6

The golden ground of Messina's, Cristo morto sostenuto dagli angeli, takes you somewhere near the golden section or God zone for Messina. Later philosophy associated the vanishing of the horizon into a point to mean where the eye is taken to, to appreciate why later perspective seems to make a broader equation of post formal structure. One notices a building in the background to equal a derision of this equation but God seemed to be elsewhere for Messina, the faces are left blank here to suggest the painting is left unfinished. One wonders if the special place to hold the spirit would equal the face for Messina, although this would be not the place for future people who found the landscape to mean empathy for God. The mathematical equation for God can equal many places for different people.

5

Annunciata by Messina is also about the inner equation of geometry equalling God and the figure is worked out mathematically before the painting is painted through note taking and sketches. The perspective of two dimensional work had to be figured out as previously the third dimension had not been equated on a two dimensional plain. They used varying ways to experience this. One would be through an understanding of how they perceived one another and another would be a psychological understanding of themselves. You would imagine that we would all have some kind of inner geometry to depart with.

4

At the same time as trying to work out the divine proportions of man in two dimensions or painting during the Renaissance, they were also trying to rationalize through sculpting form how to communicate geometry. As there are seven stages in love, there are also seven divine proportions of man. For example we have from top to toe, the feet, the ankles to the kneecaps, the thighs to the body, your body to the neck, the neck, the head and arms. This can be equated with the seven ages of being of which the Donatello and Settignano, Martelli Saint John is in the forth stage of love or being or twelve to eighteen years. Therefore, inner geometry was used to equate mathematically the distance and width and breadth of the skull to the size of the feet.

3

Seven should be the divine number of God. Happening, an Apocalypse should equal the seven angels of God. It, however sometimes becomes misconstrued for being an equation of the end of time, the end of the world or Hell. During medieval Europe, it was quite often assumed that the end of the world was near. The darkness did seem to be a psychological breath. Several things must have pushed their hearts to this equation. Seven is how far the seven circles that gird the abyss are supposed to travel to before dark matter and for the evil, Satan at the bottom of the bottomless pit. Seven would also equate the seven circles that take you to the highest sphere, the seventh Heaven or God. Seven is the most divine number for God and equals the seven ages of being.

2

And getting to the biblical equation of the number seven in relation to John the Baptist. Albrecht Durer made a series of the Apocalypse (1498-1511), one of them including The Whore of Babylon and St. John Devours the Book/ The "Strong Angel". I would not like to presuppose the interpretation by Durer but all would obtain the number seven. The seven-headed whore of Babylon is represented by a seven-headed beast ridden like a chariot with a divine goddess holding a sacred chalice to the divine feasters. Some of the misinterpretation of St. John the Baptist on feast day is nominated by a virgin holding a head of St. John. This probably does not present to any of the Lutheran Church of Germany a sacrificial head of St. John the Baptist. Given where this beast is nominated to have resided, they would only have sacrificed a sheep or a cow.

1

The view of the Florence Baptistery (Battistero di San Giovanni) was a nice introduction to the Martelli Saint John. The early Christian mosaics for the patron Saint, Saint John the Baptist, were a holy ascension to the God in Heaven, taking the patron Saint, Mars, through a process of equation to current Christian philosophy and the religion of the day. A Christian darkness was transported through to a lightness and the love of Christ.

A Divinity in Man

A Divinity in Man

I have been blessed, for the second time, with visiting one of my favourite sculptures, the Donatello and Desiderio da Settignano, The Martelli Saint John the Baptist, ca. 1440-1457, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. This very special opportunity also allowed a further view of the other Donatello's and Verrocchio in the same room, having studied and made reference to some of the pieces in the first installment of this project (Embroidering the Constellations). The first visit to the Bargello museum occurred nine years prior and it was great to view the Pitti Palace, too, this time around, to catch up with several of the paintings referred to in the first essay. The view of Martelli Saint John was not a disappointment and enabled the third dimension that is lost to the memory and imagination when viewing photographs to be equated. Viewing art works and revisiting cities is always influenced by what pathway has preceded the visit. This visit was via Venice, Rovereto and Padua so the refinement of Donatello and Settignano was less obvious with Giotto, Messina and Bellini as their background. Therefore, following the Christian pathway gave the reinterpretation of Christ through the patron Saint of Florence, St. John the Baptist, the blessing necessary.