What is Marchant d'Art all about?
Melanie Marchant Meschery
Welcome to a unique and educational art experience.
I'm introducing sacred art to a wider audience by recreating and transforming religious art from the remote past and bringing it into the present. I think of myself as an art conduit.
My inspiration for nearly all of the ancient works came to me while teaching Ancient Art at the local University. My students seemed to lack enthusiasm for the art I was showing - so I decided to paint the ancient works "as if restored". I speculated that "restoration" might make ancient art more accessible to the students. They were seeing battered, broken sculpture, chipped, flaky, stained paint, or crusty areas of fresco glued painstakingly back together by archaeologists.
Making ancient art look fresh again, thereby allowing my students to see what it might have looked like 3,500, 9,000 or even 25,000 years ago, was my goal. I feel my project was successful.
I'm introducing sacred art to a wider audience by recreating and transforming religious art from the remote past and bringing it into the present. I think of myself as an art conduit.
My inspiration for nearly all of the ancient works came to me while teaching Ancient Art at the local University. My students seemed to lack enthusiasm for the art I was showing - so I decided to paint the ancient works "as if restored". I speculated that "restoration" might make ancient art more accessible to the students. They were seeing battered, broken sculpture, chipped, flaky, stained paint, or crusty areas of fresco glued painstakingly back together by archaeologists.
Making ancient art look fresh again, thereby allowing my students to see what it might have looked like 3,500, 9,000 or even 25,000 years ago, was my goal. I feel my project was successful.
The Madonna of Santa Maria Nova in Rome, is my favorite Icon and the one that came to me in a dream thus beginning my fascination with painting Icons. She is very ancient, and was rendered in encaustic (wax). She dates perhaps as early as the 6th Century. I find both majesty and pathos in her expression and I hope my reproduction conveys these qualities.
The Angel with the Golden Hair is also very old, dating from c.1150, and was done in egg tempera originally. He is beautiful beyond belief. His expression conveys such love and compassion that it catches me by the heart every time I look at him. Painting him is a joy because while painting, I feel enfolded in his love.
The Archangel Gabriel caught my attention with his colorful clothing. He dates from the 12th century. He feels less spiritual to me but I really enjoyed painting the stylized symbols for folds in the clothing he wears.
The Praying Mother of God was originally painted in egg tempera on panel at the beginning of the 12th Century. She was the most difficult Icon to paint because of the details, which took many months of my life to paint. I really like the face of the Christ Child, I think I have caught strength and wisdom in His little face.
La Bella Principessa is a newly discovered drawing possibly (probably) by Leonardo da Vinci. It was published by National Geographic in February, 2012, and contains several artistic conceits `a la da Vinci: the model's total lack of brows and eyelashes; the subtle use of light and shadow to designate eye/brow area; the interlocking design around the red sleeve slash; the extreme concentration on detail in the hair (as per his lost Leda) and the muted use of color.
While copying this da Vinci, I was rewarded with the on-going feeling that I was learning from Leonardo's own hand how to draw a profile. An interesting aspect of the portrait is that he made corrections in his drawing as he went along. The nose has been re-thought, and possibly the brow and chin. These "mistakes" with their corrections lend a feeling of reality and immediacy available only from one artist to another.
A Portrait of Grace is my drawing "in the manner of Leonardo." From a profile photo of Grace, I drew her as though she were attired in the Renaissance costume and head cover of La Bella Principessa. Grace is younger than da Vinci's model, but she was born with a natural regality that few possess, and I immediately thought of drawing her when I saw the photograph of the da Vinci. Grace has a lovely neck, as contrasted with da Vinci's short-necked, round-shouldered little princess.
My web site is intended to do three things:
My husband, a poet, had an epiphany while sitting in church during his friend's wedding. He suddenly saw all religious art as the manifestation of God, the way by which we can be certain there is a God. His words were, "Art is the hem of the garment". I agree. All art was originally a form of worship. Poetry, music, dance, drama, painting, sculpture and architecture were all used by the Greeks as methods of worshiping the gods.
I hope my paintings of the Divine will help a new generation to appreciate the Spiritual side of art. I know that I feel joy when teaching sacred art. When I'm sketching and painting these works my heart and mind feel weightless; lifted above the heaviness of the everyday world.
Melanie Marchant Meschery
- To introduce ancient spiritual art in a new light.
- To bring my paintings of the sacred to a wider audience.
- To make my paintings available for purchase.
My husband, a poet, had an epiphany while sitting in church during his friend's wedding. He suddenly saw all religious art as the manifestation of God, the way by which we can be certain there is a God. His words were, "Art is the hem of the garment". I agree. All art was originally a form of worship. Poetry, music, dance, drama, painting, sculpture and architecture were all used by the Greeks as methods of worshiping the gods.
I hope my paintings of the Divine will help a new generation to appreciate the Spiritual side of art. I know that I feel joy when teaching sacred art. When I'm sketching and painting these works my heart and mind feel weightless; lifted above the heaviness of the everyday world.
Melanie Marchant Meschery
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