Cloister in Palermo with a Franciscan – Martinus Rørbye – Catholic Art – Catholic Gift – Archival Quality

"Cloister in Palermo with a Franciscan Monk"Martinus RorbyeThis peaceful painting captures the quiet stillness of the contemplative life. We overlook a monk who is looking at the enclosed cloister garden of his Franciscan monastery. Prayer and the Mediterranean sun have soaked this place for centuries, based on a real cloister. It is serene and beautiful. Scenes of this kind of prayer life bring calm to us. The painter, Martinus Rorbye (1803-1848), was a famous, well-traveled Danish painter who was successful with a broad range of subjects. Traveling further than many of his contemporaries, he spent a lot of time in the Mediterranean areas. In Italy, especially in Palermo, Sicily, he did several monastery paintings, including this one, our favorite. He did another one which is a larger view of the cloister itself, sans monk, which we like almost as much, but the figure of the monk here draws us into the quiet eddies of prayer which fill this place. This painting was done in 1840. Oil o