Nicole Votta
I'm a Liberal Arts major at the University of Massachusetts with concentrations in English and Art History. My areas of interest include late Gothic and early Renaissance European art, mid-19th century to early 20th century European art, and medieval through early modern Indian art. I'm also interested in mid-20th century art associated with underground or counter-culture groups or pop culture. I'm particularly interested in illustrations and book art.
Nicole Votta's collections
Communication with the spiritual in ancient to modern art
<p>This collection will examine examples
of art as a form of communication between the human and spiritual
worlds. These forms of communication may include examples of direct
communication — in which an individual or group uses art to speak
to and influence the spiritual world — as well as examples that
serve to document practices, beliefs, and the place of spiritual
practices in society at large.</p>
<p>The form and focus of these
communications expressed through art can help to explain the values
of particular cultures or individuals, or may serve to question or
enforce certain cultural beliefs. This type of art may be the
expression of the needs of a social group or culture, such as
prehistoric cave paintings that might have functioned in rituals to
ensure successful hunts or plentiful game. It may serve to enforce a
political agenda such as the <em>Law Code of Hammurabi.</em> Or it may
express an individual's personal interpretation and experience of
spirituality such as the illustrated poetry of William Blake.
However, form does not always imply the expected function: the 19th
century English painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti sometimes
drew on religious subjects or themes and much of his work has a
mysterious and mystical atmosphere. Yet Rossetti, describing his
spiritual beliefs, called himself an “art Catholic,” implying
that if he engaged in a spiritual dialog through his art, it was with
art itself (Faxon, 1989).</p>
<p>This collection will look at examples
from the prehistoric era through the early 20th century. These
examples help to contextualize the inner lives of individuals, and
the collective inner life of the cultures, their environments, wants,
needs, and values, to foster a greater appreciation of and respect
for these peoples and cultures. <br /></p>
<p>Although there is only limited firm
evidence of the purpose of cave art found at sites such as Lascaux,
Chauvet, and Les Trois-Frères, scholars generally agree that it
served some religious purpose. Various theories have been proposed to
provide more specific explanations. Cave art, particularly
Paleolithic cave art, depicts almost exclusively animals. Hunting was
crucial to the survival of early humans, and it is possible that the
images were created as part of hunting rituals. Images of animals
superimposed over each other many have represented fertility rituals
aimed at increasing the amount of game animals. Some images appear to
have been deliberately scratched or gouged with spearheads — in
some cases blood was painted flowing from these wounds — suggesting
that the images may have been intended as a type of sympathetic magic
giving hunters power over and protection from large and dangerous
animals (Benton & DiYanni, 2012). </p>
<p>Other images are less easy to explain
and have given rise to controversial theories such as the bird-faced human figure in the Lascaux Shaft Scene, that
combine elements of humans with other animals in a single figure. The Shaft Scene appears to describe a narrative although the exact meaning is not completely clear. A wounded bison stands ready to charge; the animals intestines appear to be pouring out of its abdomen and a spear is shown near its hindquarters. In front of the bison is a stick figure human with a bird's face. The human figure appears to have fallen or been knocked over. Just below this odd figure is a line topped by a bird, perhaps an object belonging to the bird-faced man. This figure and others that combine humans and other animals into one figure such as The Sorcerer in Les Trois-Freres may document early humans' mythology, and could suggest
the origins of certain beliefs and practices (Curtis, 2006). </p>
<p>The meaning of the <em>Law Code of
Hammurabi</em> is less ambiguous — the spiritual and the
legal/political aspects of the culture are united. The stele dates to
approximately 1760 BCE and is divided into two sections. The lower
section, which takes up the majority of the stele, consists of the
code of laws in effect at the time. The relief at the top depicts the
Babylonian king Hammurabi receiving the laws from the god Shamash.
