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La Sagrada Família / The Holy Family


I finally completed a painting I've been working on since last summer.  Poster prints on archival heavyweight paper are available here.


La Sagrada Família / The Holy family by A.R. Danziger. Acrylic and metal leaf on wooden panel, 30" x 24".

This will be hanging up in Holy Family Bilingual Catholic School where my daughter has been flourishing in the school's dual language (English/Spanish) immersion program. It's a very special school; Christ-centered with a family atmosphere.

Their motto is: "One family, diverse in backgrounds, united in faith."  I felt inspired to work in a style that represented this vision, so I looked to early Medieval Spanish art which combined so many diverse cultures into something unique and beautiful to serve and glorify Our Lord.

The outer border, angels, stars, and background colors were inspired by Mozarabic illuminated manuscripts.  This illustration from a commentary on the book of Revelation has unique decorative elements influenced both by the Asturian Celts and their Moorish neighbors:


Beatus de Facundus (1047)

Our Lady's portrait is based on a friend of mine from South America in the hope that the Spanish-speaking children at the school would find this depiction of the Holy Family more familiar and relatable.  Her robes are based on this painted altar frontal from the Church of Santa Maria d'Avià in Catalonia. There is a definite Byzantine influence to the figures of that period, but also a unique regional decorative style:


I found more inspiration in the Romanesque period frescos from the Church of Santa Maria de Taull also in Catalonia:

For example, Saints Peter and Paul...


Finally, the large star in the center above the heads of the Holy Family is inspired by Byzantine icons of the Nativity which show the Star of Bethlehem with 3 rays of light descending which represent the Blessed Trinity:

Orthodox Nativity Scene Art Print by Munir Alawi






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