Posted 28 June 2001 - 07:25 PM
Obviously, in regards to the religious paintings, the simplistic explanation is that the objects in question depict various religious icons, ie; the Holy Spirit, the angel Gabriel(especially in any paintings of the Virgin Mary), etc. Some artists actually feared a more detailed representation of some religious figures as a form of sacrilege, and the Church perpetuated this thinking. Here is a religious historians description of one of the paintings shown on the website;
The second painting represented an Annunciation with Saint Emidius by Carlo Grivelli. Contrary to the former painting, Grivelli has used perspective: shapes converge to a single point i.e. the vanishing point, and the artist painted shadows. We can also see the Virgin Mary receiving a light from the sky and the visit of the Holy Spirit traditionally symbolized by a dove with an angel staying by her side. A few fruit are thrown in the foreground and could symbolize God's generosity and mercy.
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Other artwork plainly depicts the artists interpretation of comets, meteorites and other heavenly phenomena. The highly stylized representation of unknown objects, especially in earlier times is not all that unusual. The unknown had a frightening effect on people, giving rise to all sorts of creative visualization.
Van Danekin popularized and ultimately sensationalized many of the paintings shown on this website. Already exposed as the master of creative story telling, he has none the less spurred the interest of many people. Some of the artwork is certainly intriguing, but common sense dictates that unless more can be learned about the artists thoughts and intentions when creating their art, general impressions and interpretations will vary wildly. Of course artists have never intentionally been mysterious, have they?
MAGIKMAN
Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense. ~ Carl Sagan
"...man has an irrepressible tendency to read meaning into the buzzing confusion of sights and sounds impinging on his senses; and where no agreed meaning can be found, he will provide it out of his own imagination." ~ Arthur Koestler