New! Francis Preaching to the Birds — by Pedro Subercaseaux —Beautiful Catholic Art —Catholic Gift

There are many pictures of Francis preaching to the birds, but what makes this one of our favorites is not just that it's beautiful, but that the use of watercolor creates a delicacy in the image that, for us anyway, reflects what we think must have been a very delicate moment. Birds, after all, are light as a feather, and spook with the slightest provocation. But Francis preached to them, and they listened. The entirety of his sermon was preserved in a biography of him written three years after he died. His biographer had been sent by the Pope down to Assisi to record the astonishing life of Francis while all the witnesses still had it fresh in their minds. Francis's sermon to the birds is very short because, let's face it, birds don't have huge attention spans. Elsewhere in our shop we fit the entire thing on the back of one of our little holy cards, and it's very readable. It's the card with Sue's painting of Francis's avian preaching on the front. The life of Francis is one of the major reasons I became Catholic. Francis was so holy, he still inspires countless souls to turn to God, 800 years after his death! Pedro Subercaseaux (1880–1956) was a famous Chilean painter and the son of a Chilean painter. He did a huge amount of illustrations for books and magazines in the Golden Age of Illustration, which is one of the reasons his style is so fresh and charming even today. He also did many oil paintings of gallery and governmental importance, as well as doing many portraits, including St. Pius X. Subercaseaux was also extremely devoted to Christ. In 1907 he married Elvira Lyon Otaégui, but in 1920 the pope granted them an annulment so that they could both enter religious orders. In 1927, Subercaseaux was ordained a Benedictine priest. He continued painting until near the end of his life. We have another one of his Francis watercolors (which he did in 1912) in our shop as a holy card, and we hope to offer you more of his religious paintings, as God allows. ** 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 Johnson St. Mary's Parish, 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) © by Sue Kouma Johnson – Classic Catholic Art.