more emotionally charged and robust Baroque style. For example, Renaissance
art – typified by Michelangelo’s sculpture – shows David as serene, calm and
controlled as he thinks about slaying Goliath. In contrast, Bernini’s Baroquestyle sculpture shows a dynamic and powerful David in the act of slinging the
stone. Viewers standing in front of the sculpture feel like the stone is coming
toward them.
At the end of her talk Martha was pleased that almost everyone in the
audience was won over to the Baroque (which is her field of study). But she
also noted that the Writings speak negatively of the Council of Trent and
its proclamations on appealing to people’s emotions rather than to their
rationality.
The two 19th-century artists she focused on who were influenced by
Swedenborg were the demure John Flaxman and the intense William Blake.
Flaxman was a quiet sensitive soul who shunned controversy, and was also
a reader of Swedenborg. In keeping with the well-educated men of his day he
went on the Grand Tour (Venice, Rome, Florence) and became a wonderful
sculptor and artist. Among his works are pieces based on the Lord’s Prayer
and sketches illustrating Swedenborg’s Memorable Relations. His drawings
often include numbers in the corner, which reference the Writings, although
there is no written record of why he did this or how many illustrations to the
Writings he may have done – challenging research questions for New Church
art historians.
William Blake is almost the opposite of Flaxman in temperament and
style. He is better known for his poems than his paintings, such as “Tyger,
Tyger, burning bright,” and “Little Lamb Who Made Thee?” Unlike Flaxman
he did not sojourn in Italy but made a name for himself as an engraver of
artworks done by other artists. From this tedious copying he nonetheless
developed a vivid and highly original painting technique.
Although scholars are divided on the extent and nature of Swedenborg’s
influence on Blake’s work, his copies of the Writings have notations in the
margins and his painting Vision of the Last Judgment seems to incorporate the
Swedenborg notion of the form of heaven as the Grand Man. Martha noted
that the Glencairn Museum in Bryn Athyn has a collection of files on artists
who were inspired by Swedenborg.
Martha’s Wednesday talk was about Bryn Athyn College students and the
interdisciplinary art major where they combine art with another area of study.
She has been involved in New Church education for 39 years and says the last
four in the College have been the most exciting – so much so that she never
wants to retire. She loves the opportunity to bring the light of the Writings
into her teaching of art and that because of the diversity in the College, “I see
miracles happen every day.”
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