The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.(Isaiah 11: 6, KJV)
Humanity has long dreamed of a paradise lost that we hope will be regained. The Eleventh Chapter of Isaiah foresees a future Messianic Kingdom where justice and harmony reign, symbolized in this vision of a peaceful animal world where predators coexist with their prey. German-American Illustrator, Fritz Eichenberg, a contributor to the Catholic Worker newspaper of Social Activist Dorothy Day, merges the menagerie of the biblical text in this week's featured piece into the profile of a bearded man in the style of the vegetable portraits of Italian Renaissance Painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo. The figure might represent a benevolent God the Father or the Prophet Isaiah and bears a striking resemblance to the artist, himself. This wood engraving of paradise regained is on view in the gallery of the Eichenberg profile page. (John Kohan)