The Passion Paintings At Saint Andrew’s Chapel
By Charles Micheals
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By Charles Micheals
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The Passion Paintings At Saint Andrew’s Chapel
Saint Andrew’s Chapel (Photo courtesy of Charles Micheals)
Winter Park, Florida
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© 2012 Charles J. Micheals
Published by the Aiyura Valley Historical Society
Winter Park, Florida
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: Pending
First Printing 2012 (Not for Sale)
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.
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Dedication To the pastors, elders and teachers who faithfully serve the true church around the world.
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The Passion Paintings At Saint Andrew’s Chapel
Six Italian Renaissance Passion Paintings The six paintings in the narthex of Saint Andrew’s1 Chapel in Sanford, FL are the work of Mr. Richard Serrin2. He has been acclaimed as one of the greatest religious painters of the twentieth century. He is an American who paints in Florence, Italy and uses the style of Italian Renaissance, making his own paints and glaze as was done centuries ago.
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http://www.saintandrewsonline.org/ http://richardserrinart.com/
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Richard was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1928. His natural talent for drawing and a life-long love of literature, philosophy, and religious studies were instrumental in determining his course of life as an artist. Very early Richard developed a fascination for the masters of the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly Rembrandt. After receiving his M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Richard traveled in Mexico, Europe, and earlier, with the US Army, in Japan. After marrying in 1963, Richard and Dorothy moved to Amsterdam and in 1964 to Italy, where their two daughters were born.
The four square pieces were produced in 1974 after a competition with the Renaissance and Baroque Masters. In 1984 the additional two paintings were completed. They were initially purchased by Fred Wacker of Chicago in the 1980s and displayed in museums in Atlanta and New York.
Later, the Wacker family, seeking a permanent location to house the paintings, contacted Dr. R.C. Sproul. When Dr. Sproul told the Wackers of the beginning of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, FL they decided to donate the paintings that they might have a church home. The six paintings are currently on display in the narthex.
The photos of the Serrin paintings in this booklet all have come from the Richard Serrin web site noted in this article. The text describing each Serrin painting comes from the Saint Andrew’s Chapel church information sheet, available in the church narthex.
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The Passion Artwork _________________________________
The Presentation Luke 2:22-32
The Last Supper Mark 14: 17-26 9|Page
The Triumphal Entry Mark 11: 1-10
The Triumph Of Barabbas Mark 15: 6-15
The Crucifixion John 19: 28-30
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The Ascension and Judgment Acts 1: 6-9
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The Presentation ___________________________ This piece depicts the presentation of Jesus by His mother and father at the temple and the blessing of Simeon and Anna over the baby. It is by far the most involved piece compositionally of the six Serrin paintings in the church narthex. It is an episodic for it tells several different stories within one canvas.
The first story begins in the very center of the canvas as Mary and Joseph present Jesus to Simeon who has waited his whole life to see this Child. Mary is fainting from the impact of the moment and being supported by Joseph and a handmaiden as she holds Jesus. It is a small, intimate scene hardly noticed in the daily humdrum of temple activity.
Luke 2:22-32 11 | P a g e
The second episode takes place in the lower part of the painting, a larger scale of Mary holding Jesus and Joseph walking just ahead of her as they exit the temple. Mary’s face is deeply contemplative, as she now understands the reality of this Christ Child’s destiny. Joseph walks ahead of them fulfilling his role as a father and protector of Mary. Angels, signifying in the artist’s mind our guardian that protects us throughout life not from death but from our own fears, surround Mary and the Child.
A depiction of Anna, who is also pronounced a blessing on Jesus, is located slightly above the movement of Mary and Joseph toward the door of the temple. Two men who seem slightly skeptical about the situation accompany her. The temple is full of people, but in the upper right-hand corner, a dark bearded figure looms over the scene. This figure presents the devil sent to snatch the Child and destroy the world. An angel protruding from the right bottom of the canvas holds out a flaming sword causing a barrier between the baby Jesus and Satan.
Looking up toward the top piece, we see an angel releasing a dove, the Holy Spirit that flies upward to the top of the temple. In this high gothic-style temple, the ascending dove represents the Holy Spirit who applies the redemptive work of Christ to us.
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The Triumphal Entry _________________________________ A
two-fold emotion emerges from this painting. First, we see a great exultation in the faces and
expressions of the people. They falsely think that Christ will now set up His kingdom here on earth and free them from the tyranny of the Roman government. Much dancing and light lyrical celebration processes its way across the canvas as the people carry olive branches before Christ. The figures are atypical, their costumes stereotyped, not authentic Jewish dress. However, the artist has sketched in two distinctly Jewish characters at the bottom of the piece to keep them within the Jewish realm.
