New! Carthusian Nuns in a Convent on Capri – Franz Ludwig Catel – Beautiful Catholic Art – Catholic Gift

An artist, especially in former times, would often make copies or sequels of their most popular paintings. That was the case with this painting, which was done originally as a monk painting in an actual Carthusian monastery.

The painter, Franz Ludwig Catel (1778–1856), was very popular in his day. Born in Berlin, he lived much of his adult life in Italy, maybe the most beautiful place in the world, where he painted many breathtaking scenes of Italian daily life set in sumptuous Italian landscapes.

He also painted Catholic genre paintings, often of monks or nuns and churches. With these, his style goes from Romantic landscapes to Sublime religious pieces. There is a certain type of Catholic genre which involves mysterious, moonlit prayers. There is something tremendous in those quiet moments at night. Somehow, when the world is not so brightly lit and busy, one can feel more readily the immense presence of God. Catel’s paintings suggest that. They are sublime.

We also list the monk version, and we have several other of Catel’s pictures, sublime evening prayer pictures, which we hope to list, and maybe some others. This nun one is kept at the Spencer Museum of Art, which is just a few miles down the road from us in Lawrence, Kansas, so we hope to make a little pilgrimage to it soon. The artist’s patron, Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire, commissioned the work before her death in 1824.

We’ve found a photograph by Peppe Minopoli, who is a local guide and looks like he’s a nice fellow and knows what he’s doing. So if you happen to get to Capri, you might look him up.

** IMPORTANT ** THE IMAGE IS SMALLER THAN THE PAPER! There is a blank border around the image. Approximately 0.5" wide for 5x7, 1.3" for 8.5x11, 1.6" for 11x14, and 1.75" for 13x17 and 16x20. For the two poster sizes, 18x24 and 24x36, we use 0.5" borders. We do this because the ratio of the rectangle of the art almost never matches the rectangle of the paper, and if it did happen to match one size, it would not match the others. Most fine art printers do this because otherwise they’d have to crop the art or warp it to make it fit the paper. The border looks good. It gives the picture a faux matted appearance.

There is almost always a little more border either on the left-right sides, or the top-bottom, depending on whether the ratio of the art is wider or taller than the paper.

We make Archival Quality fine art prints:

– Acid-free paper

– Archival pigments

– Cardboard backer for sizes 11x14 and less.

– Above story of the art

– Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal-clear bag.

– Rated to last 200+ years without fading if kept dry and out of the direct sun.

Thanks for your interest!

+JMJ+

Sue & John

Lincoln, Nebraska

“In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art.”

~ St. Pope John Paul II

Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and any image alterations (hence the whole new image) © CatholicArtAndJewelry.com