From a few angles, taken in the kitchen. Hopefully I will be getting professional shots of it in the coming weeks before its exhibition at the Epiphany Sacred Arts exhibition in Vancouver.
The icon has its faults and foibles. But its strengths outweigh these. I'm happy with it, and most important of all, it has grace coming through it. Poise. Authority. It's my first, so you move on with what you've learned, on to more icons.
You will also notice the board is flat. It does not have the raised border, or scooped-out center as the case may be, which is tradition. We just went ahead with a "practise board".
The raised hand signifies ascent (and assent I'm sure) - ascent of the mind to God. This pertains to the true source of Aquinas's wisdom, which sprang from his innocence and his fear of God, wonder and awe. The meditation of Christ crucified on the cross was the source of his wisdom, by his own admission.
The Latin words in the book that he holds are: O sacrum convivium in quo Christus sumitur. They are words written by Aquinas as part of the antiphon for the feast of Corpus Christi. Translated it runs: O sacred banquet wherein Christ is consumed.
4 comments:
Keep it up. I don't know diddly about icon writing, but this looks like a solid start.
The more you do it, the more comfortable you will become, and the more accomplished.
Thanks for posting this image. Reading the Summa is another one of those things I've been meaning to get around to.
I will do. The initial drawing for St. Michael has been started. You've confirmed my notion of not wanting a delay between finishing Aquinas and starting the next one. As you would know...that hiatus can be detrimental.
I went back into my post and added a few more words about the icon. I realized I did not really say anything postive about it (false humility!), which is definitely not how I feel about it.
The only Summa I've read myself is Kreeft's 'Summa of the Summa'. A great start.
I was crossing my fingers and hoping it would be a 25 September ! A cool coincidence for me!
^^ It's a very nice one! I didn't know Saint Thomas was a bit fat-ish!
Another cool coincidence is that I was looking at Latin phrases today! This one is quite nice!
O sacrum convivium in quo Christus sumitur
Convivium is a beautiful sounding word!
ps. sorry for resurrecting old posts... I hope you don't mind!
I've always thought Convivium a beautiful sounding word as well.
There is of course much debate whether St. Thomas Aquinas was rotund or just big-boned - or both.
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