How would You Paint God?

[cacian]

I do not like the look of the beard.
What is the significance of a beard on fresco portray of a character?

The beard clearly suggested age and wisdom... and as others have suggested, was quite likely based upon Greco-Roman models of Zeus as well as images of Homer, Aristotle, etc... and other individuals seen as bearing great wisdom. The initial images of Jesus, on the other hand, were based upon the Greco-Roman God Apollo.

distracting indeed so much nudity..I am still not sure about why baby angels are in the nude too??

Michelangelo would have quite likely have painted God and all the angels naked had he been able to. Why should God, the most perfect being, who created Man and Woman in his image... naked and without shame... need to cover himself? Michelangelo endured heated debates with various clergy during the painting of the Last Judgment as a result of his insistence on painting everyone nude. He argued quite persuasively that surely souls freshly risen from the dead would not be clothed. The church leaders, however, could not abide a nude Virgin Mary or a nude Christ and one of the artist's followers was later employed to add concealing draperies in the more "extreme" areas.

Of course Michelagelo's attraction to the nude also owed much to his own sexuality... a conveyed a great deal of his internal turmoil and frustration... the conflict between physical and spiritual desire.

The "baby angels" or putti (plural of putto) were initially representatives of profane or non-spiritual desire... the desires of the flesh. They were initially employed in art and literature as assistants to Eros/Cupid (and ultimately to Aphrodite/Venus, goddess of physical and erotic love) in promoting physical desire between specific individuals. Later... especially in the Baroque era... they came to be confused with "Cherubs" or "Cherubim" who represented the second order of Biblical angels, and they were employed to represent the presence of God.

Of course Michelagelo's attraction to the nude also owed much to his own sexuality... a conveyed a great deal of his internal turmoil and frustration... the conflict between physical and spiritual desire.

stlukesguild
Thank you for such eloquent explanation.
It makes sense about Michelangelo's frutrations one hope that he did found solace in his own great gift as a painter.
It is quite interesting to think he got away with it because of the religious strict moeurs at the time.
I mean it must have been a sensation to have with such allowances of flesh and nudity especially with regard to the religee themselves.

[JuniperWoolf]

I like how South Park depicted God:



Randy: [taken aback] That's God?
Jesus: Yea, 'tis my Father, the Creator. He is the Alpha and the Omega.
[A snake's tongue lashes out from God's mouth]
Jesus: The Beginning and the End.
Mr. Garrison: Well, yeah, but that?
God: What did you expect me to look like, my son?
Mr. Garrison: [thinks for a moment] Well not like that!

[MarkBastable]

If, like me, you were brought up in the Nonconformist Protestant tradition of the European Baptist Church, you wouldn't paint God at all, because that would amount to a graven image, and God's explicitly against them.

This is also why there are no stained glass windows in Baptist churches, and why we think that a crucifix is pretty much equivalent to a Golden Calf or a statue of the Whore of Babylon.

We Baptists don't mess about when it comes to Commandments, I can tell you.

[Drkshadow03]

That's too late in the time frame. I obviously can't admire ALL of ancient Rome, the kingdom, republic and empire span over two thousand years altogether. I like how they dealt with (most of) their conquored nations when they were at their prime before they got overzealous. During their expansion they COULD have just razed every non-Roman city to the ground simply for being "not Roman," expunged everything like they did with Carthage, but they didn't. Why put in all of that work to erase a society when it has something to offer? They saw value in the nations that they conquored, not just in it's resources and labour but in the cultures themselves. They were able to admire things which were different, stories, styles and philosophy &c. and so these societies live on (unlike the Carthaginian empire).

This sounds a bit like you're romanticizing Roman imperialism. Later European imperialists also grew fascinated with the stories, aesthetic/styles, and philosophies of the East, nor did they raze everything, but that doesn't mean they didn't brutally murder, arrest, enslave the native populations when it suited their purposes.

The Romans might have tolerated some cultural elements and individuals might have adopted certain aspects of other cultures (particularly cults/religions), but social treatment in the larger Roman society generally correlated with how much of Roman culture you adopted.

[JuniperWoolf]

This sounds a bit like you're romanticizing Roman imperialism.

Totally, I'm grateful that we can still read ancient Greek philosophy. So much could have been lost but they were practical about their raping and pillaging which was right decent of them. Really though I'm interested in the brutality and grit of Ancient Rome as well the aspects of high culture. Carthage is actually my favorite story, imagine blotting a great civilization out of history, literally salting the earth. Enthralling stuff.

