Begnaud, Edward: Hidden with Christ in God. The Life and Art of Dom Gregory de Wit, OSB (1892-1978)

Born into a bourgeois family in The Netherlands, Gregory de Wit, OSB (1892-1978) was a Benedictine monk, priest, and artist of Mont César Abbey in Louvain, Belgium. This volume is the first comprehensive consideration of the eccentric personality who is more infamous than famous. Reconciling the relatively staid art of Byzantine and Medieval traditions with the effulgent Baroque and Romantic styles, his unique modern perspective is tied to the neoclassicism of the twentieth-century interbellum period. The mostly religious works of the artist adorn the walls of monasteries and churches as well as private collections in Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, the United States, and Switzerland. Following a rather cosmopolitan gyrovague existence, he settled on a remote Swiss mountain to live a life "hidden with Christ in God."