This brother-sister duo found surprising success in sacred art
George Capps, a former science and corporate professional, returned to art after his sister Polly encouraged him. Polly Capps Paule, a trained artist, inspired her older brother to pursue a career in sacred art. Together they founded Goretti Fine Art, producing original sacred, liturgical, and devotional pieces. Their collaboration reflects a growing renaissance of Catholic sacred art that resonates with contemporary audiences. The duo’s work has gained notable success in the Catholic art market.
3 months ago
The sibling team George Capps and Polly Capps Paule have turned a family‑shared love of painting into Goretti Fine Art, a St. Louis studio that creates custom altarpieces, murals and devotional works in a late‑Italian Baroque style, meeting a growing demand for classical beauty in contemporary Catholic churches and private collections. 1
George grew up honing his artistic skills but pursued science and a corporate career after a disappointing university art class. 1
Polly, twelve years his junior, spent childhood afternoons watching him paint and later studied art herself, eventually inspiring George to return to the medium. 1
The brothers‑sister duo founded Goretti Fine Art, focusing on sacred, liturgical and devotional pieces. 1
Their transition felt like a “leap of faith,” yet bookings filled months‑to‑years in advance, surpassing their expectations for early‑stage marketing. 1
George describes the current period as an early stage of a renaissance, noting that the 20th‑century rupture left the Church without a major artistic patron. 1
Recent renovations of older churches and new constructions favoring Gothic, Romanesque and Neoclassical aesthetics reflect a broader desire for transcendent beauty. 1
The Capps Paule team works primarily in the late Italian Baroque, a style they say is “charged with spiritual energy” and suited to the awe‑inspiring nature of the Mass. 1
They aim to evoke wonder and a sense of participation in a timeless story through dramatic, theatrical compositions. 1
Their work is in demand by churches, institutions and private collectors, and they offer prints and behind‑the‑scenes stories through their website and blog. 1
The siblings credit their complementary skills and aligned creative vision for the studio’s success, positioning them as key contributors to the revival of Catholic sacred art. 1*
Examine contemporary Catholic sacred art's revival through familial collaboration
Contemporary Catholic sacred art can be understood as a “renewal of sight”: the Church calls for works of worship that disclose the beauty of God, speak the language of the Incarnation, and serve liturgy and evangelization. Within that renewal, familial collaboration—siblings, spouses, or parent-and-child partnerships in making sacred art—can be examined as a credible human “channel” for transmitting faith, technique, and ecclesial purpose, provided that the family’s creativity remains explicitly ordered to the Church’s worship and doctrine.
The Second Vatican Council teaches that bishops must have “special concern for artists” to imbue them with “the spirit of sacred art and of the sacred liturgy,” and it explicitly connects artists with a kind of “sacred imitation of God the Creator,” producing works “destined to be used in Catholic worship, to edify the faithful, and to foster their piety and their religious formation.”
John Paul II likewise presents sacred art as an inheritance to be continued with “clear instructions to continue to leave considerable room for it,” so that “the splendour of worship will shine out through the fittingness and beauty of liturgical art,” and he grounds the whole vision in “the infinite beauty of God in works made by human hands.”
Analytical point: sacred art is not primarily a personal aesthetic project. It has an ecclesial telos: liturgy, formation, and worship. Any “revival” that forgets this becomes fragile.
John Paul II is especially direct about the inner principle of sacred art. With regard to icons, he states that “faith is the necessary inspiration of Church Art,” and warns against “Art for art’s sake, which only refers to the author, without establishing a relationship with the divine world.”
He further describes authentic Christian art as expressing salvation history so that it “gives the intuition that the Lord is present in his Church” and aims at a “visual synthesis of all dimensions of our faith.”
Analytical point: a familial studio is not automatically sacred art; the family’s work becomes sacred art when it is intentionally animated by faith, Church communion, and the Church’s worship.
A revival of sacred art is also a revival of its ecclesial usefulness. The Pontifical Council for Culture explains that sacred artistic patrimony is “a ‘formidable instrument of catechesis,’” and it cites the idea that “The image is also a Gospel preaching.”
It also uses a vivid term—via pulchritudinis (“the pathway of beauty”)—arguing that when faith-inspired art is offered publicly in its religious function, it becomes a “pathway of evangelisation and dialogue.”
