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Coolest. Paintings. Ever.


Resurrexi

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[quote name='CatherineM' post='1925303' date='Jul 19 2009, 10:26 PM']I've played poker with priests. They usually don't cheat, but can get really mad.[/quote]
+J.M.J.+
one of the priests i know would cheat. :mellow:

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LouisvilleFan

[quote name='Resurrexi' post='1925214' date='Jul 20 2009, 12:14 AM']Out of all the things in the world satirizing clergy, I would say that these paintings are among the least harmful.

I don't see what is so bad about happy old cardinals playing with their kitties, drinking tea, and smoking.[/quote]

What you're missing is what you don't see: how the other 99% was living in the 19th century. I agree that most of these paintings can be taken in good humor today, but they were created as heavily sarcastic commentaries on the ridiculousness of a wealthy hierarchy, especially within the Church.

Edited by LouisvilleFan
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rhetoricfemme

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' post='1925198' date='Jul 19 2009, 07:53 PM']So you'd prefer to view them as opulent, rich, old hypocrites living in the lap of luxury?[/quote]
I found the paintings sweet. I know that wasn't the original intention, but when I look at them in such grand surroundings, I saw light-hearted instances of the men who many people might assume to be sitting around condemning the world and flagellating themselves. I think it connects them to people; they can enjoy too.

As for the luxurious surroundings, it didn't occur to me that these men are just eating it up. Those luxurious surroundings don't belong to those men, they belong to God. The men are servants of God who come and go.

If one were to walk in on these moments, it'd still depend on the person's attitude when it comes to what they're seeing: a spoiled hypocritical man, or a man of God appreciating what is in front of him.

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heavenseeker

[quote name='philothea' post='1925092' date='Jul 19 2009, 06:28 PM']Some of them are cute, though I'm kind of put off by the intended purpose of mockery.[/quote]
yeah i thought they were a little joking too. but then again it could be trying to show them as real people.

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[quote name='LouisvilleFan' post='1925710' date='Jul 20 2009, 03:06 PM']What you're missing is what you don't see: how the other 99% was living in the 19th century. I agree that most of these paintings can be taken in good humor today, but they were created as heavily sarcastic commentaries on the ridiculousness of a wealthy hierarchy, especially within the Church.[/quote]

Agreed. These paintings are a well-known part of the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-clerical_art"]anti-clerical movement[/url] .

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I don't think it's fair to say that if a Catholic painted these he must be a dissident (although he probably was). But taken out of it's historical context I think it's natural and perfectly Christian for someone to be shocked by the (past) affluence of the hierarchy in comparison with the poverty of Jesus.

To be honest the painter probably had a really good point. I completely agree with USAirwaysIHS:
[i]
the romanticized idea of clerical power being married to temporal power (as evidenced by your affinity for paintings of Cardinal-princes like these, the one with the crusader fellow or whatever the heck he was, and so forth), and I am quite fine with the separation of the two. I live in the modern age and think that the relative poverty that most priests and many other religious have to live in (the poverty-vowed among them obviously excluded, as their poverty is by "choice") is probably an opportunity for great penance and that to grow in holiness by helping them to realize that their reward is, indeed, not in this world. [b]Look how much corruption had infiltrated the Church during the middle ages that ultimately caused (quite unfortunately) the protestant schisms and the Council of Trent - this was in the time of the hierarchy being steeped with temporal power and great wealth[/b][/i]

Edited by OraProMe
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LouisvilleFan

Another way of putting it is these paintings are the 19th century equivalent of South Park, Family Guy, "Dogma," etc.

Of course, what you don't see is sarcasm made against Bl. Mother Teresa or St. Francis of Assisi... doesn't that tell us something?

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