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This Byzantine medallion, made of gold, silver and enamel worked in cloisonne around 1100, once formed part of the frame surrounding an icon and depicts the Evangelist Saint Matthew. It is about 3 1/4 inches in diameter and is held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This gilded copper-alloy figure of the Apostle Philip, made in North Germany around 1350, was designed to be applied as a decorative element, likely on a shrine or piece of liturgical furniture. It measures about 12 9/16 x 3 7/16 inches and is held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This limestone sculpture with traces of polychromy, made in France around 1300-1330, depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child. It measures about 48 1/2 x 21 x 14 inches and belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection of Medieval Art.
This engraving of Saint Matthew the Apostle, dated 1636, is by the French printmaker Jacques Callot. It comes from his series Les Images de tous les saincts et saintes de l'annee, which paired each saint with their feast day on the calendar, here September 21st.
This anonymous 17th-century drawing depicts Tobias and the archangel Raphael, from the Old Testament Book of Tobit, in which the angel guides and protects the young Tobias on his journey. It is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This gouache is part of James Tissot's series The Life of Christ, painted between 1886 and 1894. It depicts the boy Jesus seated among the teachers in the Temple, discoursing with them. The work is held in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum.
Icon of the Adoration of the Magi from the middle of the 17th century, from the Sambir region of Ukraine. It is in a private collection.
Icon of the Adoration of the Magi from the middle of the 16th century, from the village of Busovysko. It is held in the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv, Ukraine.
This volume is one of three containing the complete Spanish translation from the Latin of Saint Augustine’s City of God (De Civitate Dei), written in the early fifth century, after the sack of Rome by the Visigoths. Augustine, bishop of Hippo in North Africa, developed the concept of the Church as a
North French illuminated leaf from a Book of Hours showing the Descent from the Cross, made in the late 15th century. Tempera, ink, and shell gold on parchment, 8.7 x 6.9 cm.
This medallion is one of a group of twelve that once surrounded an icon of the archangel Gabriel. The medallions may have been sent as a gift from the Byzantine court to the neighboring Christian state of Georgia. Byzantine gold, silver, and cloisonné enamel, made in Constantinople, diameter 8.3 cm.
Illuminated manuscripts written in Greek were considered one of the greatest art forms by the highly literate and sophisticated clerical and secular elite of Byzantium. Over the centuries many works were commissioned for use in important churches. The calendar in this lectionary and the quality of t
Small Russian icon of the Christ Child with Saints Boris and Gleb. Tempera and gold on wood in a gold and enamel frame studded with jewels; the icon with its frame measures 11.1 x 10.2 cm.
The rubric at the top tells us that the prayers that follow are to be said before and after Communion. Therefore, the artist portrayed a priest administering the sacrament to a man in a fur-trimmed cloak, presumably the owner of the manuscript. The man, whose family arms appear on the adjacent leaf,
Theodore Teron (the recruit) was one of several soldier-martyrs whose cults were enormously popular in the later centuries of the Byzantine Empire. This intaglio illustrates Theodore’s miraculous slaying of a dragon. The image reflects the revival of classical culture that took place in Byzantium in
This delicately carved cameo shows the Virgin in an orant pose, with her arms upraised, and a medallion of the Christ Child over her chest. This icon type is often called the Blachernitissa after a famous icon at the Blachernai Monastery in Constantinople. Byzantine agate cameo, probably made in Con
This sculpture of Moses, holding the tablets with the Ten Commandments, and the opposite figure, his brother Aaron, form part of a rare ensemble of key figures from the Hebrew Bible. Often shown together on Gothic portals as forerunners of Jesus, they and other statues originally flanked an enthrone
This painting and another depicting an unidentified male saint, which also belongs to the Lehman Collection, formed part of a group of eighteen panels depicting saints (now in the Courtauld Institute Gallery, London; Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts; Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Hon
Until 1950 this panel lined the Great Hall of Highcliffe Castle in southern England. Constructed in the 1830s for Lord Stuart de Rothesay, the castle was furnished in part with stonework acquired form the ruined royal abbey at Jumièges in Normandy, where the panels might also have originated. In all
Four key events in the final hours of Jesus’ life are dramatically shown here (from left to right): Peter sheathing his sword after severing the ear of Malchus (seated), the high priest’s servant; Jesus miraculously restoring the ear; Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss; and Roman soldiers arresting J
The largest of these fresco fragments may represent the late fourth-century saint John Chrysostom, who is usually depicted with a pointed beard, sunken cheeks, and a high forehead. Byzantine fresco with modern restoration, 24 x 23.7 cm.
These panels were among thirty scenes of an extensive narrative cycle that formed part of a large altarpiece from the Neustädter Marienkirche in Bielefeld, Westphalia. They were created two decades before panel painting underwent a revolution through the art of Jan van Eyck, Robert Campin, and Rogie
Sassetta worked for a wealthy clientele, executing a limited number of paintings that focus on material splendor and refined detail. The glittering effect created by his technique of scratching into the painted surface to reveal the gold layer beneath—seen in passages like the angels’ wings and garm
The moody, unfiltered emotions of Saints Matthew and Francis showcase Giovanni’s interest in depicting strongly expressive figures. The artist found inspiration for his implacable saints in the sculpture of his great compatriot Jacopo della Quercia. These two figures are from a major altarpiece. A s