The implication is clear: the law itself is a religious document and
the social rules it describes are the will of the gods — and
Hammurabi whose authority is bolstered by the approval of the gods
(Benton & DiYanni, 2012). </p>
<p>The spiritual is not always a numinous
experience in a cave. Some early laws and social codes were framed as
divine communications that enforce social norms and rules — even
now, witnesses in courts are generally sworn in by placing their hand
on a Bible. Communication with the spiritual in examples such as the
<em>Law Code of Hammurabi</em> is aimed at establishing and enforcing
order and lending it a weight of legitimacy. It is as critical for
the members of an urban culture, such as Babylon, to abide by rules
to maintain peace with their neighbors as it was for the Paleolithic
peoples to ensure successful hunts. And, kings such as Hammurabi
believed it was critical to protect their power. By aligning
themselves with gods, they could borrow some of the gods' power in
the minds of the people and make rebellion or betrayal a kind of
sacrilege. Hammurabi, in fact, was declared a god in his own lifetime
(Van De Mieroop, 2005).</p>
<p>Music may also function as a form of
communication between gods and humans. In pharaonic Egypt, religious
festivals appear to have prominently involved music and dance. Music
may have been used in religious rituals to communicate with the gods,
invoke deities, or as a medium to transmit offerings. Some
instruments were associated with specific deities: the sistrum with
Hathor and Isis and the tambourine with Bes. Sistrums may have been
played during rituals associated with Hathor to invoke her — and to
placate her. Although images of deities playing musical instruments
are relatively rare in Egyptian art, Bes is frequently depicted
dancing and playing a tambourine. Unlike the other gods, Bes used
music to communicate with humans. Bes was associated with the home
and family — the front rooms of Egyptian homes appear to have
contained shrines to Bes — and he remained a popular deity among
the people throughout Egypt's history. Bes was believed to protect
people, particularly women in childbirth, by playing music to
frighten away evil spirits. Amulets of Bes dancing and playing a
tambourine appear to have been a common type of protective amulet
worn around the neck. It is worth noting that depictions of Bes
differ markedly from depictions of most other Egyptian deities: he is
represented in lively motion. In contrast to the image of Egyptian
religion based primarily on royal tombs and, therefore, focused on
death and the elite members of society, Bes was closely tied to life
and the lives of common people (Simmance, n.d.).</p>
<p>Composed by the poet Valmiki in India the fifth century
BCE, the <em>Rāmāyana</em> relates the deeds and adventures of Rama, an avatar
of Vishnu. According to J. L. Brockington, in Indian tradition the
<em>Rāmāyana</em> is designated
the <em>ā</em><em>dik</em><em>āvya,</em>
which may be translated as “the first poetic work,” and is
regularly referred to as being sung as opposed to spoken in contrast
to the <em>Mahābhārata</em>. In one version of the framework story
introducing the <em>Rāmāyana,</em> Rama is described as the perfect human
being. His behavior is therefore worth emulating, and it is likely
that as early as the first millennium BCE that was in a sense being
done literally through plays and dances reenacting the story
(Brockington, 1998). In that sense, the <em>Rāmāyana</em> represents a
complex, evolving dialog, a lived experience of both artistic and
spiritual expression. </p>
<p>Euripides'
tragic drama <em>The Bacchae</em> is another example of theater acting as a
complex dialog between the human and the spiritual worlds. The plot
of <em>The Bacchae </em>revolves around the arrival of the god Dionysos in the
city of Thebes where his ecstatic worship is opposed by Pentheus, the
king of Thebes. As Segal writes, the play is morally ambiguous and
may have been designed to implicate the audience in the action.
