September 15, 2004
Contact Anthony Slaby at 796-3042
FATHER MCGARTY TO EXAMINE CHRISTIANITY IN 17TH CENTURY ART
LA CROSSE, Wis. -- Father Bernard McGarty will present “Christianity Represented Through the Paintings of Caravaggio and El Greco” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 18 in the Viterbo University Fine Arts Center Main Theatre. The event is free and open to the public.
Fr. McGarty holds the title of Visiting Scholar in Ecumenical Studies at Viterbo and has given previous lectures on Catholic relations with Jewish, Orthodox, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Islamic faith traditions.
“I would like the audience to see, understand, and appreciate the way fine artists interpret scripture,” Fr. McGarty said. “These artists were doing more than earning a commission--they were sharing their perception of great biblical events in extraordinary and dynamic ways.”
The event will feature 85 slides of some of the period’s greatest artwork and is expected to last approximately one hour. The works were commissioned primarily by the Catholic Church in the 16th and 17th centuries and were typically for display in convents, churches, and hospitals. Fr. McGarty and theatre students will narrate the specific biblical passages that inspired the artwork.
“The paintings of Caravaggio and El Greco are magnificent in quality and interpretation,” he said. “Those artists needed to read the passages, meditate, and then capture the imagery on canvass.”