Analytical point: the revival is not only stylistic; it is pastoral. Sacred art should “help [people] transmit the message that inspired their creation,” leading “to the veritas of the faith, Christ Himself.”
Vatican II’s instruction does not just commend beauty; it calls for institutional support: bishops should found schools/academies of sacred art “so that artists may be trained.”
John Paul II develops this into a concrete pastoral strategy: make provision for “projects to train the various craftsmen and artists who are commissioned to build and decorate places destined for liturgical use.”
The “revival,” therefore, has a structural dimension: training, commissioning, and ecclesial discernment.
John Paul II observes a resurgence of interest “in the theology and spirituality of Oriental icons” as “a sign of the growing need for a spiritual language of authentically Christian Art.”
He frames sacred images as helping believers pray and perceive the divine mystery without hiding it: sacred art must “attempt to express the mystery and never hide it.”
Analytical point: in contemporary conditions—media saturation, fragmented attention—this re-centering of icon-language offers a more stable grammar for Christian contemplation.
Benedict XVI ties revival to a “dialogue” between beauty and faith, saying that beauty must “not overlook the experience of faith” and that “true artists…can grasp and understand more profoundly than others the beauty proper to the faith, and thus express it anew.”
He also records the Church’s direct summons to artists: “We need you…your collaboration…[clothes] [treasures] in words, colours, forms – making them accessible.”
Analytical point: this supports a revival that is communicative—artmaking as ministry of intelligibility, not merely expression.
The key question is not whether families can collaborate in making art (they can), but whether and how such collaboration aligns with the Church’s criteria for sacred art.
A major theological resource here is the Church’s understanding of how tradition is received and renewed. José Granados argues that “the experience of the family” is where a kind of “generative newness” occurs: the “spousal love…brings to light the newness of the child,” and the child’s newness “confirms and seals” that love.
He also insists that without generational transmission “it is not possible to understand the tradition that begins in Christ,” emphasizing the family’s role as a lived locus of tradition.
Analytical point: sacred art formation is also a transmission reality—technique, symbolism, prayerful sensibility, and ecclesial memory. A family that collaborates across generations can embody this transmission more naturally than a purely individualistic workshop.
Given the Church’s criteria—faith inspiration, ecclesial purpose, liturgical usefulness—familial collaboration can help in at least four ways (as possibilities that must be verified in each case):
However, ecclesial criteria remain non-negotiable. John Paul II emphasizes that sacred art must never hide the mystery and must express faith and hope of the Church.
And Vatican II places responsibility in the hands of Church authority by teaching bishops should imbue artists with the spirit of sacred liturgy and found training structures.
Analytical point: a family workshop should collaborate with the Church’s discernment (diocesan norms, liturgical requirements, theological consultation). The revival is not “private Catholic taste”; it is ecclesial beauty.
Because sacred art must offer “a visual synthesis of all dimensions” of faith and help believers see that “the Lord is present,” evaluation should ask whether the artwork truly functions as a contemplative sign (icon-like intelligibility), not merely as religious decoration.
Vatican II’s standard—works “destined to be used in Catholic worship…to edify the faithful, and to foster their piety”—should govern commissioning and placement.
The Pontifical Council for Culture emphasizes that artistic creation can evoke the “mystery of God,” that Christian artwork is a “symbol” referring beyond itself, and that its beauty moves from “for self” to “more than self.”
So familial collaboration should be assessed for whether the art truly “moves” the viewer toward the mystery of Christ and not toward mere aesthetic consumption.
A contemporary revival of Catholic sacred art becomes most coherent when it follows the Church’s own internal logic: artists are trained and guided by bishops; sacred art is inspired by faith; it imitates divine creation in service of worship; and it functions as a catechetical and evangelizing “pathway of beauty.”
Within that framework, familial collaboration can be a uniquely fruitful human instrument because the family is a privileged site of tradition’s transmission and generative renewal. When a family’s shared prayer, memory, and apprenticeship-style learning are subordinated to ecclesial discernment and oriented to liturgical use, familial teamwork can embody the Church’s aim: beauty that leads to the “mystery of God” and brings believers into living contemplation of Christ.