Wednesday, May 25, 2011

'Vox Populi' and Vatican seem to be joining forces in pressure to remove that dreadful 'statue' of Bl. John Paul II

See Rome Reports in sidebar here. Cardinal Ravasi is deliciously urbane in the relevant video interview but the message is loud and clear. 'Get rid of it, in the least possible time and with the least possible fuss.'

Next post tomorrow. Today has expired. It has been the hottest of the year so far - 32 degrees. My two clumps of Madonna lilies are blooming. Praying they survive the heat for a display in church on the Feast of the Visitation next Tuesday,
GBAH
In Christo pro Papa

J

5 comments:

pelerin said...

What I fail to understand is how different the original drawing looks from the finished article.

Sculptors start off with drawings and modify their work as they progress but should not members of the local council (or whoever commissioned the statue) have kept an eye on how the work was going?

Even the head is at a completely different angle in the original drawing where it forms part of the fluid design looking down benignly, whereas it appears to have been just stuck on the final sculpture. And the original cloak was excellent with a hand which seems to have disappeared in the final sculpture.

Jane said...

Me too. Absolutely d'accord with your comment. And also with those Romans who said that the head and face reminded them more of Mussolini than of Blessed John Paul.

Jane said...

Me too. Absolutely d'accord with your comment. And also with those Romans who said that the head and face reminded them more of Mussolini than of Blessed John Paul. I thought that, as soon as I saw it, and before I read the comments.

pelerin said...

Yes and I forgot to mention that in between the drawings and the finished casting would have been numerous clay models as it developed. Didn't anyone notice how it was progressing?

Jane said...

Well, not the right people anyway!
Surely the Mayor of Rome must have seen it before it was unveiled. Either his heart sank in horror and confusion, but he could do nothing but steel (or should I say bronze, himself for a public outcry, or he is a man of dubious aesthetic judgment.