Saint Francis – Art Compared
Right now there is an exhibition of Spanish Painting and Sculpture on at the National Gallery in London featuring religious works from the 17th Century Spanish Golden Age, including Spain’s remarkable polychrome sculptures.
Michael Smither: St Francis in Ecstasy
This second painting of Saint Francis by Michael Smither depicts the patron saint of ecology – Smither’s favorite saint – in a state of ecstasy in the presence of nature. Like many NZ artists, Michael is strongly influenced by the landscape.
Michael Smither: “I Would Have Been a Franciscan”
“If I hadn’t become a painter, I would have been a Franciscan,” is how Christian artist Michael Smither described himself in an interview with the New Zealand Women’s Weekly in 1969.