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Hilary White

Hilary White

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When Religious Art Isn't Sacred

That Tintoretto is very emotionally moving, but that doesn't make it sacred art The other day our friend, and brother oblate, Peter Kwasniewski wrote a beautiful theological meditation on the Eucharistic significance of the late Mannerist painting by the great Venetian painter Tintoretto, the Last Supper, still held in the church it was painted for, San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice.

The Light Fades: After the Golden Age

Part 3 of our walk through the Perugia National Gallery Part 3 of our walk through the Perugia National Gallery

The Island Between Worlds: Celtic and Roman Christianity in 600 AD

British saints series Part 4: We look at the deep history, geometry and mystical grace of Celtic art Around the year 600, Roman order has long vanished from Britain, leaving behind a patchwork of small kingdoms, Celtic and Saxon, rarely at peace and barely in touch with the old world of the Empire. In the south-east, one of these petty kings, Æthelberht of Kent, has just accepted baptism from Augustine, a Roman Benedictine sent by Pope Gregory the Great, re-establishing a Roman and Latin foothold in a land that had once been part of the empire but now seems utterly remote from it.

The transition from Italo-Byzantine to Sienese Gothic

A walk through the Perugia National Gallery - Part 2 A walk through the Perugia National Gallery - Part 2

Canterbury Cathedral: the idea of a sacred building still matters

Tedious, childish and exhausted: officially sanctioned transgression worth no more than an eye-roll Tedious, childish and exhausted: officially sanctioned transgression worth no more than an eye-roll

Boethius and his Consolation of Philosophy

Towering figures of the early middle ages: who built our civilisation, and why? Towering figures of the early middle ages: who built our civilisation, and why?

Reposts 0 Oct 9

The Sacred Painters of Umbria and Siena: from the Duecento to the Renaissance

A walk through the National Gallery of Umbria in Perugia - Part 1 I’ve mentioned a few times that I started studying egg tempera painting techniques and the history and meaning of traditional Christian iconography at about the same time. During a trip to Rome to visit some former colleagues in October 2019, I discovered an icon painting workshop that was to run through November and December. Some friends kindly donated the cash to cover the costs and I started.

Reposts 0 Oct 8

"Not Angles, but angels" - Romans return to a changed Britain

Part 3, in which Gregory the Great and Augustine of Canterbury meet the pagan Saxons Welcome back…We’re off back to 6th century Britain, Ireland and Scotland again this week

Reposts 0 Sep 30

Ending radio silence; a new approach

Finding a sustainable rhythm Finding a sustainable rhythm

Reposts 0 Sep 23

What I did on my summer holiday

Drawing practice, Donkey Races, Etruscan Art and some new projects Well, as Samwise said, I’m back. I hope you’ve had a nice summer, got to see some fam, take some hikes, go for some swims, get some stuff done, got a little sightseeing in, maybe even did a little drawing or art or gardening…

Reposts 0 Sep 2

The invisible order beneath: Raymond Reddington, The Blacklist, and the lure of the otherworld

A dark modern fairy tale I don’t know if you’ve watched the strange crime show The Blacklist, but it’s one of those series that lingers in your mind, not always for its plots, which are sometimes silly, but for its enigmatic central characte…

Reposts 0 Aug 26

The Dormition or the Assumption of Mary?

Why do we have two entirely different depictions of this event? Exactly a year ago, we had a post about the Feast of the Assumption, or as it’s called in the…

Reposts 0 Aug 14

The Faith bounces back from Ireland to Scotland to Britain

Part 2 of A Short Biographical History of Early British and Irish Christianity In these hot August days, with the Italian summer roaring back with vengeance for our mild June and July on its mind, I’m finding myself leaning more toward simpler stories. We’ll hold off resuming our work on the Big Editorial Plan for cooler weather, when people are back at work and at their computers, and home from the holidays. Plenty of time for in-depth discussions of the development from early Italo-Byzantine painting to Romanesque, when we’re all a bit more lively and clear-headed and aren’t thinking so much about the beach.

