Peer Response 4

· Review your classmates’ posts. Provide a substantive response to your classmates, one of which should have chosen a different discussion option from you. Explain what their post has helped you understand about the relationship between art, identity, and power, and draw connections from their post to your thinking.

PEERS POST:

This week I chose to go with option A: Art and the Sacred. I chose The Crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary, Saints and Angels (The Mond Crucifixion), done by Raphael, his birth name Raffaello Santi. This painting was done between 1502-3, is an oil on poplar, and was probably painted in Perugia. ( Santi, 1502-3) The Crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary, Saints and Angels (The Mond Crucifixion) is considered from the Renaissance art movement. This religious art piece aims to remind people of what Christ did (died on the cross for people’s sins), which is the functional piece of this work and is how it engages with religious ideas. The symbolic elements would be the two angels floating on clouds, catching the falling blood on either side of Christ. The angels are catching the blood sacrifice that Christ had to give for our sins. The falling blood in the chalice gets symbolized in churches as wine in a chalice still to this day. The human connection to the divine in this painting is a message to remember that a powerful being gave up his life for yours, that he cared enough to do this. I was drawn to this picture because it has many ties to pagan rituals. I enjoy learning about different religions. It reminds me that many religions have similarities, and by those similarities, people can come together. This is also why it made it easier to convert people to Christianity during the renaissance period, especially Roman Catholicism.

References

Santi, R. (1502-3). The Crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary, Saints and Angels (The Mond Crucifixion) The National Gallery. The Mond Crucifixion. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/raphael-the-mond-crucifixion# (Links to an external site.).