“And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven,. . . And he had in his hand a
little book open:. . . “ (Rev 10: 1, 2 – Citation # 8)
Painting at the top of the stairs in Chestnut Hill, MA:
“Angel with the ‘Little Book Open’ – In 1899, Katharine Fitchner Swope, a highly regarded New York artist, undertook a major painting based on the following passage from Science and Health: St. John writes, in the tenth chapter of the book of Revelation: – And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth. This angel or message which comes from God, clothed with a cloud, prefigures divine Science. Mrs. Swope had become a member of The Mother Church in 1898, after taking Primary class instruction from Laura Lathrop in New York. From the artist’s letters, it seems that she may have been given some direction and encouragement from Mrs. Eddy in the design of this painting.
The finished work, titled Revelation, stands an imposing six and a half feet tall. In 1901, Mrs. Swope had it mounted in a custom-made dark frame, then sent to Pleasant View as an Easter gift for Mrs. Eddy. Her instructions placed it high on the wall; she wrote, ‘The horizon of the picture should be on a line with the eye – which greatly ennobles the figure.’ The picture’s location in the Pleasant View parlor did not quite realize her intention, but at Chestnut Hill it was placed at the top of the stairs, thus fulfilling the artist’s vision. On the second-floor landing, a reproduction hangs where Mrs. Eddy’s original painting once hung. Katharine Swope, Revelation, 1900, oil on canvas, 78 x 46 inches. Giclée reproduction made from a photo by Mark Thayer. Copyright The Mary Baker Eddy Library, Boston, Massachusetts.” (Source: Christian Scientist/Bible teacher/scholar, Kathy Merrill’s notes)
Click here to see this painting.