Holyday Art for Ash Wednesday by German Artist Carl Spitzweg

THE ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Ernest Disney-Britton

"Ash Wednesday" (1860) by Carl Spitzweg. Collection of Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.

Today, a day of fast and prayer, marks the beginning of Lent. It is time to sober up; because the carnival is over but something seems to have gone wrong. Ash Wednesday follows Fat Tuesday, and a jailed harlequin is painfully reminded of reality.  Note how the costumed character sits in silent repentence with only a jug of water to keep him company. He pushed the spirit of Mardi Gras a bit too far and gets to spend Ash Wednesday in jail. It's a day of ashes on foreheads, to “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” and it's powerfully told in this painting "Ash Wednesday" by German artist Carl Spitzweg.