Storm Of The Cross

About 

After a long period battling depression, Eco decided to leave New England , in the eastern United States, for a warmer state. At a friend's invitation, he visited California, where he stayed for a week. Upon returning and planning the move, he realized it would take a long time, as he needed to prepare financially. 

The grandson of Spanish and Italian immigrants had moved to the United States in pursuit of the American dream and had many temporary jobs. He was working in construction in February 2018, a harsh winter, and saw his depression worsen. This is when the spiritual event occurred. 

On Eco's first day back at work since returning from California, atop a ladder, distressed and sad, he prayed to God for guidance and felt a strong spiritual presence. From then on, he could no longer finish the wall trim he was doing on the high ceiling. He took the paint can from the hook attached to the ladder and climbed down. He sat on the floor and wept copiously. Suddenly, he felt a strange urge to go to the wall in front of him and paint something that reflected his suffering. With no knowledge of painting or drawing, and no artistic ability whatsoever, he began to scribble on the wall with his worn, five-centimeter-wide brush. He knew what he was drawing, but he was not in control. He felt a storm, which he described as warm and cozy, and a great peace. When he finished the drawing, he saw that the face of Christ, on the cross, was bathed in blood. He wanted to see clearly, but he couldn't, because the blood was spreading all over Jesus' face due to the gusting storm. 

The drawing was finished, but Eco couldn't understand how he had managed to paint it. For him, it was a miracle. Leaning back in the same position, he looked at the cross and at Christ bleeding in the storm. He could only cry and wonder how he had managed to paint something so incredibly vivid. He still wanted to see the face of Jesus, called Christ, whom he loved so much. Then, he had another impetuous urge: to go back to the wall and paint the face of Christ. He looked at Christ's face amidst the storm and painted what his eyes saw, a disturbing image of laceration, sadness, and yet, a look of peace and forgiveness that penetrated Eco's heart and changed his life. 

Eco felt a joy so great that, according to him, he could not describe it. He wanted to show the paintings to everyone but could not reveal them to either his boss or the landlord where he worked, for fear of being reprimanded or fired. 

He decided to roll up the wall and hide the paintings. It took several coats of paint to cover them. The certainty that it was divine inspiration comes from the fact that Eco had no talent for art, unable to make simple drawings or paint anything related to art, especially with the richness of detail he had just produced. Before hiding the two drawings, he took pictures and transferred them to a portable hard drive, erased everything from his cell phone, and kept it a secret. 

Eco chose to work as a house painter because it was a lighter job, but he struggled with his lack of skill. Frustrated by his inability to keep the trim lines on the walls straight and with his lack of ability to paint, he abandoned the profession. But the drawings continued to appear in his dreams, always in moments of greatest anguish or worry, or when he fell asleep after an intense emotional struggle, questioning God about why He had granted him those revelations through art. 

Something about the drawings bothered him, but he didn't know what to do. After many years of fasting and prayer, he gave up thinking about it all. On the same night he spoke with God about giving up, he had a strange dream. Eco was standing under a centuries-old olive tree, holding "The Storm of the Cross" and "After the Storm" in each hand. He noticed the figure of an old man approaching slowly. The man stared at him with a gentle look and only said that he was the king of Salem. Then, he took the two portraits and gave Eco a folded, yellowed piece of sheepskin. The old man turned and walked away, disappearing down the dirt road. Eco felt the same warm, cozy wind he had felt when painting the portraits. He unfolded the sheepskin and noticed, written in crimson, ϕ2=ϕ+1. Eco presumed it was some kind of mathematical equation, a code, or something that, in the end, might mean nothing. He wrote this on the last page of the Bible he keeps on his nightstand and went back to sleep. 

It took another year for him to rethink the dream. He was in a cathedral, attending Sunday mass, and felt dizzy as he looked at the stained-glass windows representing the Stations of the Cross. He was sure it was a call to the dream. He left the cathedral and started looking for the equation online. It took only a few seconds to discover that it was nothing less than the Perfection of God. 

Eco then decided to sell the portraits, hoping they would attract someone truly committed to the Christian faith and capable of spreading the art to the world. Eco will also reveal to the buyer the exact location, in coordinates, where the paintings were created. 

The two artworks together are being offered for the price of US$16,180,347.99. Wondering why these numbers? The answer lies in the clues.                               

To purchase the artwork contact stormofthecross@gmail.com