in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader with the performance of Will Poulter as Eustace being outstanding; something noted in The Telegraph's review:

"It helps that the spotlight falls this time on the two younger and more appealing Pevensie children, Edmund and Lucy – played by Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley, who are also the more talented actors in the quartet ...

the most arresting new presence on view is that of 17-year-old British actor Will Poulter, still fondly remembered for his comic skills in Son of Rambow. He plays the Pevensies’ obnoxious cousin Eustace Scrubb, and Poulter does not hold back: Eustace dismisses his cousins’ fascination with Narnia, and complains bitterly when he unwillingly becomes involved in the Dawn Treader adventure.

In his endless complaining, Poulter adopts the disgusted tones of an ex-Army officer from 50 years ago, and does it brilliantly. He virtually steals every scene in which he appears; it’s a lucky break for Fox that Eustace takes centre stage in the fourth Narnia story."

So, as the Telegraph put it, Narnia has got its sparkle back.

One of the narrative elements which is becoming clearer across the filmed series is an emphasis on personal temptation. This is a major theme in both the book and film of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe because of Edmund's betrayal of the others through the influence of the White Witch but the theme continues in the subsequent films with the Peter/Caspian power tensions/temptations in Prince Caspain (an added element to that film) and here in Lucy's temptation to beauty, Edmund's repeat temptation by the White Witch, and Eustace's temptation to riches. Much of this theme is an addition to the stories, although one which is consistent with the Narnian world and history which C. S. Lewis created and also with his own beliefs.

It would seem that this theme has been developed by the filmakers because it offers more visually and dramatically than do the major themes of the second and third books themselves. In Prince Caspain a major theme of the book is that of doubt and belief when Lucy is not believed as she begins to glimpse Aslan leading them on their journey to Caspian. While included in the film, it is not developed in the same way presumably because it is more difficult to visualise and is not a strongly dramatic narrative development.

A related issue occurs with a key scene in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader which is also subject to significant change. The film rightly, as we have already seen, makes the transformation of Eustace a key element in the story. Yet his eventual change is differently conceived from the book. In the book Eustace attempts to tear off his dragon skin but cannot do so in a way that gets to the core of his being and restores him to himself. Only Aslan is able to do so and only with pain. Lewis is here picturing the impossibility of freeing ourselves of our sinful nature without the grace of God, and that being hard won and painful. In the film Aslan achieves this change differently and, although the scene in book is referred to obliquely, in a way which is easier and which does not convey the sense that something integral to Eustace has been torn away. It may well be that cinematic demands dictated this change too, as visuals of Aslan literally sinking his claws into the skin of Eustace's dragon may have been too gory for the PG rating that the film requires if it is to tap its core market.

Both these changes mean that each film loses some of the spiritual depth which the books contain in order that the narrative and visual impact of the films are heightened. As a result, the films are exciting and enjoyable but do not have the same spiritual depths as the books. Lewis never wanted these books filmed because he knew that the technology did not exist to genuinely realise the imaginative world which he had created. Now that that technology does exist, Narnia is able to be brought to visual life. What Lewis may not have anticipated, however, is that the different demands of storytelling in a visual medium would necessitate adaptations and additions to these narratives which alter the spiritual themes explored through those narratives.

To some extent this is the fate of all adaptations and the reason why screenwriters are necessary even for the filming of classic stories. Films are a different medium from books and use different means of telling a story in order to succeed. There is a difficult balance to be struck between the original story and the way in which it can successfully be told in a different medium. The Narnia films are fascinating illustrations of the challenges and compromises from which successful movie adaptations emerge.

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Sinead O'Connor - Only You.

Monday, 5 January 2009

The Black Rain (1)

Over Christmas I have read two books by Tom Davies; his biography Testament and his most recent novel The Tyranny of Ghosts. Not having read any of his work for some years it was fascinating to revisit the uncomfortable issues about faith and popular culture that his writings raise. The following is a synopsis of his career that I wrote several years ago:

Tom Davies is a seer. As a travel writer and semi-professional pilgrim, his descriptions both evoke and enliven the ordinary sights and people that he passes by, pausing just long enough to perceive significance. As a prophetic visionary, he uncovers the apocalyptic battle-drop against which ordinary life is played out. His best works involve journeys in which observation mingles with vision and where he runs the gamut of emotions from despair through boredom to wonder.

Trained as a journalist with the Western Mail, he later wrote for the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph and Observer before biting the hand that had fed him by castigating the media in the books (travel, theology and novels) that he wrote subsequent to his conversion. His career came full circle with a column in the Western Mail under a pseudonym and published as The Visions of Caradoc.

His work is a tracking of the bloody footprints of Romanticism through literary, social and media history. Davies defines the Romantic Mind as emphasising the imagination and emotion over and above reason and intellect. It cultivates sensation and emotion for their own sake and has a persistent attraction to the morbid, the supernatural, the cruel, the perverted and the violent. He believes that: this Mind is predominant in Western media and culture; has been the gasoline in the bottle igniting a blazing orgy of violence that is speading uncontrolled through the world; is to be identified with the Biblical Man of Lawlessness, a tide of evil which engulfs the world as a necessary precondition to the return of Christ. In a Caradoc article he sees the television dramatist, Dennis Potter, as characterising this Romantic Mind.

By contrast, as Caradoc, he argues that the Christian artist should "generally seek to affirm that which is pure, good and lovely. He would always be seeking to mediate the beauty of the ordinary world to us; he would be looking for new insights into reality and, in this way, celebrate the fantastic wonder of creation.

The Christian artist would never bother with a pervert, preferring to study a normal man at work or play; he would never gaze at a scene of horror when he could find as it floats, like a falling leaf, through the real world. The art of the Christian is the most difficult art of them all."

This sermon is delivered to Idris the Pointless, a Van Gogh in safety pins, who promptly informs Caradoc that his latest project is paint "portraits of the homes of all the convicted murderers in the Valleys". Davies' self-deprecating humour and confessions of personal weakness leaven the fire and brimstone of his prophetic vision and allow us both to absorb his warnings and follow his evocations of wonder. He has said of the Biblical prophets that "With their wild veerings and ravaged visions they all had a questionable sanity". He would count it a compliment if we admitted him to that same company.

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Sam Phillips - Baby I Can't Please You.

Tuesday, 17 June 2008

Save Our Churches petition

Britain's places of worship provide a vital service to their local communities but are under threat as never before. They need to be saved for the sake of this and future generations.

A petition launched by The Telegraph is calling for:

(i) The government to increase funding for the conservation of places of worship.
(ii) Government grants to be introduced to enable listed places of worship to become focal points for the community.
(iii) Planning restrictions to be introduced to prevent disused listed places of worship being turned into pubs or nightclubs.
(iv) Listed places of worship to remain exempt from paying VAT on repair work.
(v) The government to make it easier for listed places of worship to be adapted for community use.

To add your name to the Save Our Churches campaign, emailmailto:petitions@telegraph.co.uk.

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John Rutter - Gaelic Blessing.