Someone I Know

once wrote a weird little weblog about walking around New York City.*

One of its posts touched on the work of Ms. E.L. Konigsburg, whom we pray will rest in peace.

(She died on Saturday, three days before William Shakespeare’s 449th birthday.)

Of all the people who have ever written books, I think I can say that E.L. Konigsburg wrote the one I have enjoyed the most in my little life.

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* I commend the short-lived blog to you to read in its entirety, if you are bored, or otherwise at a loose end. (Start at the bottom of the page, click ‘Beginning,’ then keep clicking ‘Newer.’)

Crossing the

Delware River…George Washington did, as this painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York recounts.

The Commodore Barry Bridge crosses the Delaware.

30th-Street Station rises above the Schuylkill, just up from the Delaware.

Speaking of the Revolutionary War: the Declaration of Independence declares that we hold to be “self-evident” that “all men are created equal.”

Is this self-evident? What do we mean by ‘equal?’

Certainly we do not mean that all men, women, and children are of equal height, weight, toothsomeness, intelligence, earning-capacity, or dexterity. We do not mean that all communicate with equal effectiveness, contribute with equal generosity, or smile with equal radiance or frequency.

In fact, we would be hard-pressed to name a single observable quality in which all men share equally.

The equality of all men shimmers with self-evidence when we take one crucial thing for granted. Namely, that God loves us all with divine love. This has been demonstrated by the Son of God, when He died.

“All men are created equal”–a self-evident proposition, to a Christian. Nonetheless, whenever anyone asserts the equality of men, we need to bear in mind precisely this supernatural dimension of the equality. We are equal in God’s sight. We are not equal in each other’s sight.

The respect in which we are equal trumps. All our natural rights proceed from our equality in the sight of God. We have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness because we are the darlings of God.

To seek our equality in anything else sets up a fall. To insist that we have rights for any other reason invites calamity. We are altogether unequal, except in the quality which matters most: God made us for no other reason than to love us. That much is true of absolutely every last one of us.

More Gallery Visitation

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has housed a collection of Arms and Armor for a hundred years.

In the 1920’s, art snobs complained that suits of armor do not belong in world-class museums filled with paintings by such geniuses as Pablo Picasso.

Au contraire: Many suits of armor are exquisite works of art.

One may discover this fact for oneself by visiting The Art of Power, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. It is just about the coolest museum exhibit ever.

…Back to El Greco: His most famous painting is “Burial of Count Orgaz,” which is in a church in Toledo, Spain.

One of the benefactors of the church was such a good and pious man that, when he died, Saints Stephen and Augustine came down from heaven to lay the dead man in his casket.

(click once or twice on the picture to see it even larger)

The painting is so grand, it opens heaven up to our contemplation.

But for many of us the most excellent thing about the painting is…the vestments worn by the saintly clerics.

If you zoom in on St. Stephen’s dalmatic, you can see–right beside the little boy, who is supposedly painted to resemble El Greco’s son–a tiny little El Greco painting of the first Christian martyrdom, as embroidery on the vestment. (St. Stephen is the first martyr.)

Discovering El Greco

View of Toledo by El Greco

In January, 1929, Louisine Havemeyer gave her late husband’s art collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Havemeyer had made a fortune as the president of the American Sugar Refining Company, also known as Domino Sugar.

Henry and Louisine Havemeyer

The Havemeyers had travelled extensively in Europe to acquire paintings by artists that the other American collectors did not know about.

One of the countries they visited was Spain, and one of the artists they “discovered” was El Greco.

Their interest in El Greco’s paintings transformed him from an obscure sixteenth-century painter to one of the giants of the art world.

When I was sixteen, I had the opportunity to visit Spain. We toured the Museo del Prado, and I laid eyes on the paintings of El Greco for the first time.

El Greco

To say that they are ethereal is an understatement. To say that they are sublime is to say too little. To say that they are spiritual is true–but it sounds lame. El Greco is simply the greatest, in a class by himself.

There are some El Grecos in Washington, at the National Gallery of Art.

Any opportunity to see a painting by El Greco should be immediately seized.

…Speaking of greatness:

Fourth and two? Here is how you stuff that situation:

Gems of Mother Cabrini’s Neighborhood

The Cloisters Museum as seen from Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan

Before we say goodbye to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini’s feast day, I feel obliged to mention that her neighborhood contains one of the most splendid places on earth. Yes, my brother lives within walking distance of Fort Tryon Park and The Cloisters.

If you have never been to see the views of the Hudson River which Fort Tryon Park offers, or if you have never been transported body and soul to the Middle Ages by visiting the Cloisters, then you might want to think about getting in your car right now. Stop for something to eat, and maybe the sun will be up when you get there. If not right now, don’t wait too long.