02
Mar
Visionary Light Painters
Blake and Francisco de Holanda
One of the greatest achievements of artists is to show the knowledge, understanding and consciousness of their own era. Holanda's geometric vision of cosmic creation, which must have been ‘out of this world’ in 1545, shows the great interest in science, whilst still including 'God the creator'.
The First Day of Creation, by Francisco de Holanda (1545)
Holanda uses spectacular overlapping triangles of light leading into a vortex, creating the world with atmosphere. Now we know the universe is electric, it makes perfect sense. Holando's work was only discovered in mid-20th century in an obscure notebook in National Library of Spain. Its clear he was profoundly influenced by visionary contemporary philosopher Jacob Boehme; whom Blake also revered.
Light as Life Force
Holanda combines the human figure as ethereal God with power of light in 'Light of Creation' with Alpha and Omega at his fingertips; a purist Biblical vision, but combining the advancing knowledge of physics. We can interpret this image today as a fine depiction of the electric universe, with the vortex nature of cosmology. The figure of 'God' is neither here nor there in being either correct or incorrect: it serves as a symbol of divine creation - the moment of spark.
Visionary Jacob Boehme, in the century after Holanda, wrote about light and the divine; described by Tobias Churton in Jerusalem (book about visionary artist William Blake). One wonders if Boehme had seen Holanda's paintings.
...'Böhme chose to illustrate this pattern in the imagery of dynamic
globes and circles. He drew a dark circle touching a light one, with a third
circle underneath both. A ‘lightning flash’ or creative spark marks the
contact between the light and dark principles. This ignited flame of
vitality is akin to the belief in an alchemical fire hidden but present in all
things, latent from creation’s first birth. The universe derives from a
metaphysical combustion.'
.....Böhme is saying is that for the ‘Ungrund’ or ‘Abyss’ (that is, infinite depth) to know itself required a reflexive manifestation of opposites: Father/Fire and Son/Light.
And so it is with all existence and our metaphysics; that for any quality to exist there is a balancing force: hot/cold, near/far, contraction/expansion etc.
Satan in His Original Glory 1805 - Photo from Tate Gallery exhibition William Blake 2020
God of Light - Sun or Satan
Blake takes the idea of the Sun as God (light power) as in Pagan religions, and Sun as Satan (evil power) in 'Satan In His Original Glory' 1805; Subtitled 'Thou Wast Perfect in Thy Ways from the Day That Thou Was Created, Till Iniquity Was Found in Thee” . The sun is beautifully depicted by a body in golden light, but around it are humanity being tossed about in the Sun's or Satan's power. Despite the worship of the Sun throughout mankind's history, as life giver, Blake saw the weakness in single minded cults, and was right to be concerned about evil and technology: living as he did in an age of revolutions; religious, industrial and political. Now we know science and technology have run amok which is far removed from the natural habitude of humankind Blake so revered in his poetry. Hence his paintings have resonance in our present times; and probably through ALL times.
Blake is aware of the Luciferian 'god of light' of the Illuminati Order, known to Blake through his knowledge of Freemasonry, with lineage from Zoroastrian and Babylonian 'sun god'. For Blake, focusing on 'light' as a divinity is a mistaken frame of mind, which has been used to control mankind for all time. The Sun-Satan holds the royal orb and sceptre of control, with all of human activity floating in its wake, after the French Revolution. Blake reverses the hands holding the orb and sceptre, indicating the fall of Christianity and Kings: easily relatable to British vs America war.
Today we could interpret Blake's painting as the disguise of bio-techno-Satanists introducing controls via genetic modification for their idea of a great new future of Luciferian transhumanism, with the people as flotsam and jetsam surviving under the controls of technocracy which holds all the controls over science. Blake's intuition feared such a movement, despite not knowing the details that would develop. His work was moving towards consciousness of human spirit.
Both Blake and Holanda were visionary painters of both human and cosmic energy, aware of developments in cosmology and mathematics in attempting to understand the creation of the universe.
Both Blake and Holanda depict a dark red background orb, the heat of energy or the sun, as seen similarly in Blake's Ancient of Days, in which the 'god like' architect depicts geometric ordering, or measuring: the science of measuring and as reason, being over grandized according to Blake.
'Blake associates the figure doing this creating or dividing not with the true ‘God’ but with the Urizenic rational imposter (the “Emissary” rather than the “Master” in McGilchrist’s metaphor). His depiction of this figure contained within the Circle, rather than containing it, suggested the limited as well as limiting function and nature of this “God”. As Blake elsewhere satirises the geometrical obsession of post-Platonic rationalists, “If you have form’d a Circle to go into /Go into it yourself, & see how you would do”.'
~ Golgonooza -TheHumanDivine.
In the 2020s we have modelling by computers to create agendas, producing even inaccurate measurements, but designed to display an outcome such as a doomful 'global warming' or a pandemic spread. Blake would have noticed such obfuscating rational!
[Photo author's own from Blake exhibition Tate Gallery, London 2020, shows accurate colours.]
Inspiration for post: Blog TheHumanDivine The Creation of Light William Blake and Francisco de Holanda
