Unum Verum Bonum Pulchrum

Dimensions: w - 91/2 in h- 6 in

This was a rather hastily painted little piece for a friend of mine as a sort of going-away present before she went off to college. For those sorry individuals who don't know the Latin, it means - the One, the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.

In Catholic philosophical terms, these are the 4 great transcendentals, in a sense the divine attributes of God. They are aspects of being itself and thus God, who is 'ipsum esse' (to be itself). Each of these are thus equivalent to Being.

At the base of the picture I have the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem... on the left is the triumphant Lamb of God conquering Satan. On the right on the cliff is the Angel of God showing John the vision of the city as recorded in one of the most amazing chapters ever, Revelation 21. Above the city I have the Blessed Mother, the representative of redeemed Man, illumined by the light of the Holy Spirit (the dove).