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by Jeannine Danelle Taylor (Author)
Ed Lantzer, a once-homeless misfit, brain damaged by scarlet fever as a child, suddenly has a vision from God of an enormous task he must complete. It involves the art of marquetry, a skill he learned from his father, where he cuts small diamond shapes out of various types of wood and glues them to a 4-foot by 8-foot plywood board to create a picture. At first, Ed is overwhelmed and tells God that it's impossible, but God persists, so Ed agrees. Unable to write or sketch, Ed visualizes the picture in his head. For months, in a little 8-foot by 10-foot room, he cuts out thousands of diamond shapes using 30-degree and 60-degree angles. He begins to glue the diamonds to the large plywood board, fitting each piece together like a puzzle. The natural color variations of the wood add depth and dimension to the picture, and suddenly what emerges is an image of Jesus sitting at a table. But Ed's picture isn't finished. He moves the large board out and begins gluing diamonds onto another board, then another board, then another. He glues the last diamond onto the seventh board and finally the picture is complete. The vision that God planted in Ed's head became a wondrous masterpiece. Seven large panels fit perfectly together, standing side by side to reveal Jesus sitting with his apostles at the Last Supper. Only this masterpiece doesn't match Leonardo di Vinci's famous painting of the Last Supper. Looking closer, the apostles are in a different order, and there are other peculiar images, words, and symbols on each panel that are not in di Vinci's painting. What do they mean?
Over the next 20 years, with millions of diamond shaped wood pieces, Ed created a total of 30 panels depicting various scenes from the Bible and other ancient texts he studied throughout his life. Each panel tells a story, not just of the religious scenes illustrated, but also the story of Ed and his life. He called the panels, "My Father's Love." Their purpose is to tell of God's love for everyone, especially the unloved child. Through sacred geometry, numerology, and symbolism, Ed embedded obscure icons and figures with special meaning throughout the panels; some hidden and some evident. Toward the end of his life, Ed shared these meanings with others in personal and video-taped interviews. This book is a reference of the meanings of the symbols and stories Ed inserted into each panel. Of course, if you could ask him today what he meant, he may give you his explanation, but then follow it up with, "You decide."