[cafolini]

That's too late in the time frame. I obviously can't admire ALL of ancient Rome, the kingdom, republic and empire span over two thousand years altogether. I like how they dealt with (most of) their conquored nations when they were at their prime before they got overzealous. During their expansion they COULD have just razed every non-Roman city to the ground simply for being "not Roman," expunged everything like they did with Carthage, but they didn't. Why put in all of that work to erase a society when it has something to offer? They saw value in the nations that they conquored, not just in it's resources and labour but in the cultures themselves. They were able to admire things which were different, stories, styles and philosophy &c. and so these societies live on (unlike the Carthaginian empire).

I don't think you know much of what went on. One only has to look at what they did to England with the Norman invasion and the reconstruction with the invention of Shakespeare, and what it actually took for Elizabeth I to kick them and their Mary of Scotts out for keeps. And when it came to torture of individuals, they invented the most ingenious machines, protocols and devices. And what do you know about The Glorious Revolution and what it took Newton and Co to finish with the conspiracy involving Leibnitz as the inventor of the calculus. Case closed.

[JuniperWoolf]

And when it came to torture of individuals, they invented the most ingenious machines, protocols and devices. Case closed.

I know, and that part was fun to read about too. I'm not saying they were cuddly bunnies, I'm saying they were able to recognize and preserve what was important. What was your case again?

[cafolini]

Totally, I'm grateful that we can still read ancient Greek philosophy. So much could have been lost but they were practical about their raping and pillaging which was right decent of them. Really though I'm interested in the brutality and grit of Ancient Rome as well the aspects of high culture. Carthage is actually my favorite story, imagine blotting a great civilization out of history, literally salting the earth. Enthralling stuff.

Alright, alright. My leg can't stretch that long.

[cacian]

If, like me, you were brought up in the Nonconformist Protestant tradition of the European Baptist Church, you wouldn't paint God at all, because that would amount to a graven image, and God's explicitly against them.

This is also why there are no stained glass windows in Baptist churches, and why we think that a crucifix is pretty much equivalent to a Golden Calf or a statue of the Whore of Babylon.

We Baptists don't mess about when it comes to Commandments, I can tell you.

a Golden Calf or a statue of the Whore of Babylon.

never heard of this.

[cacian]

I like how South Park depicted God:



Randy: [taken aback] That's God?
Jesus: Yea, 'tis my Father, the Creator. He is the Alpha and the Omega.
[A snake's tongue lashes out from God's mouth]
Jesus: The Beginning and the End.
Mr. Garrison: Well, yeah, but that?
God: What did you expect me to look like, my son?
Mr. Garrison: [thinks for a moment] Well not like that!

Hehe....funny

[Alexander III]

That was a funny one, JW, considering the rivers of bloodshed and the slaughterhouses the Romans left all over in order to do it.

As opposed to every other empire in human History which expanded with love and doves and hippies and never shed a drop of blood....

Totally, I'm grateful that we can still read ancient Greek philosophy. So much could have been lost but they were practical about their raping and pillaging which was right decent of them. Really though I'm interested in the brutality and grit of Ancient Rome as well the aspects of high culture. Carthage is actually my favorite story, imagine blotting a great civilization out of history, literally salting the earth. Enthralling stuff.

I agree. I like the Romans, for their sense of honor. I don't think any empire has ever been as Honor focused as the Romans. The example with Carthage is perfect, if I am use an analogy.

Rome had had many wars with the Carthaginians, but then all of a sudden, instead of fighting wars like all the ones they had fought with them before, they went out to eradicate their civilization from history. Why? Because of Hannibal, because Hannibal had reached Rome itself and threatened to destroy it.

it was like there were two guys, who often fought each other, mostly with fists and baseball bats, once in a while with Knifes. But they frequently fought and thought ofttimes they ended up in the hospital they never killed each other.

Then one day, boy B (lets call him Punic) goes to Boy A's (lets call him Lat) house and violently attacks his mother. When Boy A returns home, he know something " you can tough me all you want, but the second you touch my mother (lets call her Rome) that is when I kill you, I not only kill you but I make you die like a rat.

There is something to be admired about the patriotism of Romans, and how sacred for them Rome was, so sacred that when it was threatened by Hannibal they felt it as if their enemy had gone after their mother, and thus subsequently reacted as any man would when they touch his mother.

-----

On Topic

I like how everyone is discussing how they would paint God, it is fascinating, as it is something so personal and individualist, and interesting to see every individuals response.

