From the Vault

Writings from my travels in Europe, my jewelry life while living in NYC - and more…

Air - Water - Fluidity…

As I was looking through old photos of my most recent time in Paris, I came across this image of a painting I saw at the Louvre. A detail (shown above) of an oil on panel painting (triptych) by Italian Renaissance artist Carlo Braccesco, painted sometime in the 1490’s.

It is not unusual for me to take a photo only of a certain part of a painting, as I find, oftentimes, I am only interested in a particular aspect or subject within it. Sometimes, it might just be a passage of paint and color that has caught my eye. In this painting, L’Annonciation, apparently it was the angel (Gabriel) that I found intriguing, as I did not take a photo of the whole artwork. I did take a photo of the label, thank goodness, or I wouldn’t have known who the artist was. The funny thing is, I’ve looked through the images I took at the Louvre that day countless times, and for some reason, I don’t ever remember seeing this photo of the angel. Hmmm?

I think the image stood out to me this time because a few days ago I was doing some writing and a message came through to me about the fluidity of air and water and how there is no difference between the two. A deep subject, I realize, but when I saw this image today, I was struck by how the angel looks as if it is flying through the air or just as easily it could be gliding through the ocean. In fact, that golden “surfboard” makes the angel look like it is riding in on a gentle wave. Right? The garment has that rippled effect, as if under water and even the position of the feet does not suggest flying. Again, hmmm?

When you see an image of the whole painting, it definitely looks like the angel is coming in from on high - but out of context, by itself, in that background of blue, those two elements of air and water - merge, and it’s magical.

I guess this painting showed me how air and water are both fluid. Perhaps even the artist understood that in some way, or maybe had a dream or vision about it? I wouldn’t be surprised.

This isn’t a post about art or religious art or even angels, it’s about what we see and don’t see, what we perceive and don’t perceive, what we know and don’t know - or perhaps, what we don’t understand yet - about the world we live in.

It’s always worthwhile to take a closer look ;)

As above, so below…

-Wendy (aka: gemsatourguide)

-All images are my own.