The 33 Parables of Gerhard.

June 29, 2023 4:52 AM

The Canadian graphic artist Gerhard (previously) has just completed a major new commission inspired by the works of Memling and Breugel. You can admire it in both pencils and inks.

I can identify about a dozen of the parables depicted, but perhaps other MeFites can do better? I'm also curious about the birds, and why Gerhard chose the particular species he did.

posted by Paul Slade (6 comments total)

I'd assume the birds in the tree are from Matthew 13:31-32

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

(It also pops up in Mark and references birds)

I'm assuming bottom right is the parable of the sower, and the birds come eat the seeds on the rocks.

Not sure about the individual birds in the air.
posted by Wretch729 at 5:53 AM on June 29, 2023

Breugel did not work from photographic reference as Gerhard does. That's why Breugel's figures have a timeless weight and solidity and Gerhard's merely float.
posted by Modest House at 7:10 AM on June 29, 2023

Not sure about the individual birds in the air.

Matthew 6:25-27:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?["]
posted by fifthrider at 8:07 AM on June 29, 2023

I like the drawings but I’m rubbish at the parables. I can identify three: one is doubtful and both of the others are the Prodigal Son.
posted by Phanx at 8:12 AM on June 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Very cool, thanks. Gerhard's work on Cerebus was the best part of it once Dave Sim's writing became misogynistic and tedious.
posted by zardoz at 2:00 PM on June 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

I asked Gerhard himself about the birds, and he tells me he started with ones native to the Middle East and added others which are mentioned and given some significance in the Bible. The sparrows, for example, owe their presence to Matthew 10:29.
posted by Paul Slade at 6:51 AM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]