Lazarus Returns From the Dead

by cameo-d 56 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  cameo-d

  Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier, JO.

  JO: "cameo....You may have explained this and perhaps I missed it, but are you saying the artists of these early paintings were somehow trying to convey hidden messages that the church wanted to keep secret?"

  Anything is possible. Some elements in these paintings seem to be purposely conveying a message way beyond just depicting an old quaint story.

  For the first time ever, we are now able to see many pieces of the puzzle---art from museums, ancient artifacts, virtual tours of ancient places---why we are able to see the artwork depicted on the walls of the catacombs and that is not even open to the public! This is the age of revelation, you know, when those things that have been hidden from us will be revealed.

  I think it's time to examine the evidence and ask a lot of questions.

  We don't have to depend on the pulpit for our answers because we have already seen evidence of their lies and manipulations.

  Pandora's box has been opened.
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  journey-on

  I just had a strange coincidence happen.

  Cameo piqued my interest with the last painting, so I went and dug out my old Art History book from my college days. It's a good two inches thick and covers Renaissance through Modern art. I opened it randomly and one of the first paintings I found was Duccio'sThe Betrayal of Jesus! The same rocks and the same dark trees (4 in number) are found here as well.

  Does it mean something? I don't know. The book talks about painting style, use of architectural space, and perspective, and other artististic mechanisms. If these artists were trying to get a hidden message across, what was the source of their "knowledge"?
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  cameo-d

  Journey On: "I'm intrigued by all the positions of the hands and fingers....almost like sign language."

  Then, I think you will really be intrigued by this one!

  

  The shadowy figure in the upper left corner signifies someone who seems to be in authority (?) or control (?) over the events and lives of the others. It certainly gives the idea that he is a shady character. His outstretched arms over them almost gives him a puppeteer-like quality and the gesture seems to indicate some sort of orchestration. Notice the Illuminated Left Hand. The Left Hand Path is equated with malicious black magic. I would be curious to know if his robes are ecclesiastical. Can you detect anything special about his vestments?

  about the artist...

  Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was sometimes called Il Cavalier Calabrese (the Knight of Calabria). His early apprenticeship is said to have been with the "Caravaggist" Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, which may account for his life-long interest in the style of Caravaggio.

  (There are some very odd paintings on the island of Malta in an old cathedral where coronations of royalty are still held today. One is the beheading of St. John the Baptist by Caravaggio.)
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  cameo-d

  Journey-On: "If these artists were trying to get a hidden message across, what was the source of their "knowledge"?

  Here is some additional information on the above artist. It could be that some of these painters had "insiders information". Maybe this was how they revealed it in an attempt to "come clean" or hope that someday posterity would figure it out.

  Mattia Preti (February 24, 1613 – January 3, 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta.

  Having been made a Knight of Grace in the Order of St John, he visited the order’s headquarters in Malta in 1659 and spent most of the remainder of his life there. Preti transformed the interior of St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta, with a huge series of paintings on the life and martyrdom of St. John the Baptist (1661-1666)

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattia_Preti
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  cameo-d

  Compare the above painting with this one.

  

  Again, there is a shadowy figure in the left upper corner of the painting with an Illuminated Left Hand.

  In the darkness of the lower left, we see who the "light bearers" are.

  The artist is Jean Baptiste Jouvenet and the painting was rendered in 1706.

  Odd that this should be titled as another resurrection of Lazarus theme when the focus of the painting seems to be the woman in the limelight , the obvious left hand above her, and Jesus to her right. Poor ole Lazarus, for whom the painting is titled, seems lost in the fray and incidental.

  This intentional oversight of Lazarus tells me that this painting is trying to reveal something more important than what has ever been said about the story.
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  cameo-d

  Can you see what is blatantly wrong in this painting?

  
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  cameo-d

  What? Nobody sees anything so out of place it screams at you?
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  journey-on

  I see the clergy seemingly turning away in rejection of Lazarus. I also see the figure in front (right-hand side) covered from head to toe including his face. The only flesh visible is his right hand and it is in an impossible position.

  Just fyi, cameo, I read some info in my Art History book about Caravaggio and found out he was known as the "anti-Christ of painting". He was a bit of a rebel and liked to stir things up in the art world. He had an extensive police record and was pretty anti-social. He liked to shock the senses with his dark presentations. "Caravaggio's device, a profound influence on European art, has been called tenebrism or the "dark manner." This technique goes quite well with material that is realistic and is another mode of Baroque illusionism by which the eye is almost forced to acknowledge the visual reality of what it sees."
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  cameo-d

  Journey-on: "The only flesh visible is his right hand and it is in an impossible position."

  That's exactly right. If you look closely, you will see that it is a LEFT HAND placed on the right arm. If that is not blatant symbolism, then I don't know what is. How, after looking at these last three paintings, can anyone deny there is not messages being sent here?
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  cameo-d

  Did you also take note of the distinct separation between the "flock" and "the shepherds"?

  Notice that it is only those of the religious leadership side that are covering their noses.

  Yes, something does stink here....and as the painting suggests....the stink is coming from the religious leaders.