Book Review: Sacred Muse: A Preface to Christian Art & Music, by Charles Scribner III (2023)

The cover of Sacred Muse: A Preface to Christian Art & Music, by Charles Scribner III, 2023. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Charles Scribner III published two books in 2023, and they both reflect his different passions. One book is Scribners Five Generations in Publishing, which details the history of his family’s publishing company, Charles Scribner’s Sons. The other book is Sacred Muse: A Preface to Christian Art & Music, which explores Scribner’s passion for Baroque art and music. Scribner has a PhD in art history and has written monographs on Bernini and Rubens.  

Sacred Muse is a slim volume, meant as an introduction and overview rather than a definitive compendium. The book focuses on Scribner’s favorite artists, like Rubens, Bernini, and Caravaggio. One can hardly quibble with Scribner’s choices when he picks such masterful artists as these.  

I minored in Art History in college, and the class I took on the Baroque period was one of my favorites, so I enjoyed returning to Caravaggio, Rubens, and Bernini’s artworks in the pages of Sacred Muse. Scribner proves a more than able guide through these artworks, as he describes the Biblical scenes they depict, and examines the context in which these artworks were created. 

Scribner reminds us that because the Calvinist Reformed Church forbade paintings of religious subjects, “ecclesiastical commissions that engaged Rubens were unavailable to the Protestant Rembrandt.” (p.69) This fact tells us that Rembrandt’s many paintings with Biblical themes came not out of commissions, but of his own personal interest in depicting these scenes. This was something I hadn’t thought of before.  

Scribner devotes a good amount of time to Verdi’s Requiem, and he uses a wonderful quote from the music author George Marek: “The Requiem is one of those rare religious compositions which are loved by both the faithful and the agnostic. It is also one of those pieces of music which appeal both to the musically literate and the musical beginner. Its beauty lies deep and on the surface.” (p.105) I loved the last sentence of that quote, and it made me think of Miles Davis's album Kind of Blue, which is regularly acclaimed as the “Best Jazz Album” and is also a best-seller and often listeners’ entry point to the jazz genre. There are those rare works of art that are immediately accessible and reward repeated attention.  

Sacred Muse is an interesting reflection on art and faith, and it’s a pleasure to read a book that is so well-illustrated with full color reproductions of many of the masterpieces that Scribner describes in the text.