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Details: The Book of Tobit (/ˈtoʊbɪt/) is a 3rd or early 2nd century BCE Jewish work describing how God tests the faithful, responds to prayers, and protects the covenant community (i.e., the Israelites). It tells the story of two Israelite families, that of the blind Tobit in Nineveh and...
Details: This casket is a rare, if not unique example of high-quality woodcarving from Anglo-Saxon England. Decorated with scenes from Christ’s life, it was likely made for an ecclesiastical purpose and may have housed relics. On one long side, the Christ child rests in the manger. Above,...
Details: This engraving is part of the Tarocchi group marked with the letter “A”, and named Firmaments of the Universe. This series comprises the seven planets from the classical astronomy (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) and the three celestial spheres that separate them from the Supreme Entity (Prima...
Details: Cavallino worked in Naples where he was not well known during his lifetime, but was alert to the work of contemporaries whose innovations he transformed with extraordinary delicacy and charm. The adoration of the shepherds is a traditional subject, but here Cavallino shows it in a new light. The...
Details: This Tympanum (a decorative wall surface over an entrance) was commissioned by Petronilla of Lorraine, wife of Count Floris II of Holland for the Saint Benedictine monastery of Egmond. The piece contains 3 persons: in the middel stands Saint Peter. At the right is Petronilla and at the left...
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...
Details: This illuminated manuscript of the Four Gospels was created at a monastic center in northern Ethiopia. Twenty full-page paintings depict scenes from the life of Christ and four portraits of the evangelists introduce the respective Gospel texts. The New Testament was translated from Greek into Geez, the classical...
Details: This rare chasuble decorated with angels, musicians, pomegranates, and flowers represents Sacred and Profane Love. This is indicated by two figures—a clear-sighted figure embracing a blindfolded figure—standing on a globe in the upper center and also by the musicians. The angels play soft-sounding instruments (harpsichords,...
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...
Details: This panel once formed the left wing of an altarpiece originally located in a Cistercian convent in the German town of Fröndenberg. The Coronation of the Virgin was a common subject; though it is not based on a biblical text it often appeared in medieval books of hours as...
Details: This panel would have originally been part of a much larger window. It represents the crucified Christ at the moment of death on the cross. Christ is flanked by two angels, one of which collects blood in a chalice from the wound in his right hand, a symbol of...
Details: A cardinal (Latin: Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally "cardinal of the Holy Roman Church") is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church, immediately behind the pope in the order of precedence. Collectively, they constitute the College of Cardinals, and are appointed for life. Their...
Details: The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James) is a 2nd-century infancy gospel telling of the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary, her upbringing and marriage to Joseph, the journey of the holy couple to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, and events immediately following. Mary is presented...
Details: Shettihalli Church is located 2km from Shettihalli, Hassan, in Karnataka. Built in the 1860s by the French missionaries in India, the church is a magnificent structure of Gothic Architecture. After the construction of the Hemavati Dam and Reservoir in 1960 the church was abandoned. It has since then become...
Details: This illuminated manuscript of the Four Gospels was created at a monastic center in northern Ethiopia. Twenty full-page paintings depict scenes from the life of Christ and four portraits of the evangelists introduce the respective Gospel texts. The New Testament was translated from Greek into Geez, the classical...
Details: The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal enclave that is within the city of...
Details: Man of Sorrows, a biblical term, is paramount among the prefigurations of the Messiah identified by the Bible in the passages of Isaiah 53 (Servant songs) in the Hebrew Bible. It is also an iconic devotional image that shows Christ, usually naked above the waist, with the wounds of...
Details: Created under King Yohannes (1667–1682) or King Iyyasu I (1682–1706), this manuscript in the First Gonderine style—with bold outlines and a rich palette—includes 32 painted scenes narrating the miracles performed by the Virgin Mary, a series intended to guide weekly devotion. These codified “Miracles of...
Details: This ivory plaque represents a full-length figure of Christ flanked by bust-length portraits of the twelve apostles, six in a vertical column on each side. With his large eyes fixed on the beholder and his mouth slightly open, Christ seems about to speak to the apostles, charging...
Details: Lying on the ground with one arm outstretched, a beggar pleads for crumbs from a rich man's table while dogs lick his sores. This drawing is the second in a series of five preparatory studies Heinrich Aldegrever made for a set of engravings. The series illustrates the...
Details: Saint Anthony Preaching to the Fish (Italian: Predica di sant'Antonio ai pesci; literally, Sermon of Saint Anthony to the Fishes) is a 1580–1585 oil on canvas painting of Anthony of Padua by Paolo Veronese, now in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. Its original location is unknown,...
Details: An early Christian saint and martyr, Sebastian was condemned to death by the Roman emperor Diocletian. Bound to a tree and shot with arrows, he survived—only later to be martyred by beating. This figure embodies the blend of stylistic influences that characterized German sculpture in the early 1600s....
Details: The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of Mary, the Marymas. or the Birth of the Virgin Mary, refers to a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of Mary, mother of Jesus. The modern canon of scripture does not record Mary's birth. The earliest known...
Details: Created under King Yohannes (1667–1682) or King Iyyasu I (1682–1706), this manuscript in the First Gonderine style—with bold outlines and a rich palette—includes 32 painted scenes narrating the miracles performed by the Virgin Mary, a series intended to guide weekly devotion. These codified “Miracles of...
