A Fransciscan monk 1873

Carl Bloch painted this oil on canvas, A Franciscan Monk, sometime in the 19th century. Bloch was Danish, a country that had officially converted to Lutheranism in the 16th century. The choice of subject matter might then be seen as a conscious reaching out to another tradition, but in what spirit? Here, the monk's face is etched with age and experience, his cowl pulled far forward, obscuring his features. We might ask whether Bloch intended a sympathetic portrait of a man of faith, or a more critical commentary on the state of religious life. In the aftermath of the upheavals of the Napoleonic wars, many Europeans felt rootless and displaced, and interest in the medieval past grew exponentially. We should note the revival of religious orders in countries that had experienced the French Revolution. To understand this painting better, we might research popular attitudes towards monasticism in 19th century Denmark, as well as the broader European fascination with the medieval period. Bloch's work reminds us that the meaning of art is always tied to its specific social and institutional context.