Personally, even though I am an atheist - I would paint god thus:

A nude boy, not older than 16 or 17; sitting on a rock and looking at a pond and at his reflection in the pond. And there would be a melancholy on his face, and a tiredness. And half his body would be covered in a shadow cast by a large tree behind him. He would have long curly hair, and there would be a knotted walking stick laid to rest beside him. The pond would be to his left tough, not in front of him, so he would have his face turned away from his body.

I don't know why, but that is how I would do it.

[Haunted]

On Topic

I like how everyone is discussing how they would paint God, it is fascinating, as it is something so personal and individualist, and interesting to see every individuals response.

Personally, even though I am an atheist - I would paint god thus:

A nude boy, not older than 16 or 17; sitting on a rock and looking at a pond and at his reflection in the pond. And there would be a melancholy on his face, and a tiredness. And half his body would be covered in a shadow cast by a large tree behind him. He would have long curly hair, and there would be a knotted walking stick laid to rest beside him. The pond would be to his left tough, not in front of him, so he would have his face turned away from his body.

I don't know why, but that is how I would do it.

So interesting. And being that you are an atheist, this images most likely come from our collective archetypes: child, water, tree, etc. The details you describe are fascinating. I sure see a painter in you.

[Darcy88]

Hannibal would have razed the city of Rome and salted its earth if he'd received the kind of support from home that he required and deserved. And if the Numidian horsemen hadn't defected to Scipio I reckon he'd have massacred the Romans at Zama.

The Second Punic War was more of a conflict between Hannibal and Barcid Spain VS Rome rather than the wealthy Carthaginian Empire VS Rome. Once Hannibal is out of the picture I do warm up to the Romans, but Hannibal is still my favourite historical figure and I believe he would have accomplished a lot more if the Carthaginian state had been totally behind him.

[cacian]

[QUOTE=Alexander III;1102511]As opposed to every other empire in human History which expanded with love and doves and hippies and never shed a drop of blood....



I agree. I like the Romans, for their sense of honor. I don't think any empire has ever been as Honor focused as the Romans. The example with Carthage is perfect, if I am use an analogy.

Rome had had many wars with the Carthaginians, but then all of a sudden, instead of fighting wars like all the ones they had fought with them before, they went out to eradicate their civilization from history. Why? Because of Hannibal, because Hannibal had reached Rome itself and threatened to destroy it.

it was like there were two guys, who often fought each other, mostly with fists and baseball bats, once in a while with Knifes. But they frequently fought and thought ofttimes they ended up in the hospital they never killed each other.

Then one day, boy B (lets call him Punic) goes to Boy A's (lets call him Lat) house and violently attacks his mother. When Boy A returns home, he know something " you can tough me all you want, but the second you touch my mother (lets call her Rome) that is when I kill you, I not only kill you but I make you die like a rat.

There is something to be admired about the patriotism of Romans, and how sacred for them Rome was, so sacred that when it was threatened by Hannibal they felt it as if their enemy had gone after their mother, and thus subsequently reacted as any man would when they touch his mother.

-----

On Topic

I like how everyone is discussing how they would paint God, it is fascinating, as it is something so personal and individualist, and interesting to see every individuals response.

Personally, even though I am an atheist - I would paint god thus:

A nude boy, not older than 16 or 17; sitting on a rock and looking at a pond and at his reflection in the pond. And there would be a melancholy on his face, and a tiredness. And half his body would be covered in a shadow cast by a large tree behind him. He would have long curly hair, and there would be a knotted walking stick laid to rest beside him. The pond would be to his left tough, not in front of him, so he would have his face turned away from his body.

I don't know why, but that is how I would do it.

I like it all apart from the nude bit just because it is a bit chilly especially if you are near the water..it would sooooooooooo coooooooooooooooooold

[JuniperWoolf]

Hannibal would have razed the city of Rome and salted its earth if he'd received the kind of support from home that he required and deserved. And if the Numidian horsemen hadn't defected to Scipio I reckon he'd have massacred the Romans at Zama.

The Second Punic War was more of a conflict between Hannibal and Barcid Spain VS Rome rather than the wealthy Carthaginian Empire VS Rome. Once Hannibal is out of the picture I do warm up to the Romans, but Hannibal is still my favourite historical figure and I believe he would have accomplished a lot more if the Carthaginian state had been totally behind him.

I love Hannibal. That vinegar trick with the boulders, very cool.