Reposts 0 Aug 13

From Roman Martyrs to Irish Monks to Viking Flames

Part 1 of a Short Biographical History of Early British Christianity While we’ve been focusing in these last couple of months on the goings on in Byzantium, Spain and Italy, big stuff was going on elsewhere. In the furthest reaches of the old Roman Empire, over the alps and across the cold waters of the Fretum Britannicum

Reposts 0 Aug 6

The Romanesque Gaze

Symbol, Style and the Sacred Face in the 11th century Symbol, Style and the Sacred Face in the 11th century

Reposts 0 Aug 2

The Forgotten Desert Monks Who Built the Foundations of the West

Syrian hermits in Umbrian caves; pre-Benedictine monastics in Italy shaped the ideas of Western spiritual life It’s easy to imagine Western monasticism beginning with St. Benedict, quietly writing his Rule in his old age at Monte Cassino. But by the time Benedict set down his compilation of ancient monastic ideals in the 6th century, Italy had already seen at least two hundred years of monastic life. It may have been disorganised and diverse, shaped by desert traditions from the East and improvised forms of asceticism, but it was a thriving tradition, deeply embedded in ancient Christian thought, throughout the peninsula.

Reposts 0 Jul 31

Math and Mysticism: Sacred Art Can Change the Way You Think About God, Man and the Cosmos

How medievals mapped the cosmos on the human face How medievals mapped the cosmos on the human face

Reposts 0 Jul 24

The Carolingian Revolution meets the Byzantine South

How did we get to Romanesque? Charlemagne’s coronation in St. Peter’s in Rome on Christmas Day in the year 800 was the culmination of a labyrinth of political paths, an ultimate, deliberate response by the pope to the chronic instability of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the pope’s i…

Reposts 0 Jul 22

Why subscribe? To join in on a work of restoration

From the Sacred Images Project to the Ars Sacra Association Starting the 3rd Quarter of 2025 - Romanesque and the Middle Ages

Reposts 0 Jul 19

What is the Most Ancient of All Illuminated Bible Manuscripts?

Royal Pages: the Mystery and Meaning of the Purple Gospels Royal Pages: the Mystery and Meaning of the Purple Gospels

Reposts 0 Jul 17

Two Ravennas: Arian and Catholic

Two sets of 6th-century mosaics and what they tell us about theology, empire, and art. Two sets of 6th-century mosaics and what they tell us about theology, empire, and art.

Reposts 0 Jul 11

The Memory of Southern Italy's Greek Colonies

Why is Sicily so... Byzantine? Join us below the fold today as we explore the remarkably long-lived Greek Colony of southern Italy, originally established in the Archaic Greek era, that gave rise to the Greco-Italian culture of modern day Puglia, Sicily and Calabria, including still-existing Byzantine Christian communities.

Reposts 0 Jul 9

The Bike, the Work and the Road Ahead

Many thanks - and Magna Graecia next week! This post is for everyone. I’m sorry to have missed this week’s scheduled paid subscriber piece. Between the heat, some ongoing health challenges and a few major behind-the-scenes developments, I wasn’t able to get our post on southern Italy’s ‘Greek Colony,’

Reposts 0 Jul 5

476 and All That: The Fall of Rome, Revisited

Wait… Did we forget the fall of Rome?

Reposts 0 Jul 1

The Sixth Seal, the last persecution: Reading Beatus of Liébana

A Visigoth monk tells us about the end of the world A Visigoth monk tells us about the end of the world

Reposts 0 Jun 28

Kingdom of Asturias; the Christian Art of Early Medieval Spain

Asturian Pre-Romanesque, a unique Christian artform In April, we explored a little of the history, and the art, of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of the Spanish peninsula, and talked about what happened when the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate invaded in 711. Today we will follow the Christian refugees north into the mountains, where a handful of survivors regrouped in the remote, forested mountains of Asturias.

Reposts 0 Jun 26

The Only Way Out Is Through: Two Early Medieval Last Judgments

Torcello and Formis: Walking inside Christian Eschatology Torcello and Formis: Walking inside Christian Eschatology

Reposts 0 Jun 23

The "thirst for God" that accidentally built a civilisation

A Benedictine response: what is it for? What happens when a journalist meets a true monk?

Reposts 0 Jun 21

The Mysterious Frescoes of Castelseprio

A lost ancient treasure of Christian Art A lost ancient treasure of Christian Art

Reposts 0 Jun 18

Putting together the big, complex picture: Italo-Byzantine, Carolingian, Romanesque

Sacred art in the West was never a straight line Sacred art in the West was never a straight line

Reposts 0 Jun 16