Photo: William Nathans Those gathered February 11 in St Saviour’s at the heart of Dublin city centre were treated to a masterclass in auditory and visual beauty, as artist William Nathans’ painting celebrating 800 years since the Dominican Order’s arrival in Ireland was unveiled to the heavenly sound of the Te Deum.
The painting, commissioned by the Irish Dominicans, depicts the friars from Oxford arriving on the north bank of the river Liffey, Dublin, in 1224. 12 brothers, symbolic of the apostles, are seen striding ashore, blessing and engaging with those gathered around them.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic newspaper, Mr Nathans said that the unveiling was “very successful,” and that the weight of being tasked with the painting itself was made easier by his love for the people “who devote their lives to the Faith”.
“It was very successful. I have to say, it was absolutely beautiful, the Mass itself was beautiful,” Mr Nathans told this newspaper.
“I’ve never actually unveiled a picture at a Mass, I’ve never had that before, normally they’re always secular environments and there’s usually people clapping in all those events, which I suppose is customary with a regular unveiling.
“But because it was at Mass, I didn’t know how it would go. They actually sang the Te Deum, just before they unveiled it, and I thought that was perfect because it kept everybody in a prayerful reverence and I thought that was brilliant. It was such a wonderful way to reveal it, that it wasn’t just a picture but that it had a sacredness to it, to marking the occasion.”
Process
Asked how he set about producing such an epic work for such a momentous occasion, Mr Nathans said that he’d been given key elements to include, but that after that, his “imagination was running wild”.
“They’d given me a basic brief of the Dominicans coming up the Liffey and then in October, I met with Fr Terrence Crotty of the committee and we set down a bit more detail.
They’re all a community, so I was trying to evoke that, that feel that they were this community coming to lay down roots”
“There were specific things he wanted to see in the painting and they were, roughly, Christchurch in the background, he specifically asked for 12 Dominicans, which I thought was great because it had the link to the apostles. He wanted dawn.
“He said he’d love it if it was dawn light, early morning. The fourth thing was them approaching the actual site that they were given, which is where the Four Courts stands today,” Mr Nathans says.
Knowing the local Dominicans – attending Mass there as he does – was very informative as he figured out how to bring the scene to life.
“Knowing the Dominicans, that helped tremendously because we go to Mass there in St Saviour’s and we’re quite close with a lot of the brothers and the priests.
“Even after Mass, just fraternising with them outside. I was trying to get into my head what these Dominicans would have been like and I can’t imagine they would have been so different because, in the painting you had older Dominicans, ones who’ve sort of been around the block, so to speak, bearing the battle scars of religious life.
“The younger ones, with their real devout, holy piety, and there are some in the background meeting locals. We know such a variety of the Dominicans and their character traits, so I was thinking about that, to make it more realistic, more authentic.
“I was really trying to get the effect that they were all one community, so that’s why they’re all walking, for the most part, they’re all moving together. They’re all one. They’re all a community, so I was trying to evoke that, that feel that they were this community coming to lay down roots,” he said.
Passion
Depicting spiritual subjects could be difficult, Mr Nathans admitted, but he said that a love for the saints and all things of the faith made the task much easier.
“It’s always a challenge for sure, but I have to say, I have a particular love for the history of the saints and what they went through. If it was, say for instance, a picture of another subject, I may have struggled. It was a challenge to paint it, but I think what helps is having a love for the subject.
I just love people who devote their lives to the Faith and the stories that they went through and the sacrifices, it fires my imagination”
“I just love people who devote their lives to the Faith and the stories that they went through and the sacrifices, it fires my imagination. If I didn’t have that, it probably would have been a much greater challenge, but having that, it helped tremendously.”
The weight of being tasked with the painting itself was made easier by his love for the people ‘who devote their lives to the Faith’”