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Landover Foundation for Christian Art is proud to announce that they have acquired from the Roseblatt Tel Aviv Institute for Biblical Antiquities, the original painting of “The Universe Prior to The Creation.”
The Work, in oil on shitim wood. is believed to have been done by the Disciple Thomas with whom Jesus spoke in John 13, and who was present when Jesus uttered the immortal words: Joh:17:5: And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
This tentative attribution is based upon a few words by the historian Jospehus in “The Antiquity of the Jews” who mentions “and one of their number made images but not of earthly things,” and the idea that Thomas was depressed at Christ’s temporary death and would have painted such things.
The Roseblatt Institute traced the provenance of the painting from Jerusalem to the Republic of Florence in the 11th century where a small war was fought over the ownership (details are sketchy and this was probably part of the “Investiture Controversy” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investiture_Controversy and among documents found in the papers of the contemporary Margrave of Florence there is a note of “One frame for a painting: 20 Florins” and this coincides with the style of the frame in which the picture is now housed.
The painting reappeared in the mid-1300’s in southern Bavaria in the ownership of Hertzog Mannfred Von Ehrenburg when, at the time of the Black Death, it may well have been the painting that was taken to be a specific against infection. According to tradition, a sufferer should, at night and in a dark room, stare intently at the painting and contemplate the ineffability Christ.
It is believed that the painting remained within the Von Ehrenburg family for many centuries but changed hands in the War of Austrian Succession during which the Von Ehrenburg line perished.
Why the painting is next thought to have appeared in St Petersburg is a mystery but in an early draft of Evgeny Onegin by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, now lost, there was a line “The black of the black of the Emptiness” in reference to a painting at Tatyana’s home.
The Roseblatt Institute came into possession of the painting in late 1940 at an auction of the estate of Leon Trotsky in Mexico City.
Negotiations for the sale to Landover have now been completed and the painting will be on display at The Landover Foundation for Christian Art from November 9th for a week for Platinum tithers, followed by general viewing thereafter - admission $100 per person.
This is a remarkable chance to connect with Christ through the work of a Disciple.
The Work, in oil on shitim wood. is believed to have been done by the Disciple Thomas with whom Jesus spoke in John 13, and who was present when Jesus uttered the immortal words: Joh:17:5: And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
This tentative attribution is based upon a few words by the historian Jospehus in “The Antiquity of the Jews” who mentions “and one of their number made images but not of earthly things,” and the idea that Thomas was depressed at Christ’s temporary death and would have painted such things.
The Roseblatt Institute traced the provenance of the painting from Jerusalem to the Republic of Florence in the 11th century where a small war was fought over the ownership (details are sketchy and this was probably part of the “Investiture Controversy” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investiture_Controversy and among documents found in the papers of the contemporary Margrave of Florence there is a note of “One frame for a painting: 20 Florins” and this coincides with the style of the frame in which the picture is now housed.
The painting reappeared in the mid-1300’s in southern Bavaria in the ownership of Hertzog Mannfred Von Ehrenburg when, at the time of the Black Death, it may well have been the painting that was taken to be a specific against infection. According to tradition, a sufferer should, at night and in a dark room, stare intently at the painting and contemplate the ineffability Christ.
It is believed that the painting remained within the Von Ehrenburg family for many centuries but changed hands in the War of Austrian Succession during which the Von Ehrenburg line perished.
Why the painting is next thought to have appeared in St Petersburg is a mystery but in an early draft of Evgeny Onegin by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, now lost, there was a line “The black of the black of the Emptiness” in reference to a painting at Tatyana’s home.
The Roseblatt Institute came into possession of the painting in late 1940 at an auction of the estate of Leon Trotsky in Mexico City.
Negotiations for the sale to Landover have now been completed and the painting will be on display at The Landover Foundation for Christian Art from November 9th for a week for Platinum tithers, followed by general viewing thereafter - admission $100 per person.
This is a remarkable chance to connect with Christ through the work of a Disciple.
Should we perhaps ask the forum administrators to delete this thread? Obviously I have every confidence in Bobby-Joe and his team - thank you, gentlemen, for all you do 
has not seen fit to preserve their work. Or perhaps it is just that He has not yet revealed it to us? 
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