Mark 11: 1-10 13 | P a g e
The second emotion which emerges is that of Christ, who despite the celebration bursting forth all about Him, wears an expression of serious contemplation of what lies before Him. He knows His destination and is therefore in a sense “abstracted” from the world about Him. The artist conveys this effect by placing two cripples begging for healing at the feet of Jesus. However, Jesus’ face is turned away from them as His focus is now on the cross and what He would ultimately give to the world that would have far more profound effects than simply healing their infirmities.
In addition to Christ’s determined purpose, we receive an ominous for-telling of the future in the figure of Judas (dressed in black) who is already communicating with the conspirators about betraying his Master. His face which is turned away from Christ shows the dark betrayal within him.
Compositionally, Serrin places two pieces of art on top of the painting, which symbolically bring together Christ’s world. On the top left corner is an Egyptian obelisk, a symbol of Christ’s exodus to Egypt to escape the killing of the male babies by Herod. In the top right-hand corner is a Roman pillar, which represents the world of Rome into which Christ came. Serrin here is painting the feeling of being brought out of Egypt into the Greek Roman world where his church would be established.
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The Last Supper __________________________ Based on a smaller version of Rembrandt’s Last Supper, Richard Serrin uses a circular composition for this painting. In the very center of the canvas he has placed Christ, surrounded by light and, in fact in the most lit part of the composition, behind the table looking at Peter who He predicted would deny Him. Peter, standing on the right-hand side of the canvas, partly in light and darkness, has just thrown a dagger into the bench on which they were sitting and is turned away from Christ with a look of fear and uncertainty. The other disciples perceive their own danger and look about anxiously.
The broken wineglass further conveys the sense of fear and trembling in the scene. Judas, on the left side of the canvas, is preoccupied by a sense of doom as he exits the room just after Jesus has exposed him as His betrayer. He is walking into shadow and darkness.
Mark 14: 17-26 15 | P a g e
Serrin has placed a white turban on Christ’s head to make His figure stand out and not be lost in the background. On the right-hand side of the piece, in front of Peter, is a darkened disciple standing against a black pillar which completes Serrin’s compositional scheme of dark to light again. He chooses a close-up angle of the room to try to get into the disciple’s minds rather than portraying the usual panoramic view of the entire room from a distance. There is an overall sense of quietness about the painting as the disciples contemplate what has just happened.
Name: The Last Supper, after Leonardo da Vinci Technique: Red chalk Date: 1634-1635 A.D. Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York3
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http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/the_robert_lehman_collection/ the_last_supper_after_leonardo_da_vinci_rembrandt_rembrandt_harmensz_van_rijn/objectview.aspx?collID=15&OID=150000 245
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The Triumph of Barabbas ________________________________________ A burst of light on this canvas conveys the brutality that invades the painting. In fact, the theme carried across the pigments dramatizes brutality. To accentuate the profound cruelty of the piece outlining the final hours of Jesus’ life, the composition is set slightly off-balance by an incline along the ground line.
The freed Barabbas towers over the beaten Christ, who lies bloody under the hand of the Roman soldier. This criminal, Barabbas, symbolizes every man according to the artist. Barabbas’s expression and poise embody the full liberation of the sinful life of the senses common to mankind. He sheds himself of all moral responsibility. The people think they have punished Christ and done away with an ultimate standard of truth, just as modern philosophies of today teach. Christ, on the other hand, who taught a life of duty and eternal values painfully bears the full weight of the moral responsibility that mankind has shed. The other two thieves who will be crucified with Jesus stand in the background.
Mark 15: 6-15 17 | P a g e
Pilate washes his hands of the situation in back of Barabbas. The whole perspective of the painting points downward toward Christ, which leads to the upward perspective of Jesus on the cross.
An added focus of interest in the canvas is the number of elements of the painting that are borrowed from other paintings. Borrowing compositional elements has been a common practice of artists for ages and an enjoyment of the art world. An existing composition is copied and then expanded upon according to the artist’s own taste. For instance, in the top left concern, a Bourgeois runs his hands together. The figure of this man is taken from Rembrandt’s famous painting, The Night Watch. Also, the guard that is with Jesus wearing the feathered helmet is taken directly from Rembrandt’s, The Man With the Golden Helmet.
Name: The Night Watch Technique: Oil on canvas Date: 1650 A.D. Location: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands4 4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Watch_(painting)
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Name: The Man With the Golden Helmet Technique: Oil on canvas Date: 1650 A.D. Location: Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany5 5
http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/r/rembran/painting/portrai3/goldenhe.html
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The Crucifixion ________________________ As we study the Crucifixion, we feel a sense of horror and agony in the canvas as Christ struggles to bear the pain of the cross. Our view is drawn upward toward Christ from the downward angle in the painting, The Triumph of Barabbas. It is as if we are standing at the foot of the cross itself. Here, Serrin has composed the piece at a 60% angle to give a sense of movement of the cross being raised, but also conveying disequilibrium. Christ is almost dead in the picture and His scapulae are torn out. Above His crown of thorns is the sign mocking His “kingship”. On either side of Christ hang the two thieves; their heads bowed further conveying the agony of death by crucifixion.
