My View For Awhile: Stars and Standards and Home

I am watching the sun rise on this portentous day from the Dreadful Airport of Madrid.


I am also using my spiffy app to see planets and stars.


This is the line up many people have been talking about.   Jupiter and Leo are already up.


Beautiful things in the sky.  Do they mean anything?  Who knows.

From my app

Also, at APOD there is a piece about two comets in the sky at the same time, on conjunction.  HERE

Just sayin’

Meanwhile, I’ve been in Spain with friends.

Few shots that you might like.

In Madrid I went to the Thyssen.  It is an interesting gallery with good pieces.  However an even stronger than usual secular attitude prevails right down to what  I perceived to be an anti-Christian sentiment in an exhibit on the Venetian Renaissance.

Anyway, here is a lovely Chagall.  The Virgin of the Village.

I really like Chagall’s stuff.

In the Naval Museum there is a large painting of the Battle of Lepanto. Here the angel is turning Pius V’s head and pointing. “Hey! There’s a vision going on… over here!”

Gazpacho.  Okay, I’ve had enough of that for awhile.

The sausages – butifarra are great.

And who can resist a bowl of snails?

San Jeronimo by the Prado.  Yes the weather was perfect the entire time.

Gins and Tonics are a staple here.  Gin and Tonics?  Gins and Tonic?  His hasn’t been conclusively resolved.  And Ive polled!

Red peppercorns in this one.  Nope.  Cucumber with Hendrick’s.

Carpaccio!

Which is mine?

Meanwhile, back in the Naval Museum, a grand painting of Christopher Columbus, so abused today.

On display for just a few days is the personal standard of Juan of Austria on his ship at Lepanto!

Very cool.

I spent two glorious days in the fantastic Prado.


For example.

Morales.  Not only an association of the Mother of God with her Son’s Passion but also a striking portrayal of motherhood.


This nun by Velasquez – I saw her in Paris – reminds me of someone I know who really needs to found an order… soon.

Lovely Murillo.

Stunning.  El Greco can take the air from your lungs.

As can Ribera.  I spent a good 15 minutes with this one.


Turn 180 and you see El Greco’s Trinity!

Soooo much going on in that painting.

Zurbaran.

Rising on the crescent Moon with a crown of 12 stars… just like we saw in the sky today!

And perhaps my favorite Nativity, by Barocci.


But now it is time to go home.


UPDATE:

Ooops.  Forgot to post this.

Anyway… next flight in a couple hours.

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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8 Comments

  1. Kathleen10 says:

    My goodness, the lovely art, thank you for sharing it. It’s just so beautiful.
    Safe travels, if you aren’t home already.

    [These great galleries can be overwhelming.]

  2. lfandrew says:

    Can anyone confirm the name of the app that Fr. Z. posted a screenshot of? Thank-you.

  3. mike cliffson says:

    I am glad you ve had a good time in Madrid.

  4. lfandrew: I’m using Starlight. Very cool.

  5. Choirgirl says:

    Stunning art, beautiful food, and a prayer in Latin – as they say in Brooklyn, “Who’s better than YOU!”

    Speaking of food, finally! Bring it on! I really liked the look of those sausages. The white stuff on the side looks like sour cream, maybe for the potatoes, and maybe chickpeas and corn in the small dish. The Carpaccio appears to be very tasty – that’s as rare as it gets, which only shows that no matter how civilized man is, there’s still a part of him that wants to ride through life with a piece of raw meat tenderizing under his saddle.

    The work of art that struck a huge chord with me was the Battle of Lepanto. The story of Lepanto serves to give each of us tremendous encouragement concerning the power of the Rosary, and the responsiveness of Our Blessed Mother in troubled times, as she has promised. If we turn to her through the Rosary, she will save us again.

    In the painting, the vast scope of Pius’ vision and his reaction to it are made real and immediate by the illustration of the angel. How many times has anyone of us said, “Lord, You’re going to have to make that sign in neon!,” or the like. Well, we have Guardian Angels who do the equivalent of turning our heads around and pointing us in a direction, as portrayed here, and we should thank them and give them credit for the constant help they give us.

  6. KateD says:

    Love the angel turning the head of Pius V! I do that to my boys at every Mass. “The action’s up there fellas!” Now, if only we could engage that same angel’s services today to turn some heads ’round right!

    Didn’t see the survey, so here’s my vote: Gin and tonics. As in, “I’ll take two gin and tonics, please. It’s a very long flight”. Say it the other two ways and you’re liable to get short pours, slow service and a bowl of bacteria laden munchies shoved your direction.

  7. lfandrew says:

    Fr. Z. Mea culpa – I should have been more specific. I meant what was the name of the breviary app. But I will be downloading Starlight as well.. :-)

  8. quo vado says:

    Isn’t that nun Mother Jeronima de la Asuncion, PCC? Her bones are interred in a Poor Clare monastery not far from where I went to college. Her body was found incorrupt when it was first exhumed, but now only bones remain. Her cause has been open since the 1600s. Here’s what her tomb looks like today: https://imgur.com/a/AbBb5 I wish I had a better photo.

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