Category Archives: Catholic

Saint Patrick’s Day Celebrations throughout the Years

Saint Patrick’s Day is a cause for celebration. People throughout North America, Ireland and other parts of the world honor this holiday. They wear green, visit pubs and host parties with friends and family. But how many of us know who Saint Patrick is and how this holiday came to be?

The historical significance of March 17 may surprise you.

The Patron Saint of Ireland

March 17, now a day of celebration, signifies a sorrowful event. It is believed that Saint Patrick died on this day sometime in the fifth century. Not long after his death, Irishman began observing this day as a holiday as a “Feast Day.”

Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. He was born in Roman Britain and was taken to Ireland as a slave at the age of 16. After escaping, he returned to Ireland as a free man and missionary. He is known and remembered for spreading Christianity throughout Ireland.

Celebrations throughout the Years

People of Ireland have recognized March 17 as a day to celebrate Saint Patrick for the past 1,000 years. During this time, Irishmen honored Saint Patrick with a “feast day.” Ironically enough the tradition of “St. Patty’s Parties,” as we know them today, began in the United States.

It is said that Irishmen serving in the English military first marched the streets of New York City on March 17, 1762. This allowed them to feel connected to their culture while away overseas. At this time, however, it could not be predicted that the number of immigrants would soon surge. In less than a century the Great Potato Famine would hit, forcing many families to flee to America in search of jobs and sustenance. By the early 20th century, it was common to see many different nationalities present in American enfolded into Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations.

Holiday Traditions

Today, Saint Patrick’s day is celebrated throughout many parts of the world, including the United States, Canada and Australia. US megacity Chicago goes all out by dying their river green.

It is said that American celebrations influenced Ireland’s holiday traditions. Before the 1970s pubs were closed throughout Ireland on March 17. It is said that American celebrations influenced Ireland’s holiday traditions. In fact, before the 1970’s pubs were closed throughout Ireland on March 17. However, in recent years government began recognizing how the international holiday increases tourism; they decided to keep bars open so Irish culture could be on display for all to see.

Now, about one million people celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day festival in Dublin ever year. With parades, concerts and fireworks it is somewhat reminiscent of the United States’ Fourth of July. For Ireland, it is one of the largest national holidays. Saint Patrick gives Ireland and all the world reason to celebrate.

Read more Segmation blog posts about the color green:

Have a Fun Saint Patrick’s Day!

Green Represents Saint Patrick’s Day

Saint Patrick’s Day www.segmation.com

Be a Artist in 2 minutes with Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)

Segmation

Join us on FacebookSegPlay® Mobile iTunes now available for iPhone and iPad

www.segmation.com

Have a Fun Saint Patrick’s Day!

Giotto di Bondone – Father of European Painting (www.segmation.com)

Leave a reply

Free Trial Downloads for Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)

Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267 – 1337), known simply as Giotto, was a Florentine painter and architect. He is now considered the first great master of the Italian Renaissance and the founder of modern European painting. Giotto’s natural and realistic style broke away from the symbolism of Byzantine art and was the catalyst that marked the start of the Renaissance.

Giotto was born in a small hamlet north of Florence. His father was a farmer and Giotto probably spent much of his youth as a shepherd. According to art historian Giorgio Vasari, the renowned Florentine artist, Cimabue, who was the last great painter in the Byzantine style, discovered the young Giotto drawing pictures of sheep on a rock. Cimabue was so impressed by the young boy’s talent that he immediately took him on as an apprentice. That story may be apocryphal but by around 1280 Giotto was working in Florence and by 1312 he was a member of the Florentine Guild of doctors and apothecaries, a guild that also included painters. He traveled to Rome with Cimabue and may well have worked on some of the master’s commissions.

Giotto signed his name to just three paintings. All other attributions to him are speculative and the unresolved controversy has raged through the art world for over a hundred years. Nevertheless, his work stands at the brink of a new age in art. He concentrated on representing human emotions, people in everyday situations, and capturing the human experience through his art.

Although he lacked the technical knowledge of perspective, he created a convincing three-dimensional pictorial space. His genius was immediately recognized by his contemporaries; he was lauded by great philosophers, writers and thinkers of his day, among them Dante and Boccaccio. Under Giotto’s leadership the old, stylized Byzantine art forms slowly disappeared from Florence, and later from other Italian cities. His freedom of expression influenced artists of the early and high Renaissance, and changed the course of European painting.

One of Giotto’s finest works is the series of frescoes painted 1304-1305 for the Scrovegni chapel in Padua, usually known as the Arena Chapel. The 37 scenes depict the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary and are considered to be one of the masterpieces of the Early Renaissance. The figures in his paintings interact, gossip, and look at each other.

From 1306 to 1311 Giotto was in Assisi where some art historians believe he painted the fresco cycle of the Life of St. Francis. Although the style of the frescoes is realistic and breaks away from the Byzantine stylization, the controversy is caused by the stylistic differences between the St. Francis and Arena Chapel frescoes. Documents that could have proved the origin of the commissions were destroyed by Napoleon’s troops when they occupied the town in the early 19th century.

Giotto received commissions from princes and high officials of the church in Florence, Naples and Rome. Most scholars agree that he painted the frescoes in the Church of the Santa Croce in Florence and although he never signed the Ognissanti Madonna altarpiece, the Florentine work is universally recognized as being by him. It is known that Giotto was in Florence from 1314-1327 and the large panel painting depicting the Virgin was painted around 1310. The face of the Virgin is so expressive that it may well have been painted using a live model.

Towards the end of his life, Giotto was assigned to build the Campanile of the Florence Cathedral. In 1334 he was named chief architect and, although the Campanile is known as “Giotto’s Tower,” it was probably not built to his design specifications.

Giotto died in January, 1337. Even his burial place is surrounded by mystery. Vasari believed he was buried in the Cathedral of Florence, while other scholars claimed he was buried in the Church of Santa Reparata. But Giotto left an artistic legacy that could not be ignored. His disciples, Bernardo Daddi and Taddeo Gaddi continued in the master’s tradition and, a century later, the artistic torch lit by Giotto was passed on to Michelangelo and Raphael, the great masters of the High Renaissance.

Giotto made a radical break from the Byzantine (abstract – anti-naturalistic) style and brought more life to art. Giotto primarily painted Christian themes depicted in cycles and is best known for his frescos in various Chapels (Arene Chapel, Florence Cathedral, Assisi, Scrovegni).

Our pattern set collection features many of his more familiar works including the Ognissanti Madonna, The Mourning of Christ, The Marriage at Cana, The Mourning of St. Francis, Crucifixion and Madonna and Child.

Giotto di Bondone

Have fun and relax with beautiful online painting art. So fun and easy to use with no mess but just a mouse!

Be a Artist in 2 minutes with Giotto di Bondone from Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)

Segmation

FREE Newsletter

Join us on Facebook

SegPlay® Mobile iTunes now available for iPhone and iTouch