Art of South America – The Thoma Collection

One of the largest and longest-lasting European empires, the Spanish realms spanned from South Asia to South America and lasted nearly 500 years. The Carl and Marilynn Thoma Foundation is committed to promoting the art of the Spanish Americas and includes works from present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. This Virgin and Child is attributed…

St. Michael Defeats Satan

Several things struck me about this portrait of St. Michael the archangel defeating the devil that I recently discovered. First, his sword. It is more like a lightsaber than a sword. Although the handle looks like a regular sword handle the blade looks like it is made of fire. This goes along with what Paul…

The Mystical Winepress

The basic idea behind this motiff is that, just as grapes are crushed in a winepress to produce wine, Jesus was crushed on the cross outside the city of Jerusalem to erase all of God the Father’s wrath because of our sins. Jesus is not nailed to the cross. Instead the cross lays on Jesus’…