Although Dionysos is a disturbance to Thebes, Pentheus' response is
heavy-handed and unsympathetic. However, as the drama unfolds, the
audience that may have been rooting for Dionysos is confronted with a
climax that sees the god orchestra Pentheus' gruesome death. It is
important to note that Dionysos was a well-established and liked god
in Athens and that Classical Greek drama was written to be performed
during annual festivals in Dionysos' honor. As Vellacott writes,
during the festival a statue of Dionysos was brought from a shrine to
the amphitheater to watch the plays. As Segal notes, it is unlikely
that the play is meant to be critical of Dionysos (his actual worship
was much more restrained than depicted in the play or the myths it
was based on) but its presentation, at a fundamentally religious
festival with the god literally in the audience, could not but have
sparked another dialog within the audience, a reflection on their
relationship to the god and the sometimes overwhelming forces he
represents.</p>
<p>The
Temple of Isis at Pompeii declares both the strength of her
worshipers' belief and the endurance of her cult in the face of
repeated official sanctions. The temple was damaged in an earthquake
in 62 AD but was rebuilt by the time of the eruption of Vesuvius in
79 AD; in fact, it was the only civic building in that area of
Pompeii that had been completely rebuilt (Hackworth, 2006).
The apparent preference for a foreign goddess in a Roman city is all
the more significant in light of imperial persecutions and
prohibitions against her worship dating back to Augustus and coming
to a head in 19 CE when Emperor Tiberius exiled thousands of freedmen
who were adherents of the religion (Heyob, 1975). However, the cult
of Isis continued to flourish. By the time of Pompeii's destruction,
her worship appears to have included individuals from all classes of
society, from members of the imperial family and municipal officials
to freedmen and slaves (Takacs, 1995). The remains of the temple can
still be seen on the original site and at the nearby Museo
Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. Although Egyptian decoration was
incorporated in the design of the temple and cult objects, the plan
of the building and the style of the frescoes was Roman (Moorman,
2011). The navigium Isidis fresco appears to show a distinctly
Egyptian scene, Isis resurrecting her husband-brother Osiris, but in
a purely Roman style. The Pompeiian worshipers of Isis were part of
Roman culture but may have been seeking an opportunity to engage in
personally meaningful spiritual communication outside of the
state-sectioned venues and deified emperors (Hackworth, 2006). <br /></p>
<p>Early Buddhist art avoided direct
representations of the Buddha. The first iconic representations of
the Buddha were likely not created until approximately the 2nd
century CE in the area of Gandhara, in modern-day Pakistan, under the
influence of the Kushan emperors. After their conversion to Buddhism,
the Kushan produced distinctive images of the Buddha that drew on
Greco-Roman traditions while creating an iconographically unique
image that was clearly identifiable as the Buddha (Benton &
DiYanni, 2012).</p>
<p>Many of these early sculptures of the
Buddha depict a serene, sublime figure, perfectly proportioned and
untouched by time or the rigors of his life. However, a small group
of statues presents a radically different image of the Buddha. One of
these statues, <em>Fasting Buddha</em>, created between the 2nd
and 4th centuries CE, depicts the physical effects of the
Buddha's forty-five days of fasting and meditation before achieving
enlightenment. In an interview with <em>Hyperallergic</em> in 2016 when
<em>Fasting Buddha</em> was seen publicly at an Auctionata sale, Dr.
Arne Sildatke, Auctionata's head of Asian art, explained that
although the <em>Fasting Buddha</em> and similar images can be compared
to depictions of the crucified Jesus Christ, the Buddhas are not
images of death and resurrection. Instead, they are meant to
communicate to followers Buddhism the concepts of self-empowerment
and the overcoming of suffering, according to Sildatke. Despite the
figure's protruding bones, sunken stomach, and hollow face, the image
expresses the strength of the Buddha's will (Voon, 2016).</p>
<p>The Ajanta caves in Maharashta state,
India, contain some of the finest examples of Indian Buddhist art and
represent several centuries of complex artistic spiritual expression.
The caves were created as a monastery and decorated in the Gupta
style of sculpture and painting. The Gupta style moved away from the
Greco-Roman influence and embraced a more fully Indian style in which
characteristics of physical beauty associated with Indian art are
adapted to symbolize spiritual beauty (Benton & DiYanni, 2012).</p>
<p>The monks' work on the caves was likely
supported during its later phase by wealthy patrons, including the
5th century CE Emperor Harisena and his courtiers. These
patrons sponsored the construction and ornamentation of specific
caves to honor the Buddha and earn religious merit, as well as
worldly praise, for themselves. According to Spink, Cave 1, created
in the late 5th century CE, was sponsored by Harisena.
