Two frescos by Giotto, the artist whose genius and contemplation of the Christ story opened up new ways of artistic expression, pushed the boundaries of aesthetics and religious sensibility, and pushed out new trajectories in exegetical imagination.
Again Elizabeth Jennings gives every impression of having gazed and wondered at the human experiences depicted in these paintings. And from them she has articulated the inner life and emotion of those caught up in the drama of redemption. She was a devout Catholic, and her poetry has a remarkable quality of sophisticated simplicity about the the things of faith. And she manages this while also articulating that creative frustration of the poet who is trying to expound mystery, and finds herself ultimately rendered inarticulate by that which is incomprehensible yet has to be contemplated.
In that sense Giotto and Jennings, (there names have a fitting alliterative sound!) are artists of mystery, prophets in search of a medium adequate to their message, which is what makes their work so attractive to those who also contemplate the incomprehensible with eyes that wonder, hearts that gasp and a mind made humble by immensity.
In Praise of Giotto
Giotto, lover of tenderness, you were
The first great painter who showed man as man
Not icon or pure spirit but entire
For through the flesh the best compassion ran.
You taught this, when you painted Joachim
And Anna, Mary's parents, standing with
Their faces close and intimate. In him
Was gratitude, in her, surrender. Death
You also knew was glad surrendering
Without a dread. So God himself was laid
Gently in his tomb, all suffering
Wiped from his face. You understood men prayed
And found right peace when they could speak and sing
As Francis did for whom the birds delayed.
Elizabeth Jennings
Leave a Reply