When painting “Kiss the Sword”, I felt an ethereal peace and a sense of floating above dense mountain forests and an ability to see the ‘bigger picture’. It is a view of the earthly realm from a spiritual perspective.
I also sensed a ‘missing piece’, so I waited. I ‘heard’ “kissing the sword” and ‘saw’ a sword drop over the centre of the painting.
I searched the meaning of those words and discovered “Kissing the Sword of
Deliverance” is an 1863 painting of Joan of Arc by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. However, the sword I saw dropping into the painting was not a Medieval long sword, but a shorter pointed Roman gladius. The painting represents the devotion, vision, innocence, and service for God that Joan of Arc embodied – and it also has another dimension. It is a word about community. The gladius was designed for an infantry legion marching and fighting together, an army in formation fighting behind a wall of shields that allowed the Romans to come close to the enemy unopposed.
I believe the message of the painting is that we do not fight alone. We may look around and see nothing except a beautiful haunting isolated landscape, but the sword ‘arrives’ from the spiritual realm surrounded by gold glory. It is made of silver and symbolises redemption and justice.
Title: “Kiss the Sword”
Artist: Wendy Manzo
Size: 91cm x 91cm
Painted: Wendy Manzo Art Studio 10 August 2022
Giclee Reproduction prints are available for sale through BuyArtNow.