Cave 1 contains some of the most sumptuous and well-preserved murals
in Ajanta. It is likely that these images, including the Bodhisattva
Padmapani, are so well-preserved because Cave 1 was never used for
worship. Spink theorizes that Cave 1 was not used because Harisena
died suddenly before the cave could be dedicated. An undedicated cave
could not be used for worship; therefore, if the cave was indeed left
undedicated, Harisena would not have achieved the religious merit he
desired (Spink, 2008). In that case, Harisena's attempt to
communicate with the spiritual, to have his faith validated, and his
attempt to communicate his spiritual virtue to the human world were
both left unfulfilled.</p>
<p>Rich ornament and stylization was also
used to signify spirituality in European Christian manuscript
paintings. As Christianity spread through Europe, representations
were adapted to the local Celto-Germanic styles, which bore more in
common with the luxurious, symbolic, and stylized Byzantine art than
the naturalistic Greco-Roman tradition. The <em>Book of Kells</em> is
an illuminated gospel created c. 800 CE by Irish monks. A figure of
St. John on one folio is an exercise in elaborate stylization, a
purely two-dimensional figure made up of patterns of decorative
lines, emphasizing the image's spiritual rather than physical reality
(Benton & DiYanni, 2012).</p>
<p>An illuminated gospel such as the <em>Book
of Kells </em>was not merely a book — as the chalice used in Mass is
not merely a cup — it was created as a sacred object (Calkins,
1983). Like the images in Chauvet cave or the ceremonial sistra used
in Egyptian religious ceremonies, it formed part of the necessary
accouterments of communication with the spiritual. And, therefore,
its form and image took precedence over its physical practicality
(Calkins, 1983). In that light, the entire object itself, not only
individual folios, can be seen as a translation of spiritual
experiences and a vehicle for spiritual communion. </p>
<p>Liturgical music has been a key part of
Christian ritual since the earliest days of the religion. Most early
Christian music was woven into the services and often consisted of
chants based exclusively on scripture. Over time, the scope of music
in Christianity grew and original pieces were composed. One notable
composer in the Early Middle Ages was Hildegard of Bingen
(1098-1179). Beginning in early childhood, Hildegard experienced
intense visions. She entered a community of nuns when she was eight
and became a poet, composer, and playwright (Benton & DiYanni,
2012).</p>
<p>Hildegard also wrote several books
detailing her mystical visions and theological instructions derived
from them. One of these, <em>Scivias,</em> contained sections that
Hildegard later adapted to the <em>Ordo Virtutum, </em>a sacred music
drama (King-Lenzmeier, 2001). The plot revolves around the struggle
between the devil and the Virtues for a human soul. The <em>Ordo</em>
was not written to be performed as part of the Mass or liturgy and
does not depict biblical events: the allegorical story is adapted
directly from her personal visionary experiences (Potter, 1986). When
performing the <em>Ordo,</em> the nuns were embodying and participating
in Hildegard's visions by bringing these invisible spiritual
experiences into the human world (Davidson, 1992). </p>
<p>The Unicorn
Tapestries were made in Brussels c. 1500 and depict the
hunt, capture, and death of a unicorn. The tapestries may have been
made as a wedding gift and may have been intended to communicate a
multilayered message that combined romance and fertility with
Christian doctrine (Benton & DiYanni, 2012). The chivalric
tradition of courtly love had introduced the idea that romantic love
was a symbol of God's love: Marie de France's <em>Eliduc</em> employs
this symbolism to suggest that when two individuals loved each other
completely they could leave each other for God, separating to live in
different religious communities (Potkay, 1994). In <em>The Unicorn
Tapestries, </em>Margaret B. Freedman explores the complex
interweaving of secular and religious messages encoded in the
tapestries, including references that syncretize polytheistic deities
into Christian mythology. For example, the fountain in the tapestries
may be a symbol of the Virgin Mary, who was compared to a fountain in
