Heinrich Hofmann Paintings in the Riverside Church

 Last week we visited the Riverside Church on the Upper West Side in New York City.  This interdenominational church, completed in 1930, was built largely with funds donated by John D Rockefeller.  It has long been known as a stronghold of activism and serves a diverse neighborhood which includes about forty ethnic groups.

The church sits facing a beautiful park on the banks of the Hudson River.

We were particularly interested in seeing four very special original paintings by Heinrich Hofmann which hang in the church.  The images, which we have often seen in reproduction, are all very familiar and touching.   Here a sweet, young Christ teaches the "doctors" in the temple.

Our prophet, Thomas S Monson, has for many years hung a reproduction of this particular image of Christ in his office.  He writes of the painting:
 "I love the painting, which I have had since I was a 22-year-old bishop and which I have taken with me wherever I have been assigned to labor. I have tried to pattern my life after the Master. Whenever I have a difficult decision to make, I have looked at that picture and asked myself, “What would He do?” Then I try to do it. We can never go wrong when we choose to follow the Savior."

This painting of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane hangs in the "Gethsemane Chapel" of the church.  It has badly darkened with age, but remains a precious image of Christ's Atonement.

Here Christ speaks with the "rich young ruler."
(See Matthew 19:17-22)  "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:  and come and follow me."

It was a thrill for us to feel the spirit of these paintings "in person."