John 19: 28-30 21 | P a g e
The display of Christ on the cross is the traditional crucifix showing the nails in Christ’s palms instead of His wrists, which would probably have been the more accurate method of nailing. Secondly, the purple cloud rising at an angle at the top of the canvas finishes the compositional elements. The artist used a live model who briefly hung from a cross to reveal the physical impact upon the victim’s muscles during crucifixion.
In the lower right-hand corner brewing clouds reveal the city of Jerusalem far below, which further emphasizes Golgotha as the place where Jesus was taken, outside the city, to be sacrificed. Serrin has chosen to paint in a small piece of paper, which he has signed. This is floating beside the crucifix. The paper keeps the onlooker’s eyes focused in the forward part of the painting and prevents them from getting lost in the darkness of the clouds. The work of art carries Serrin’s unique style and idea of the historical event.
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The Ascension and Judgment _______________________________________________ The final piece in the series takes two very distinct events in biblical teaching and molds them together. First is Christ’s ascension into heaven after His resurrection. The Christ figure is rather large on the canvas and there is virtually no movement in His composition. He is gazing at the letters written at the top of the painting. If the viewer looks closely, they can make out tears, as He grieves over lost souls.
Below Him on the right-hand side of the piece, angels with swords are forcing people into an abyss. This is Serrin’s depiction of the final judgment. The people represent culture and civilization that has not been obedient to God’s mandates and are reaping the final punishment of their sins, eternal damnation. The sky swirls around them and darkness engulfs them as they fall away. The words at the top of the canvas are the second half of the judgment that God spelled out with His own hand on the wall at the feast of Belshazzar (Daniel 5:7). It means, “You have been judged and found wanting.”
Acts 1: 6-9 23 | P a g e
The sky emphasizes the dichotomy of Christ, who is moving upward into light which creates a sense of peace, and a sinful civilization that is falling downward into a stormy darkness.
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About The Author
Charles Micheals is a native of Michigan and lived the first thirty years of his life there, eventually working in the grocery industry. In 1985, Charles and his wife Barbara and their four small children joined Wycliffe Bible Translators and moved to the country of Papua New Guinea (PNG) where they worked with the internationally known non-profit linguistic organization, SIL International (formerly the Summer Institute of Linguistics). Charles served in a variety of administrative roles in PNG, including several years as the Chairman of the SIL PNG Job Evaluation and Wage Review Committee and on the SIL PNG Executive Committee.
During their 15 years of service in PNG, Bible translation work was completed in 67 languages and over 100 additional Bible translation projects were started. Today, almost 180 language communities, representing 1.8 million people in PNG have access to the Scriptures in their own languages.
In 2000, Charles and Barbara moved back to the USA and Charles served for several years as the Regional Director for Recruitment for Wycliffe, living in the Chicago, Illinois area. In 2004 they moved to Orlando, Florida where Charles served for six and one half years as the Vice President for Recruitment Ministries for Wycliffe. He currently heads up Wycliffe’s Management Recruitment and Professional Department and speaks at various mission conferences and colleges each year. Barbara helps coordinate Wycliffe’s Volunteer and Internship department.
Charles holds a BS degree in Food Distribution from Western Michigan University and a MA degree in Organization Management from Dallas Baptist University. He served on the Board of Directors for The Finishers Project (now Mission Next), a non-profit mission dedicated to helping people in the second half of life find places to serve in missions. He has also been involved in helping create and develop Mission Teach (Now Mission Next Education), a ministry dedicated to helping place teachers in MK (Missionary 25 | P a g e
Kid) mission schools around the world and Military Believer, a growing ministry dedicated to helping military personnel who are leaving the military, find opportunities for service in global missions.
Charles has also authored a number of articles about the work of SIL in PNG and other historical articles about life in the Aiyura Valley in PNG. (http://issuu.com/cbmicheals/docs)
Both Charles and Barbara are members of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, FL and are involved in a variety of church activities there. Charles serves as an elder at the church. However, they are still members of Second Christian Reformed Church, in Kalamazoo, Michigan which is the church that commissioned them for their work with Wycliffe. All four of their children and spouses are actively supporting missions and church ministry work. One is a pastor at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, one is an elder at a PCA church and two children are serving with Wycliffe around the world.
Back Cover: Inside Saint Andrew’s Chapel (Photo courtesy of Charles Micheals)
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