This is All Saints Chapel of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis. It was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. This photo was taken December 15th, 2005; the others were taken on July 14th, 2006.
Click on any photo for a larger version. The extra detail is magnificent!
The ad orientem altar.
The tabernacle. The Blessed Sacrament is reserved in another chapel.
Saint Joseph holding the child Jesus.
The lighting in the background really doesn't look purple; the camera, however, is very sensitive to lighting color changes.
Unusual bell.
Ceiling of the chapel.
Ceiling detail.
A view to the back of the chapel. The statue in the background is of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Carmelite nun, also known as the "Little Flower".
As in a previous photo, the lighting in the back hallway does not appear purple to the eye. The camera's white balance within the chapel itself was manually set, so the colors inside are fairly accurate.
Detail of mosaic on pilaster next to the door of the chapel.
Floor detail.
Detail of attached column located next to the altar.
View of the chapel from the side; it is open to the nave from the side.
outside wall.
Mosaics on side of chapel. I'm not able to determine what is specifically represented here.
Detail of pilaster on side of chapel.
As always, superb photography.
ReplyDeleteI hope to one day see the Cathedral Basilica in person.
Scotus, again, these are wonderfu. But I must ask, can this building even be photographed badly? It is a national treasure.
ReplyDeleteOh, my first photos of the interior of the church were TERRIBLE. Really, really bad and ugly.
ReplyDeleteI bought a digital camera five years ago, and was hugely disapointed that the picture quality was bad, and I couldn't return it to the store because of a ten-day return policy. Shouldn't an expensive camera take superior photos and do all of the hard work of making pictures look good?
I started taking photos for Rome of the West a little more than a year ago, due to requests for photos of churches that were closing, and so seriously started using that camera again.
Not having the means to get a 'good' digital camera forced me to learn how to make the camera take good pictures, which comes down to understanding its properties and limitations, as well as re-learning the general photographic techniques of proper exposure, focus, and color balance. Not surprisingly, taking good photos takes understanding and lots of practice. I didn't know it before, but I actually did have a good digital camera; it was just the photographer who was bad.
One very basic technique I use is to never use the camera's own flash and to always use a tripod.
Much thanks for all of the compliments. I may have been a bit prideful in the last comment. These pictures only look good because they are photos of the work of real artists.
ReplyDeleteDear Marcus, I think that these mosaics that you wonder what may have been depicting, are the three kinds of Saints: martyrs, apostles and virgins.
ReplyDeleteDo you know anyone who might have information about the artist who created the statue of St. Joseph at the Cathedral/Basilica of St. Louis?
ReplyDeleteThe statue is similar to the representation created by the ecclesiastical sculptor, Joseph Sibbel (1850-1907). Sibbel created a statue of St. Joseph for the chapel at the Motherhouse for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. His representations were always very loving with the Child Jesus leaning into the cheek of St. Joseph. I know that the Cathedral/Basilica was finished AFTER Sibbel's death, but his studio survived until the 1960s. It's possible that the statue could have been designed by Joseph Sibbel and then finished by his studio. If you have any information about this statue or know someone who might, please contact me. dtallerico5252@hotmail.com Delma Tallerico