The Chapel of the Virgin at Subaico
Item
-
Title
-
The Chapel of the Virgin at Subaico
-
Description
-
The Chapel of the Virgin at Subaico was created by the American Protestant Samuel F.B. Morse. It portray peasants, including a woman worshipping on her knees, at a shrine of the Virgin along the countryside somewhere east of Rome. The shrine is located at the edge of a cliff, isolating it from the others hills in the background. The image looks on the viewers at a distance, unable to clearly see their faces. Any depiction of the virgin, that being the subject of worship in the scene depicted, in not visible to the viewer. These qualities of the image reflect attitudes felt by the artist, being a Protestant painting a Catholic scene of worship to an icon. The limitations of facial clarity, isolation, and absence of the icon set up the convictions a Protestant would feel toward the mysteries of a Catholic worship. By being an outsider to the religion himself, Morse creates an image where the viewer, too, feels like an outsider, unable to get a full grasp of everything occurring in the scene. The isolation of a distant cliff invokes the sense that the viewer is unable to access the shrine like the subjects of the painting. The sun being behind the scene creates more shadow, darkening what can be seen than if the sun had been shining behind the viewer. This contributes to the idea of Catholic worship being incompletely understood by American Protestants. The shadow and inclarity of faces also causes a lack of empathy for the viewer towards the worshipping subjects. One viewing this image is left with a similar attitude as that of the artist.
-
Creator
-
Samuel F.B. Morse
-
Format
-
Oil on canvas
-
Extent
-
27 15/16" x 37'
-
Source
-
http://www.worcesterart.org/collection/American/1907.35.html
Davis, John. "Catholic Envy" The Visual Culture of American Religions.
-
Date
-
1830
