Today our group was able to see some of the most wonderful art works in the world at the Uffizzi gallery in Florence. While at the Uffizzi, there were several beautiful paintings that spoke to me. Out of all those paintings, Da Vinci’s “Baptism Of Christ” was one of the most outstanding ones; especially because of how it depicts the importance and transcendence of the Catholic’s sacred text throughout history. Historically, the text has always been seen as the Bible, which is often recognized as the holy word of God among Catholics. In fact, in the article “MAN’S RESPONSE TO GOD” by Geoffrey Chapman, the text, or Bible, is defined as the unison of both the new and old testament, where “the two shed light on each other; [thus] both are the word of God” (44). Like it was stated earlier, Da Vinci’s “Baprtism Of Christ” depicts how the texts were understood back in the time of the renaissance. As portrayed in the painting, in the left bottom corner of the painting, there are two boys, one painted by Da Vinci and the other one by Verrocchio, Da Vinci’s mentor. If you look closely to the painting, both children seem to be in awe at the event that is happening right in front of them. This awe or admiration that both children express in the painting, alludes as to how Catholics or the regular men used to admire or look up to Jesus back in the times of the renaissance. Thus, it could be argued that just like it is today, our sacred text (the Bible) has always played an extremely important role in the lives of almost every Catholic. Nonetheless, contradictory to what many would think, this feeling of love, awe and admiration for the sacred text has not changed much at all after all the time that has passed. Much like the Catholics’ ancient understanding of the text, today our holy texts remain untouched and they are still interpreted very similarly to the way they used to be. To corroborate that statement, the second image attached on this blog displays the event of the baptism of Christ, but only in a more modern manner. This image, just like the previous one, simply proves that even to this day, Catholics are aware of the importance of this event in the life of Jesus. This means that the understanding of the sacred text by Catholics has not yet changed in a significant way. Therefore, it can be safely assumed that even after all this years, the modern-day Catholics’ understanding has yet to be significantly changed.
