Bible & Art Reframed

It’s not difficult to imagine how the topic of the Word might be associated with the Bible. But what about art?  
In this episode of Bible & Art Reframed, Michelle and Joost show how words are often integral to works of art, from medieval manuscripts to contemporary installations. 
The artworks and insights in this episode of Bible & Art Reframed can be explored in more detail on the Visual Commentary on Scripture: the internet’s premier place for Bible and Art. It houses over 1000 artworks and insightful commentary from experts around the World.   
 
Support Bible & Art Reframed by subscribing, sharing with a friend, and leaving us a review! 
________ 
 
Links to Artworks 
Marta Minujín, The Tower of Babel, 2011, Books, steel, Plaza San Martin, Buenos Aires; destroyed 2011; Photo: Getty Images 
 
Tracey Emin, I Fell in Love Here, 23 Feb 2014, Neon, 22.9 x 160 cm, Location currently unknown; © Tracey Emin. All rights reserved DACS / Artimage, London and ARS, NY 2018. Image courtesy Lehmann Maupin 
 
Behnam Keryo, Calligraphy in Aramaic script recounting Jonah's preaching to Nineveh, 2006, Ink on paper (?), 300 x 420 mm, The British Museum, London; 2013,6026.2, ©️ Family of Behnam Keryo; Photo: ©️ The Trustees of the British Museum / Art Resource, NY 
 
Unknown artist, Illuminated initial V depicting the Vocation of Jeremiah, from Dover Bible, vol. I (Bibliorum Pars I), 12th century, Manuscript illumination, Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge; MS 003, fol. 195r, Courtesy of The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 
 
T'oros Ṙoslin, The Sick and the Possessed, from the T'oros Roslin Gospels, 1262, Illuminated manuscript, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; W.539, fol. 40r, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore / CC0 1.0 
 
Explore additional artworks on this theme in our Curated Commentaries on The Word. 
_______ 
Hosts: Dr Michelle Fletcher and Dr Joost Joustra  
Producer: Megan Jones 

Theme: Tim Bentley 
Instagram: @the_VCS 
TikTok: @thevcs.org 
YouTube: VisualCommentaryonScripture

In this episode, Michelle and Joost have chosen five abstract works of art to help uncover the essence of difficult concepts in the Bible.  
And crucially, listeners can enjoy hearing Joost and Michelle try to describe what’s happening in each of them.  
The artworks and insights in this episode of Bible & Art Reframed can be explored in more detail on the Visual Commentary on Scripture: the internet’s premier place for Bible and Art. It houses over 1000 artworks and insightful commentary from experts around the World.   
 
Support Bible & Art Reframed by subscribing, sharing with a friend, and leaving us a review! 
________ 
 
Links to Artworks 
Paul Nash, The Division of the Light from the Darkness, Illustration III, in the book Genesis from the Bible (Soho, London: The Nonesuch Press), 1924, Wood engraving on Zanders hand-made laid paper, Image: 113 x 87 mm, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Reva and David Logan Collection of Illustrated Books, Gift of John Flather and Jacqueline Roose, 2001.45.1.3, Image courtesy the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 
 
Mona Hatoum, Impenetrable, 2009, Steel and Nylon monofilament, 300 x 300 x 300 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Purchased with funds contributed by the Collections Council and the International Director's Council, with additional funds from Ann Ames, Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian, and Marcio Fainzilber, 2012, 2012.10, © Mona Hatoum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Photo: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation / Art Resource, NY 
 
Sam Gilliam, April 4, 1969, Acrylic on canvas, 279.4 x 456.6 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Museum purchase, 1973.115, © Sam Gilliam; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC / Art Resource, NY 
 
Clyfford Still, PH-235 (1944-N-No. 1), 1944, Oil on canvas, 268 x 234.9 cm, Clyfford Still Museum, Denver; 1.2011.570, © 2019 City & County of Denver, Courtesy Clyfford Still Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 
 
Mark Rothko, Interior view of the Rothko Chapel: Northwest, North triptych, and Northeast paintings, 1965–66, Oil on canvas, Houston, Texas; © Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Rothko Chapel, Houston, TX. Photo by Hickey-Robertson 
 
Explore additional artworks on this theme in our Curated Commentaries on Abstract Imagining. 
_______ 
Hosts: Dr Michelle Fletcher and Dr Joost Joustra  
Producer: Megan Jones 

Theme: Tim Bentley 
Instagram: @the_VCS 
TikTok: @thevcs.org 
YouTube: VisualCommentaryonScripture

What does it mean to be human? How do we paint our own nature, and question our own image? 
Self-Portraiture may not be a topic you instinctively connect with the Bible. But in this episode of Bible & Art Reframed, Joost and Michelle make links between artists’ self portraits and questions around the divine image and what it is to be human. 
The artworks and insights in this episode can be explored in more detail on the Visual Commentary on Scripture: the internet’s premier place for Bible and Art. It houses over 1000 artworks and insightful commentary from experts around the World.    
 
