Baroque

I have never had much appreciation of baroque style...always seemed so "overdone" though, of course, that was the point. A reaction to the ascetic, self-denial, and plain strain of the Protestant Reformation. In short, letting it all hang out.

I wandered (the correct term because if you just wander and poke around, you open yourself to being surprised and surprise is a sometimes rare experience) into the Church of Our Lady of the Snows on a back street. The church was originally just to be the entrance into a huge cathedral but the rest never got built. An altar was added in the 16th century as were the side chapels.






What I had not experienced before, though, was the drama and emotionalism
of the figures which form these baroque assemblages. It took me a while to realize the scene below was the angel preventing Abraham from using his sword against his son, Isaac, who blindfolded clings to his leg. The angel is intent on grabbing the sword; Abraham is surprised; Isaac is crying.



And Moses seems as astonished at the serpent transformed from his staff as the Pharaoh must have been.




And the look on the saint's face...a sense of wise, sad prescience perhaps.





Even the smaller figures provide a range of attitude, emotion, and personality.






So I left the church with a new appreciation for this style...a willingness to explore now what I had dismissed before. And who knows what other wandering may bring as we move around this city.



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Location:Prague/Praha