Behind the art: Italian abbey's history depicted in painting at St. Vincent

Editor’s note: Behind the Art is a recurring series highlighting artistic works throughout the county.

A deeply symbolic work of art on display in St. Vincent Archabbey’s Crypt leads viewers through the fall and rise of the Abbey of Montecassino in Italy, an important place in the Benedictine Order’s history.

Andrew Julo, director and curator of the Verostko Center for the Arts at Saint Vincent College in Unity, said the artwork has been a focal piece in the crypt since the mid-1940s. Its creator, Jan Henryk de Rosen of Poland, a World War I veteran, was a highly sought after liturgical artist around that time who conducted detailed research in preparation for his paintings.

The Abbey of Montecassino was damaged numerous times from various battles throughout its 15-century history.

“The monastery is seen as home of this religious order,” Julo said.

As depicted in the upper right frame of the artwork, the abbey was destroyed during a World War II bombing. The upper left portion shows work beginning to rebuild.

“The whole thing is kind of about the period of birth, progress, destruction and renewal,” he said.

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It is fitting given the motto of Montecassino — “cut it down, it grows again.”

The figures on the bottom half of the painting, labeled in Latin, are men who played important roles throughout the abbey’s establishment and history when it came time to rebuild the ruins, populate it and restore its interior.

“The various figures are crucial to the monastery,” Julo said.

De Rosen created the work using tempera paints with beeswax over a gold leaf base. It makes use of yellow-ish gold and burgundy colors throughout and rich colors on the cloaks and military clothing.

The crypt, located below the Basilica, is used for Masses, prayer services, choral concerts and lectures. It was created as a space in 1946 and renovated to its current state in 2010, Julo said.