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Show M A ft 111'.' 1 f ttt rrnrr 'iiiiil f ? t;v shows The Spanish painter El Greco (15487-161I Christ freeing the souls in Umbo wno naa aiea before His Resurrection. The painting, one of El Greco's great masterpieces, is in the Prado in Madrid. 4) ill V X mankind joyous miracle of that first Easter, which anew each year, has a personal meaning for exeveryone. This is a time when each man in his own way amines his life, with all its fears and hopes, in terms of the Easter message. To the artist, the nobility of the theme is a challenge for his talents. The Renaissance painters, living in an age burstsustenance ing with vitality, an age whose religious core gave to all aspects of life, particularly felt this challenge. Under these conditions, the resurrection of Christ the Savior became the subject of some of their finest paintings. The Easter story stands but boldly in the simplicity of the essential Gospel narratives. If this makes it easier to see the idea of the Resurrection, its very greatness makes it hard to , see all its subtleties and its effect on us: The special insights that artists reveal in their paintings reinhelp increase our understanding. By remolding and terpreting the fabric of events, the artists bring out their essence in a new aspect. Our appreciation of those events of deepens as we see what has been achieved through beauty THE color, texture, and composition. The painting is the product of a particular culture, but its value is the appeal of the universal idea to all men. The Renaissance painter lived in an era of expansion, inventiveness, and an increased awareness of the problems facing mankind. In that respect, the atmosphere of the times was similar to pur own. In this fertile climate, painting flourished, and the painters exercised their imaginations and artistry in new techniques and styles, The tender meeting of. Master and Mary by Rubens (see cover) and Melone's Christ and disciples on the road to are placed in Renaissance settings and costumes. Bellini uses his rich talent to show several scenes simultaneously. The soldiers before the tomb are both asleep and awake, Mary is on her way to the tomb, in the background are hills with castles and animals; above all is the triumphant Christ holdV . ing the banner of victory. As a result of this method, these paintings cross the barriers of time, and the painters' contemporaries thus had a dramatic presentation of a recurring Easter. In their forceful presentation and beauty, these masterpieces of religious painting have the same value and appeal to us in the 20th Century as we contemplate the message of Easter. Em-m'a- . u, AM us |