many medieval hymns, as well as Venus and Cupid, who were frequently
depicted holding court in gardens dominated by a fountain. The highly
detailed flora in several of the tapestries also simultaneously
references Christ and Venus. In Freedman's analysis, the tapestries
can be understood as symbolizing and communicating the doctrines and
values of the overlapping Christian god of heaven and the god of
love, a concept that was well-established by the late medieval
period. In the context of the tapestries as a wedding gift, this dual
meaning is perfectly appropriate to express, reminding the newlyweds
of their spiritual, personal, and social duties and rewards.</p>
<p>In 15th century Florence, a
renewed interest in and availability of Classical Greek and Roman
scholarship fueled the development of Neoplatonism, a new school of
philosophy that sought to merge the principles espoused by the
Classical Greek philosopher Plato and the Roman philosopher Plotinus
with Christian spirituality. Platonism and Christianity are dualistic
and perceive a separation between the physical and the spiritual that
humans should strive to breach. According to Neoplatonist thought,
this could be done by recognizing the spark of the divine — the
work of God — in beautiful things in the physical world; therefore,
the love of beauty was a form of worship (Benton & DiYanni,
2012). Florentine Renaissance ideals of beauty were heavily indebted
to Greco-Roman traditions that emphasized harmony, rationality, and
balance. Therefore, in art and architecture, this could be performed
by using geometry as a symbol. </p>
<p>The elaborate geometrical floor pavings
in the Medicis' private chapel, the Chapel of the Magi, may be a
deliberate geometric code that communicated Neoplatonic ideals and
functioned as a type of devotional communication. Cosimo de' Medici,
who commissioned the chapel, and several of the artists and
architects involved in the design and construction of it were closely
involved with the founding of the Accademia Platonica in Florence, an
influential group of scientists, artists, and philosophers and which
was the cradle of Neoplatonism. The chapel's pavings following
distinctive, complex geometrical patterns and ratios tied to
Neoplatonic thought. The chapel was constructed for the use of the
Medici family and those close to them — it was not intended as a
place of worship for the public. Therefore, the Medicis and the
artists, scientists, and intellectuals close to them could freely
express in a precise geometric language certain beliefs and modes of
thinking that were not completely orthodox. In the carefully
measured, sumptuous marble pavings of the chapel, they could
demonstrate theories of elevated scientific and religious though:
divine harmony communicated through mathematics (Bartoli, 1994).</p><p>The
17th century English poet John Donne combined sexual
language and spiritual subject matter to express his concept of
ecstatic love. In this concept, an individual achieves unity of body
and soul and reaches spiritual truths through sexual union with
another individual they love. The soul is capable of awareness and
growth only through love, and during sex the souls of the individuals
mingle, each soul gaining greater knowledge of itself in relation to
the body. The individual is then a complete self: a being that is a
synthesis of its physical and spiritual aspects (Thommen, 2014). </p>
<p>This
concept is described in Donne's poem "The Extasie":</p>
<p>We
see by this it was not sex,
<br /> We see we saw not what did move; <br />But
as all several souls contain
<br /> Mixture of things, they know not
what,
<br />Love these mix’d souls doth mix again
<br /> And makes both
one, each this and that </p>
<p>“The Extasie,” therefore, communicates Donne's own
understanding and experience of spiritual communion. Like the
Neoplatonics, Donne's efforts to interact with the spiritual are
focused on resolving the perceived conflict between the physical and
the spiritual by seeking the divine in the physical — but uniting
body and soul by being united with another individual.</p>
<p>Communication with the spiritual is also blended with sensuality
in Gianlorenzo Bernini's <i>Ecstasy of St. Teresa</i> (1645-52). The
subject of the sculpture, St. Teresa of Avila, was famous for her
ecstatic visions as described in her writing, particularly her c.
