EL GRECO – THEOLOGY HIDDEN IN GESTURE
Radosław Chałupniak
Wydział Teologiczny - Uniwersytet OpolskiAbstract
In the paintings of El Greco one can observe various important gestures. One of them appears repeatedly – a mysterious gesture that almost like a signature can be found in many paintings of the artist: two fingers joined (middle and ring ones) and thumb, index, and little fingers separated from them. The specialists on the artistic creativity of El Greco present different solutions (an oratory gesture, a gesture of oath, typical for the Mannerists, a Jewish gesture, or an expiatory one connected to the spirituality of the Jesuits, a masonry gesture, one of mudras i.e. symbolic energetic gestures, a lactative gesture – pseudo-zygodactilic one). The author of the article indicates, first of all, the theological interpretation of the gesture: confession of faith in Triune God and Jesus Christ – God-man. The gesture was a kind of prayer of the artist, his standing in the presence of God and paying homage to the Highest. Placed in a sacred space it was designed to invite to enter the mystery of faith and actively join the liturgy of the Church that combines the visible and invisible, real and symbolic, natural and supernatural world.
Keywords:
El Greco, painting, ikons, gestures, theology, liturgy.References
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