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0:00/1× Details: This picture’s original use is uncertain. Its size and shape are appropriate for a predella (the pedestal portion of an altarpiece), which often consists of several small panels. However, the Coronation of the Virgin almost never appears on predellas. The panel’s minute detail and...
0:00/1× Details: St. Stephen's Cathedral, Stephansdom, is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna. The current Romanesque and Gothic cathedral was initiated by Duke Rudolf IV and stands on the ruins of two earlier churches,...
0:00/1× Details: By the end of the 18th century, Britain’s medieval ruins had become popular tourist destinations and a rich source of inspiration for Romantic poets and painters, establishing a veritable "cult of ruins." Decaying Gothic architecture set in overgrown landscapes conjured thoughts of the...
Details: This large initial A introduces the matins (about 2:30 AM) response for Easter: Angelus Domini descendit de celo... (An angel of the Lord descended from heaven...). The letter that begins the text is commonly and appropriately decorated with a depiction of this Easter morning event. The three holy...
Details: Peterskirche, or St. Peter's Church, is a Baroque Roman Catholic church in Vienna. Construction began around 1701 and its design was inspired by the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. By 1722, most of the building was finished. In 1733, the Peterskirche was consecrated to the...
Details: A collection of eight woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer progress from Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would bear the Son of God, to the events of her early motherhood and beyond. This included the joy of sharing her pregnancy with her cousin Elizabeth, Jesus’s birth, and the...
Details: After their initial meeting, Abraham graciously offered to feed the angels and wash their feet. Following the meal, they announce that his wife Sarah, long past child-bearing age, will soon have a son, fulfilling a promise God had made earlier to Abraham. The artist presents the moment of revelation,...
Details: The Chapel of the Holy Cross is a Roman Catholic chapel built into the buttes of Sedona, Arizona, run by the Diocese of Phoenix, as a part of St. John Vianney Parish in Sedona. The chapel was inspired and commissioned by local rancher and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude, who...
Details: This is an image from the play Lucifer. In this image, Lucifers followers are sorrowful because Gabriel has just announced that angels will be lower than humans. It is an influential and controversial work by Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679), the colossus of Dutch literature, regarded as a major...
Details: Dewing’s small, densely packed composition of four singing angels alludes to depictions of angels playing musical instruments found in 14th-century medieval manuscripts. Angels were traditionally shown playing stringed instruments, whose delicate tones were thought to lift the mind to spiritual matters. The harp, as depicted here, was the...
Details: The photo was taken from Colorado Hwy 7. The road on the right side of the photo leads to parking for a trail, parking for the chapel, and the former site of a retreat and conference center. The chapel is located on the grounds of the Saint Malo Retreat,...
Details: This is an image from Act V of the play Lucifer, wherein Michael speaks to Lucifer before he attempts to fight and overtake heaven. Upon his shield, till Michael comes before Him, clad in glittering armor, like a God Amid a ring of suns: "Cease, Lucifer I Give...
Details: This painting depicts the biblical story of the Supper at Emmaus, when the disguised, resurrected Christ suddenly reveals himself to two astonished disciples as they all sit down to dinner. The artist has painted the figures’ hands and the objects on the table meticulously, but leaves other details vague,...
Details: Mother of God Church, or Mutter Gottes Kirche, is a Catholic church located on 6th Street in the Mutter Gottes neighborhood of Covington, Kentucky, which was named for the church. Built between 1869 and 1871, the impressive Renaissance Revival-style church once was home to a large German-speaking congregation, and...
Details: This is an image from the play Lucifer. It is an influential and controversial work by Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679), the colossus of Dutch literature, regarded as a major influence on Milton’s Paradise Lost. In the story, Lucifer returns from Eden, his wings singed by the beauty...
Details: According to Roman Catholic theology, the Assumption is the movement of the Virgin Mary's body and soul into heaven. Thus the central figure of the Virgin dominates this scene of the Assumption, outstretching her arms and supported by two angels as she ascends into heaven. Below, saints...
Details: The Oxford Oratory Church of St Aloysius Gonzaga (or Oxford Oratory for short) is the Catholic parish church for the centre of Oxford, England. It is located at 25 Woodstock Road, next to Somerville College. The church is served by the Congregation of the Oratory. St Aloysius' was...
Details: This is an image from the play Lucifer. It is an influential and controversial work by Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679), the colossus of Dutch literature, regarded as a major influence on Milton’s Paradise Lost. In the story, Lucifer returns from Eden, his wings singed by the beauty...
Details: Although born into a wealthy merchant family, St. Francis (1181-1226) rejected all wordly goods, dedicating himself to chastity, humility, and selfless acts of kindness. By the time of his death, the order of friars he founded had expanded throughout Europe. In the summer of 1224, Francis visited a mountain...
0:00/1× Details: Throughout most of their history these alabaster mourners have evoked a sense of awe and mystery as well as curiosity and admiration. They were originally arranged in processional order around the sides of the ducal tomb within a marble arcade in the Chartreuse de Champmol. The...
Details: This is an image from the play Lucifer. It is an influential and controversial work by Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679), the colossus of Dutch literature, regarded as a major influence on Milton’s Paradise Lost. In the story, Lucifer returns from Eden, his wings singed by the beauty...
Details: Early devotional woodcuts are exceedingly rare today because, ironically, they were such a common part of fifteenth-century life. Available by the thousands from peddlers or monastics and at shrines and fairs, these images were carried around, tacked up for use as home altars, sewn into clothing, and prayed to...
Details: Images from the Canonization of Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II by Pope Francis and the Catholic Church. This event, attended by millions is amongst the most important in current history. The Pontifical Swiss Guard (also Papal Swiss Guard or simply Swiss Guard; Latin: Pontificia Cohors Helvetica;...
Details: This is an image from the play Lucifer. It is an influential and controversial work by Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679), the colossus of Dutch literature, regarded as a major influence on Milton’s Paradise Lost. In the story, Lucifer returns from Eden, his wings singed by the beauty...