Support Bible & Art Reframed by subscribing, sharing with a friend, and leaving us a review! 
________ 
 
Links to Artworks 
Antony Gormley, Event Horizon, 2007, 27 fibreglass and 4 cast iron figures, 189 x 53 x 29 cm, Installation view, Hayward Gallery, London 
 
Ghislaine Howard, Pregnant Self Portrait, 1984, Oil on board, 78.8 x 58.5 cm; ©️ Ghislaine Howard, Photo: Adrian Lambert 
 
David Bailly, Vanitas Still Life with Self-Portrait, 1651, Oil on panel, 89.5 x 122 cm, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden; S1351 
 
Albrecht Dürer, Self Portrait in a Fur-Trimmed Robe, 1500, Oil on panel, 67.1 x 48.9 cm; 537, bpk Bildagentur / Alte Pinakothek, Bayerische, Staatsgemaeldesammlungen, Munich, Germany / Art Resource, NY 
 
Moshe Castel, Untitled (The Crucified), c.1948, Oil on canvas, 72 x 53 cm, The Moshe Castel Museum of Art, Ma’ale Adumim; © The estate of the artist; Photo: The Moshe Castel Museum of Art / Dovrat Alpern 
 
Explore additional artworks on this theme in our Curated Commentaries on Self-Portraiture. 
Hosts: Dr Michelle Fletcher and Dr Joost Joustra  
Producer: Megan Jones 

Theme: Tim Bentley 
Instagram: @the_VCS 
TikTok: @thevcs.org 
YouTube: VisualCommentaryonScripture

If you think about the Bible and wisdom, you’ll likely think of wisdom literature in the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus. But in art, things get a little more abstract. Wisdom can be personified, but art itself can also be a source of wisdom. 
Join Michelle and Joost as they explore the topic of Wisdom & Discernment in this episode of Bible & Art Reframed. Journey with them through five different scriptural passages and artworks, framing narratives around ancestral wisdom, personification, and life and death. 
The artworks and insights in this episode can be explored in more detail on the Visual Commentary on Scripture: the internet’s premier place for Bible and Art. It houses over 1000 artworks and insightful commentary from experts around the World.    
 
Support Bible & Art Reframed by subscribing, sharing with a friend, and leaving us a review! 
________ 
 
Links to Artworks 
Doreen Reid Nakamarra, Marrapinti, 2008, Acrylic on canvas, 122 x 153 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Gift of Robert Kaplan and Margaret Levi, 2017, 2017.251.2, © Estate of Doreen Reid Nakamarra, licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd; Photography: Spike Mafford  
Unknown German artist, A Scholar (King Solomon ?), from the Coburg Pentateuch, c.1390–96, Illuminated manuscript, 180/175 x 135 mm, The British Library, London; Add MS 19776, fol. 54v, © The British Library Board (Add MS 19776, fol. 54v)  
Leandro Bassano, Portrait of a Widow at her Devotions, First quarter of 17th century, Oil on canvas, 105 x 89 cm, Private Collection; ART Collection / Alamy Stock Photo  
Duccio, Christ Taking Leave of His Disciples, from the Maestà, 1308–11, Tempera and gold on panel, 50 x 53 cm, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena; De Agostini Picture Library / G. Nimatallah / Bridgeman Images  
Unknown artist, Sophia, Wisdom of God, c.1625, Tempera and gold on panel, 61 x 65 cm, The Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, MA; Icon Museum and Study Center, Clinton, Massachusetts USA  
 
Explore additional artworks on this theme in our Curated Commentaries on Wisdom and Discernment. 
Hosts: Dr Michelle Fletcher and Dr Joost Joustra  
Producer: Megan Jones 

Theme: Tim Bentley 
Instagram: @the_VCS 
TikTok: @thevcs.org 
YouTube: VisualCommentaryonScripture

How better to open the door to our first episode of Bible & Art Reframed, than with the topic of Doorways & Thresholds? 
Join Michelle and Joost as they journey through five very different artworks—and their paired scriptural passages—that relate to Doorways & Thresholds. They discuss how artists have framed narratives around critical moments in life, precarity, and the constant struggle of making good decisions. 
The artworks and insights in this episode can be explored in more detail on the Visual Commentary on Scripture: the internet’s premier place for Bible and Art. It houses over 1000 artworks and insightful commentary from experts around the World.  
Support Bible & Art Reframed by subscribing, sharing with a friend, and leaving us a review! 
_____ 
Links to Artworks 
John Everett Millais, Esther, 1863–65, Oil on canvas, 77.4 x 106 cm, Private Collection  
Ludolf Backhuysen I, Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast, 1667, Oil on canvas, 114.3 x 167.3 cm, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1985.29.1, courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington 
Hélio Oiticica, Penetrável PN1 (installed at Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro, 2008), 1960, Oil on wood, 203 x 150 x 150 cm, Centro Municipal de Arte Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro  
Unknown artist, England, The Twenty-Four Elders Pay Homage to the Throne of God, c.1255–60, Tempera, gold leaf, coloured washes, pen and ink on parchment, 31.9 x 22.5 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Ms. Ludwig III 1 (83.MC.72), fol. 4v, Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program  
Gislebertus, Last Judgement, 1130–45, Stone, West tympanum, Cathedral of Saint-Lazare, Autun, France  
Explore additional artworks on this theme in our Curated Commentaries on Doorways and Thresholds. 
Hosts: Dr Michelle Fletcher and Dr Joost Joustra  
Producer: Megan Jones 

Theme: Tim Bentley 
Instagram: @the_VCS 
TikTok: @thevcs.org 
YouTube: VisualCommentaryonScripture