idle speculations: Georges Rouault

idle speculations: Georges Rouault

Rouault was unabashedly a religious man. "I hope to paint a Christ so moving that those who see Him will be converted," he said.

Rouault, had to wait until 1949 when he reached the age of eighty before seeing one of his works admitted to a church - a little church at Assy in France.

In September 1950, Pope Pius XII welcomed 300 artists and art authorities from 23 countries to a Rome conference on religious art. The Vatican had arranged a vast show of 1,400 religious art works produced in the past half century. Included were works by Georges Rouault.