Monday, August 11, 2014

St Mark's English Church

Apotheosis of Saint Mark by Jason Arkles, St Mark's English Church, Via Maggio, Oltrarno, Florence

“Apotheosis of Saint Mark” by Jason Arkles, 2008
Exterior of St Mark's English Church
Via Maggio, Oltrarno
Florence, April 2014

“The statue of St. Mark is an apotheosis; it is symbolic of the salient points of the life of the saint, rather than a depiction of the saint at a certain time or place .He is represented as a young man, bare-chested and with his cloak slipping off his shoulders. This refers to the verse in the Gospel of St. Mark which describes how a young man was present in the Garden of Gethsemane with Christ and how this lad was nearly hauled off by the Roman guards, but escaped by wriggling out of the cloak he was wearing and running off into the night. Traditionally, this verse has been interpreted as a description of Mark himself, present at the scene.” (Apotheosis of Saint Mark, Jason Arkles)

2 comments:

Lowell said...

Very interesting, but why is it called an "English" church?

cieldequimper said...

I like the cloak slipping off.