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Views from the Choir Loft

Enough is Enough!

Gwyneth Holston · December 2, 2013

GWYN_Ingres Self Portrait of Ingres HE FRENCH Neoclassical painter, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, was so sensitive to ugliness that his wife would throw her shawl over his eyes to protect him from seeing a particularly hideous beggar or cripple in the streets. Although I find this unmanly and furthermore un-Christian, I have to admit that I wouldn’t mind if someone threw a shawl over my eyes to protect me from much of the artwork sold in the average Catholic bookstore.

Not only are the devotional images sold poor quality reproductions, they are usually so saccharine or stale as to be utterly intolerable. Most of the images of Jesus depict him as feminine or cartoony or as a surfer. The statues are even worse: cross-eyed, air-brushed, plastic, garish… why? I don’t blame the people running these bookstores; I blame it on a lack of demand. We must remember the true value of sublime art and create a market for it.

GWYN_Precious Moments Nativity Art is a sacramental! Beautiful sacred art has the power to send our thoughts soaring heavenward and to assist us during prayer. If you must get a reproduction, make sure that the original piece of art is superb: Caravaggio, Murillo, Raphael, etc. However, just as the radio is drastically inferior to live music, printed images are drastically inferior to original art. What happens when a painting is photographed and printed? So many things are lost: color, texture, detail, and (often) size. It is basically flattened.

GWYN_Madonna of the Crown by Ingres The Virgin with the Crown by Ingres Akin to the sentiments of John Senior in his book The Restoration of Christian Culture, I believe that seeking out authentic, quality experiences is the way to win the culture war. It is more satisfying to sit in front of a fire than to sit in front of an electric heater. It is more satisfying to visit a friend in person than to chat with him online. And it is definitely more satisfying to hang a framed piece of original art on your wall than to settle for a bad reproduction.

Let us sooth our frazzled nerves by taking a moment to enjoy the little-known painting, “Virgin with the Crown” by Ingres.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Gwyneth Holston

Gwyneth Holston is a sacred artist who works to provide and promote good quality Catholic art. Her website is gwynethholston.com. Read more.

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

They were not ashamed to lay their hands on Sedulius, on Prudentius, on St. Ambrose himself. Only in one or two cases does some sense of shame seem to have stopped their nefarious work. They left “Ave maris stella,” “Jam lucis orto sidere,” and St. Thomas Aquinas’s hymns alone (they would have made pretty work of “Sacris solemniis”). In 1629 their mangled remnants were published.

— Rev’d Adrian Knottesford Fortescue (25 March 1916)

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Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.

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