11 October 2022

The Mysteries of the Rosary with the Great Painters


Madonna of the Rosary 
Lorenzo Lotto [Web Gallery of Art]

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers (Acts 1:12-14).

First Reading, Mass of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.

Still-Life with Symbols of the Virgin Mary 
Dirck de Bray [Web Gallery of Art]

In October 2014 I published here a series of posts on the Rosary under the general title The Rosary with the Great Painters, each post featuring five mysteries. Here I give links to each of those posts.


The Virgin Mary 
El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

Continue here.



Virgin and Child with Rosary

Continue here.


Mater Dolorosa
Jusepe de Ribera [Web Gallery of Art]

Continue here.


The Coronation of the Virgin 
El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

Continue here.


The Virgin in Prayer
Sassoferatto [Web Gallery of Art]

4 comments:

Mariette VandenMunckhof-Vedder said...

Dearest Father Seán,
There are several excellent paintings and one other is Hans Memling's Mater Dolorosa, c. 1480, Uffizi Gallery: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Hans_Memling_-_Mater_Dolorosa_-_WGA14917.jpg
It is an oil painting on oak panel and opposite Man of Sorrows: https://www.wga.hu/html_m/m/memling/3mature2/22sorrow.html
Very touching, a mother looking at her son...
Hugs,
Mariette

Fr Seán Coyle said...

Thank you, Mariette, for the link to Memling's 'Mater Dolorosa'. There are many beautiful paintings of the Blessed Virgin Mary and it can be difficult to choose only one for a particular purpose. Many of the great painters clearly had a deep Christian faith and through their works can draw us into a deeper understanding of our own faith as Christians.

Fr Seán Coyle said...

A friend drew it to my attention that a link to the Sorrowful Mysteries led to the Joyful Mysteries. I have corrected that. I have also made all the links to my posts on the Rosary with the Great Painters to those of May 2020 rather than to those I posted in October 2014.

Mariette VandenMunckhof-Vedder said...

Dearest Father Seán,
At times we do make a mistake and I too appreciate the keen eye of a friend/reader to point that out.
As for those great painters, it almost seems as if with the help of God they could do such otherworldly scenes.
We don't have such talents at present time... Same is true for divine music!
Guess we need to increase our Faith first!
Hugs,
Mariette