Cezanne world view: All paintings are religious paintings created out of the mystery of existence

 From The World View of Paul Cezanne: A Psychic Interpretation by Jane Roberts:

ENTRY 11 December 21, 1975 (11:00 A.M.-Noon)

All paintings are religious paintings created out of the mystery of existence, giving evidence for the unseen Creator of the world, just as the painting gives evidence for the artist even when he is not physically present. But religions as organizations are like all organizations: They seek to reduce mystery to the conventionalized, while at the same time claiming it as their own. So the artist’s painting is his religion.

The priests have rules that they have themselves devised, a kind of holy book of etiquette, telling each person how to relate to God in any and all circumstances; even including the words to be used -- as if, first of all, words were necessary. In religious art, everything is standardized and has inner symbolic meaning; not the artist’s, but the church’s meaning.

In the days of the old great masters, the artists had to be crafty enough to use the church’s symbolism while rising above it at the same time. In using it, they dismissed it in some cases by overstating it; in others, by grotesquely being docile to it in a slavish way. But the great masters used the church’s symbolism and did not, after all, let it use them. They let it... contain their art, used it as a framework in which they poured their creativity, so great that the symbols transcended the meant meanings.

The great masters constantly confounded the authorities, scandalized them; and there was always a double entendre, so that in giving the authorities what they wanted, Michelangelo and Da Vinci, for example, gave them what they did not want at the same time. But so cleverly was this mixture interwoven that no legitimate complaints could be made. Art was then, also a political game to whatever extent—the artist producing his paintings while remaining true to the integrity of his ability, but often knowing the unscrupulous uses to which his art was put.

The intrigues of popes, petty lords and kings shadowed the work of any well-known artist. Yet for all of that, an artist was encouraged. He was even considered a necessary member of society, and his favor was courted. The force of the state and religion together upheld him. If artists were at the church’s beck and call, still the artist was a powerful man: His art lifted him above the masses. Lords fought over him and his life was fraught with excitement. His work was shown in the places of power: in the churches and courtyards and the town halls from the largest to the smallest of towns and villages. The old masters felt their passions roused, and poured them into their work. Those paintings contained all of the artists’ belief and disbelief; all of their religious exultation—and contempt; all of their doubts. Their greatness cracked the symbols open and they [the symbols] would never be the same again.

Through their work, the great masters of that time portrayed the vast chasms between faith and doubt that besieged their civilization. The hopes for one church and one way of salvation flared, exploded brilliantly, and passed away. So did that focus through which Michelangelo burned his hole in history, and never again did artists have the power and force of the church against which to thrust their own vision.

The great masters of that time were the focus for centuries of Christendom; caught between rooted faith and rampaging skepticism; creating religious masterpieces for scoundrels. And in the artists most of all there yawned a chasm of belief and doubt.

The artist Michelangelo, the sculptor Michelangelo, knew well that for all his vision, his work was used for political, not religious purposes. Cynicism toward the exterior church made him question. Yet his own creativity and his own faith in being were constantly reinforced as he worked. A rift opened up in his soul in which faith and doubt formed a creative force that the world has never known since.

With all of that, I believe that there will be other such peaks. Jars, apples, hillsides and rocks are quite as much a part of God’s creation as angels; and since physical objects are right in front of us, God must have wanted us to take notice. Perhaps once again our vision has become standardized in a different fashion, so that an artist looks at objects and between them at the same time—in search of an inner world that he once supposed was inhabited by angels.

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Prophet Zechariah

Michelangelo Buonarroti - Painter

1509

Fresco on Wall

360 x 390 cm

Cappella Sistina, Vatican

This fresco depicts the biblical prophet Zechariah accompanied by two angels. As the angels are looking over Zechariah’s shoulder the innermost angel is making a gesture with his right hand. When first looking at the painting it is easy to overlook this small detail, however it is symbolic to the feud that Michelangelo and Pope Julius II had during that time period.

The gesture the angel is making is called “the fig.” This specific gesture was the equivalent of the Americans' middle finger. In ancient Rome it was known as the “manus obscenus,” or “obscene hand.” Although, this gesture has fallen out of use it was included in this painting by Michelangelo for the eyes of Pope Julius II.

https://europeanartincontext.blogspot.com/2015/04/michelangelo-prophet-of-zechariah.html