Posts tagged ‘Good Friday’

Apr 18

Norms: The Saints Collection | The Crucifixion

It’s an image which is famous around the world; a depiction full of pathos, tragedy and the pain but glory of salvation: It is the crucifixion of Jesus, the event which sits at the centre of the Christian religion.

In depicting lately a series of Norms based on the art historical tradition of religious-themed paintings, I could not pass by the opportunity to create a Norm version of this crucial Christian scene. With its dark skies and bleak landscape, it is an image which evokes the full drama and horror of one of art’s most famous portrayals, while the hope of salvation which the event brought Christian believers everywhere is symbolised through the presence of angels. One in fact is charged with gathering up the blood dripping from Jesus-Norm’s wound; a representation of the fact that intrinsic to the core belief of transubstantiation, his blood becomes the wine of the Holy Communion and vice versa.

To his right and left, the two convicted thieves who died at his side are present, one depicted, as per tradition, as the good thief seeking salvation from Jesus, while the other is depicted as the bad thief, mocking Christ for giving into his fate. Meanwhile at the foot of Jesus Norm’s cross are the figures who consistently feature in depictions of the crucifixion – Mary his mother, Mary Magdalene, and St John the Apostle.

The Norm Crucifixion (2014 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen, ink and gold paint on paper)

For anyone religious looking at this work, take note that this is not an attempt to dilute the sanctity of this religious festival, but rather, as is the central aim of my blog, to reference and reinvent art history and the most popular depictions in art. There is no greater scene than the crucifixion to get across the Christian message in art, and my Norm version has to be amongst my favourite of all my Norm sketches. Happy Easter everyone.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacy-brown.com

Nicholas de Lacy-Brown’s new solo exhibition, When (S)pain became the Norm, will be at London’s Strand Gallery from 13 – 18 May 2014. For more details, click here.

Apr 6

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The Daily Sketch – Viernes Santo

It’s Good Friday, arguably the most important day in the Christian calendar, and, if you’re not into that kind of thing, an excuse for a day off to do some DIY! I always remember Good Friday with a degree of childlike fascination at an overwhelming morbidity and yet a profound sense of excitement at the scale and importance of the day. In the church where I used to be a chorister, they would hold a three hour service. Towards the end of that service they would strip the contents of the church bare leaving the place utterly bleak. This would mark a huge contrast to Easter Sunday morning, whereupon the church would be bursting at the seams with flowers and a sunny sense of celebration. For many, the role of the church on Good Friday has disappeared, and along with it, much of what made the day special for me in the past has filtered away. I couldn’t even find Ben Hur on the television, which could always previously be relied upon to instal a little Romanic pomp into the day!

Once again I find my thoughts floating towards Spain where, on this “Viernes Santo” they hold the most solemn procession of them all – a wax effigy of a startlingly lifelike dead Christ, and a weeping Mary, while the participants in the parade are dressed in an eery black and, at least in Marbella, there is no band – only silence and a recurring, foreboding drum beat. It’s chilling.

Marbella's startlingly realistic wax effigy of the dead Christ, paraded on Viernes Santo

Since Spain has very much been the concentration of my approach to Holy Week on the Daily Norm, I thought I’d mark Good Friday/ Viernes Santo with the most substantial Norm Sketch I have yet completed – far bigger than the rest and packed full of detail, this is a full on Semana Santa parade, complete with crowds, a tronos, the nazareños, the women wearing mantillas, and the altar boys wafting incense through the air. And below, just so you don’t miss a thing, some detail shots.

Semana Santa (Miercoles Santo) (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

Enjoy Good Friday, however you choose to spend it, and see you back here over the weekend.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2005-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.