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Bonaventure Ostendarp, OSB, American, 1856–1912, Ss. Benedict & Scholastica, 1875, oil on canvas, each 40 3/4 x 14 3/4 in., Saint Vincent Archabbey Collection.
This pair of paintings of Saint Benedict and his twin sister Saint Scholastica were created by Fr. Bonaventure Ostendarp, OSB, the year he pronounced his vows as a Benedictine monk at Saint Vincent. Following his ordination to the priesthood in 1880, Fr. Ostendarp began his studies at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich at the behest of Abbot Boniface Wimmer. While in Germany, Fr. Ostendarp became aware of the artistic innovations being developed by the Benedictines at Beuron Archabbey. The ‘Beuroense Style’ rendered Christian narratives according to geometric principles in a stylized hybrid that sourced elements from Byzantine, Egyptian, and Greek traditions. Fr. Ostendarp incorporated this modern fusion with the didactic compositions favored by Germany’s early 19th-century neo-medievalists, the Nazarenes.
Upon his return to Saint Vincent in 1885, Fr. Ostendarp briefly taught art courses at the College before transferring his vows to Saint Mary’s Abbey in Newark, New Jersey. From there Fr. Ostendarp was sent to teach at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire in 1893, where he founded the Studio for Christian Art. Having grown up in Cincinnati, Ohio, he would have been well acquainted with the work of Brother Cosmas Wolf and the artists of the Catholic Altar Building Stock Company located in nearby Covington, Kentucky. The Studio’s founding in 1893 was loosely modeled on Br. Cosmas’ workshop, executing ecclesiastical commissions focusing on monumental murals and decorative painting for nearly fifty years.
Upon his return to Saint Vincent in 1885, Fr. Ostendarp briefly taught art courses at the College before transferring his vows to Saint Mary’s Abbey in Newark, New Jersey. From there Fr. Ostendarp was sent to teach at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire in 1893, where he founded the Studio for Christian Art. Having grown up in Cincinnati, Ohio, he would have been well acquainted with the work of Brother Cosmas Wolf and the artists of the Catholic Altar Building Stock Company located in nearby Covington, Kentucky. The Studio’s founding in 1893 was loosely modeled on Br. Cosmas’ workshop, executing ecclesiastical commissions focusing on monumental murals and decorative painting for nearly fifty years.
Bonaventure Ostendarp, O.S.B., The Holy Family, 1885, oil and gold leaf on canvas, 54 x 36 in., Saint Vincent Archabbey Collection.
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