Art

Fr Armand de Malleray’s ‘Painting Reality’ invites readers to look beyond aesthetics and history to recover the theological meaning embedded within sacred art

Jan C. Bentz

A journey to Glyndebourne’s L’Orfeo prompts a meditation on Orpheus, Christ and the Christian promise of redemption against death

Kenneth Zammit Tabona

From Michelangelo to Caravaggio, sacred artists have approached the divine in radically different ways while remaining within the Catholic tradition

Nicholas Leeper SJ

The collapse of criticism as a rigorous practice has left contemporary culture increasingly unable to recognise or cultivate excellence

Lola Salem

In the setting of a Baroque palace built on rivalry, a new exhibition traces Bernini’s rise under Urban VIII, though not without notable omissions

Daniel Beurthe

The elongated figures of El Greco’s Pentecost reflect a deeply Christian vision of the body transformed not by cosmetics or discipline, but by the life of the Spirit

Fr Gavan Jennings

Critics say the undamaged windows should remain in place as part of the cathedral’s restored decorative ensemble

Thomas Colsy

By replacing transcendence and reverence with the visual language of consumerism and pop culture, Jesuit artist Nicholas Leeper mistakes provocation for insight

Jacqueline O'Hara

Before the rise of Islam, Sasanian Persia sheltered a remarkable Christian world whose memory still lingers in poetry, legend and cinema

Andrew Cusack

From haunting crucifixions to the quiet intensity of the Agnus Dei, Zurbarán’s work invites a deeply devotional response

Melanie McDonagh