Thursday, 30 June 2011

"Quo Vadis" (Memoria of the First Holy Martyrs of Rome)

Here is Peter Unstinov as the Emperor Nero in the 1950's film of "Quo Vadis". I understand that the book on which it was based was well researched by the author, Henryk Sienkiewicz. Here is a piece on it from the blog Tea at Trianon. I understand there is a modern version of the film. Though the novel received accolades, the 1950's film now looks quite dated. For my money the best Roman epic film of all time is "Gladiator"

4 comments:

  1. What is the lovely statue and what was the picture before?
    I like portrayals of Our Lady that are dark-haired, Middle-Eastern in appearance. The new one is more traditional, the previous one was like a young Jewish maiden, no halo, very human.
    There is a very unusual Stella Maris church in Amlwch, Anglesey by the rugged coast. I visited years ago. There are pictures on the web.
    The island has a special spirituality, a "thin place" I think.
    I long to go again.

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  2. Well, Martin, you have me on the spot here. I took both of them off the internet. The new one above is from a church somewhere. I would need to link back to find out. The old one was actually from a painting of the Nativity and is well-known although the artist escapes me. I have been struggling to find a good heading and I always have something in mind, but when it comes to the point of constructing something most of the best pictures are copyright and I do not yet have the facility to create the kind of thing I want - still, it will do for now I think.

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  3. I located a small version of the statue on:

    http://www.wikideep.it/cat/taranto/tamburi---lido-azzurro/

    The page can be translated but doesn't help much to identify the statue but the other picture is intriguing.
    I love the sparkling sea of your header but worry that the shiny statue looks very sad, almost weeping.
    Could the picture go in the side-bar leaving the inviting simplicity of the photograph?

    Googling Star of the Sea, then clicking Images, on page 2 first on right, is a super picture of Our Lady Star of the Sea with dark robes carrying the Infant Jesus.
    My Anglo-Catholic friends tell me that their statues of Our Lady always have the Infant Jesus. I wonder if this applies in all Anglican churches?

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  4. Thanks Martin. I keep changing the header and will have a look at the picture you mention

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