1567 <i>Autobiography. </i>Teresa described a process of mental
prayer that resulted in spiritual union with God and produced visions
and intense physical and emotional responses. As quoted by Thommen,
Eleanor McCann pointed out that St. Teresa and Donne's descriptions
of communication with the spiritual through the experience of
physical ecstasy and union are, despite the author's differences,
remarkably similar.</p>
<p>Bernini's sculpture is based on the episode from St. Teresa's
<i>Autobiography </i>when an angel appeared to her and thrust a
golden spear into her heart, producing an intense pain and an
“infinite sweetness” that she described as the “sweetest
caressing of the soul by God” (Benton & DiYanni, 2012). The
sculpture, therefore, is in the interesting position of relating
mystical communication third hand. Unlike the nuns in Hildegard of
Bingen's community, Bernini had no direct contact with St. Teresa and
his translation of her experience was inevitably colored by his own
experiences and personality and the preferences of his patron.
Although Bernini emphasized the sensuality of St. Teresa's
experience, the sculpture occupies a supernatural sphere, distinct
from the related sculpturing groupings that are placed firmly in the
physical world and the space occupied by the viewer (Wittkower,
1980). The viewer is invited to witness the point of contact and
communication between the physical and the spiritual (Boucher, 1998).</p>
<p>In <i>The Book of Urizen,</i> published in 1794, English poet and
painter William Blake communicated a profoundly personal, visionary
spirituality that expressed his major moral and philosophical
concerns. Blake, like Hildegard of Bingen and St. Teresa of Avila,
experienced visions. He saw himself as a prophet and believed that
the duty of a poet was “To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the
immortal Eyes of Man inwards into the Worlds of Thought” (Benton &
DiYanni, 2012).</p>
<p><i>The Book of Urizen </i>is a creation myth structured along the
lines of Genesis but with Blake's Urizen in place of God. Urizen is a
god of reason and logic and law — a deity of pure materialism,
enslaved and enslaving who creates the world so that he may have
something to rule. Urizen represents both dogmatic, essentially
materialistic religious laws and Newtonian reason. To Blake, these
were both forces that blind humans to the spiritual by trapping and
circumscribing human imagination, thereby preventing them from
communicating with the spiritual, creative world that would otherwise
be their birthright (Frye, 1990). By creating <i>The Book of Urizen</i>
and his other illuminated books of poetry and painting, Blake
attempted to communicate his experience of the spiritual and warn of
the consequences of either rejecting personal communication with the
spiritual and imagination or of ceding that direct, personal
experience to a higher, worldly authority.</p>
<p>Communication between the human and the spiritual is not always
easy nor does a familiar form always imply the expected function.
These points are illustrated in the works of the English poet
Christina Rossetti and her brother the painter and poet Dante Gabriel
Rossetti. </p>
<p>Christina was deeply religious and often used her poetry to
explore both the rewards and struggle she associated with faith.
