My Sacred Gift

I had an amazing experience in December that warrants a post.  I don't want to forget what happened and how it felt.  So here we go.  I teach in the women's organization at our church. The lesson I was to teach was entitled, "Come Follow Me". I thought it was a great theme for a December lesson. As I was surfing the Internet looking for additional resources, I ran onto the link entitled "Sacred Gifts". When I clicked on the link, up popped this image. 
 

I was really amazed as I studied the image.  I knew it was by the same artist that painted the picture that has been a part of my life since I was a girl.  I recognized that exact image of Christ's face from a picture that had been in my home, in my dad's home when he was a boy and now in my home.
This is my picture.  Legend has it that it came from Grandma Lillian and Grandpa John Neider's home.

 This is the picture of the Savior that hung in my home when I was growing up and was eventually hung in my bedroom as a teenager.  I don't remember the circumstances of the picture being in my room, but remember asking Mother if I could have it for my home when Rich and I were married.   It is just an inexpensive print glued to an oval crosscut of a piece of wood.  It never occurred to me to think about who the artist might be.  It just was!  But when I saw the image introducing the "Sacred Gifts" exhibit, I recognized the exact image of the Savior.  I investigated further and discovered the artist to be Heinrich Hofmann from Germany and that -- hold your breath -- the original, almost life-sized painting was at the BYU Museum of Art  in a special exhibit with paintings on loan from Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann, and Frans Schwartz, all 19th century artists. 

I recognized the face of the Savior in the Rich Young Ruler painting as the face of the Savior that I love in my picture.    Needless to say, Rich and I reserved tickets to the exhibit and though we had only four days in Utah, made it to Provo to enjoy the paintings.  And what  thrill it was for my little girl heart to stand in front of the almost life-sized painting of  "Christ in Gethsemane".  I learned a great deal about the artist and the painting ...and myself.  I really studied the face of the Savior as I stood there and even though he was suffering in the Garden,  his face was saying -- in modern terms -- "I've got this.  I can do this.  I can face this."  It made me realize where I learned early the grace and strength of the Savior. 

                                       Hofman sold the painting to a man who lived in San Francisco and during the San Francisco earthquake and fire, it was the only thing he saved from his home.  He later sold the painting to John D Rockefeller.  He acquired three Hofmann paintings and they now hang in the famous Riverside Church in New York City.

                                                 Riverside Church on the Hudson River

The museum now houses nearly two dozen paintings of Christ from these master painters, secured from museums and donors in New York City, Denmark, Germany and Sweden. Some of the paintings are displayed outside of their home locations for the very first, and possibly last, time.

 

 

I have always loved my picture of the Savior as an heirloom, but now my very inexpensive picture is even more priceless to me.  I loved sharing the picture in the lesson I presented and on Christmas Eve to my children and grandchildren. 

The "Sacred Gifts" exhibit was 15 years in the making and most of the paintings will not be leaving Europe again.  It is truly an amazing exhibit.  The paintings are breath-taking.    Loved this discovery!  It was a very sacred and unexpeccted gift to me.