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Painting Religious Works

Any artist who is worth his salt should have a desire to sell his work. I have always had this, and by the mercies of God have been able to sell a lot of work over the years. With my recent foray into religious art, however, I am taking a risk as far as sales. go. Religious art simply does not sell as well as secular art. I learned this when I was in stained glass restoration. The works of Tiffany Studios that bring the highest amount at auction are, in order, landscape/secular works, angels, and then his religious works. The idea is that religious works appeal to fewer people, so they are worth less than the secular pieces. With that in mind it is rather scary to be painting only religious works now!

But while an artist should desire to sell his work, the inherent worth of his work, and of being an artist, does not revolve around sales. Like Alasdair MacIntyre suggests in After Virtue the good of certain acts is the execution of the act itself. It is its own reward. Art is one of these. That is something that I remind myself of lately. My current focus on religious works is good in itself, as would be painting some other subject that is equally less saleable. But then for me, painting religious works also has a teleological aspect to it, and take son a deeper significance. That is, it deepens my devotion to God. I do it as an act of devotion - art in general, and especially the religious works. That is ultimately worth more than any amount of money!

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