Unlike St. Teresa of Avila, Hildegard of Bingen, or William Blake,
Christina's experience of the spiritual was not mystical. Rather than
communicating with the spiritual through ecstatic visionary
experiences, Christina's efforts to communicate and achieve union
with the spiritual were the result of the effort of her faith, and
that effort, and her doubts, are expressed in her poetry. In “Alas,
my Lord,” (1874), Christina describes the difficulty of this
process and expresses her doubts as well as her desire for spiritual
affirmation — some communication, a response from the spiritual,
that her efforts are not in vain (Avery, 2014).</p>
<p> Alas my Lord,
<br />How should I wrestle all the livelong night
<br />With
Thee my God, my Strength and my Delight? </p>
<p> How can it need
<br />So agonized an effort and a strain
<br />To make
Thy Face of Mercy shine again?</p>
<p> How can it need
<br />Such wringing out of breathless prayer to
move
<br />Thee to Thy wonted Love, when Thou art Love?</p>
<p>In contrast, her brother Dante Gabriel was not a practicing
Christian, although he used Christian iconography and language,
particularly in his early works. Dante Gabriel referred to himself as
an “Art Catholic,” implying that his interest in the imagery of
encounters with the spiritual was largely aesthetic (Faxon, 1989). In
addition, he often used Christian iconography and language in the
context of secular love poems (Roe, 2010). In Dante Gabriel's art,
such as <i>The Girlhood of Mary Virgin</i> (1848-1849),
representations of the spiritual were not strictly religious but
rather an iconographical shorthand for the artist's sincere, personal
communication with their imagination. Particularly in his early
career when he identified as a member of the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood, he believed that medieval art was more sincere, more
closely connected to the natural world, in opposition to the British
Academic tradition embodied by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which he believed
was formulaic and insincere (Faxon, 1989). Therefore, the religious
subject matter so prominent in medieval art took on a new meaning and
the spiritual was transferred from the Christian God to the artist's
quest for genuine inspiration. </p>
<p>The Dream of Geronitus, Op. 38, composed by Edward Elgar in 1900,
is a powerful sonic portrait of an encounter with the spiritual. Set
to the text of a poem by John Henry Newman, it describes the death of
a man, Gerontius, and his soul's journey to the throne of God to
receive judgment. A dramatic and technically challenging piece, it
explores communication with the spiritual as a psychologically
complex, and not always pleasant, experience. The rapture Gerontius
experiences is counterpointed by the appearance of devils and his own
doubts that his soul is worthy to face God. The Judgment scene, in
fact, depicts that ultimate communication with the spiritual as an
almost unbearable experience. For the scene when Gerontius beholds
the glance of God and receives judgment, the score instructs: “For
one moment, must every instrument exert its fullest force.”
(Burton, 2003).</p>
<p>In 1974, The Dream of Gerontius figured heavily in <i>Penda's Fen,</i>
a film written by David Rudken and directed by Alan Clarke for the
BBC. The film's protagonist Stephen, writes about The Dream of
Gerontius in the beginning of the film, which then unravels his
nationalist and orthodox Christian certainty through visionary
experiences that lead him to reject his former beliefs. Stephen's
encounters with the spiritual challenge the priggish patriotism and
the national and moral myth he embraced, embodied by a middle-aged
couple who have successfully campaigned to ban a film exploring Jesus
as a man rather than as a god. At one point Stephen plays the
Judgment scene from The Dream of Gerontius on the organ in his
father's church, triggering a vision of cracks appearing in the
church floor, the crucified body of Jesus, and a voice commanding
Stephen to unchain Jesus from the strictures of conservative
Christianity. Later, he experiences a vision of King Penda, the last
pagan king of England, and, grasping that his culture is ultimately a
hybrid one comprised of a mingling of various religions, languages,
and peoples, rejects his former beliefs (Sandhu, 2014). The
experience is as unsettling for the viewer as it is for Stephen. in
<i>Penda's Fen</i> the spiritual intrudes on assumptions and
certainties and by irrupting reality leads both Stephen and the
viewer to question their assumptions and demands that they take part
in a wider, richer communication with the spiritual and the world.</p><p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><strong>References</strong></p>
<p>Avery, S. (2014). Christina Rossetti: Religious poetry. Retrieved
from
<a href="https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/christina-rossetti-religious-poetry">https://www.bl.uk/romantics-an...</a><br /></p><p>Bartoli, M. T. (1994). A Neoplatonic
pavement. In The Chapel of the Magi: Benozzo Gozzoli's frescoes in
the palazzo Medici-Riccardi Florence (p, 25-28). New York: Thames and
Hudson.<br /></p>
<p>Benton, J. R. & DiYanni, R. (2012).
Arts and culture: An introduction to the humanities. Upper Saddle
River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.<em></em><br /></p>
<p>Boucher, B. (1998). Italian Baroque sculpture. London: Thames & Hudson.<br /></p><p>Brockington, J. (1998). The Sanskrit
epics. Boston: Brill.</p><p>Burton, J. (2003). The Dream of Gerontius - Sir Edward Elgar
(1857-1934). Retrieved from
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