Writing on a long scroll, the youthful saint records divinely inspired revelations. Due to his youthfulness, he probably represents Saint John, who, in addition to his own Gospel, was believed to have written the Apocalypse (Book of Revelation) while living in exile on the Greek Island of Patmos.
Oak wall statue of the risen Christ. It is 69.2 cm (27 1/4 in.) tall.
Represented as Queen of Heaven, the Virgin holds a playful Christ Child who, in turn, has caught a bird in flight. The bird symbolizes the soul and its resurrection. The bird nourishes itself on the blood of Christ, an act that refers to the Eucharist.
The Catalan sculptor, architect, and painter Guillem Seguer was active in the diocese of Lleida and elsewhere in the mid-1300s. This limestone statue with polychromy and gilding measures 132.7 x 41.6 x 32.1 cm (52 1/4 x 16 3/8 x 12 5/8 in.).
Limestone statue with traces of polychromy, made in Troyes, France. It measures 75.9 x 43.8 x 30.5 cm (29 7/8 x 17 1/4 x 12 in.).
Limestone relief statue with traces of polychromy and gilding, made in Lorraine, France. It measures 69.9 x 54.6 x 27.3 cm (27 1/2 x 21 1/2 x 10 3/4 in.).
Glazed terracotta. Dimensions: 67 × 44.5 cm (26 3/8 × 17 1/2 in.)
This triptych features scenes from the infancy and Passion of Christ, arranged in a chronological sequence from left to right, starting at the bottom with the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Presentation in the Temple.
Painted wood and terracotta with various textiles.
French stone statue of the Virgin and Child from the 15th century, about 141.6 cm (55 3/4 in.) tall.
English alabaster carving of the Coronation of the Virgin with polychromy and gilding, made in England in the 15th century. It measures 40 x 27.3 cm.
The close similarity of this fragment to the image of Christ with angels on the Ascension ivory (17.190.46) suggests that ivory carvers carved the same image for more than one patron.
Saint Bridget of Sweden (ca. 1303–1373) is shown in the act of writing her “Revelations,” which, according to legend, were dictated to her by Christ himself. Shown in the monastic habit of the order she founded, Saint Saviour of the Brigittines, she was especially popular in Northern Europe. Free...
The angular drapery of the loincloth, the facial expression, and the linear treatment of the hair and beard of Christ suggest the sculptor was a follower of the Rimini Master. src: metmuseum.org Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.crucifix.jpg411 KBdownload-circle Please SUBSCRIBE or DONATE to...
The penitent Magdalen at the base of a now-lost crucifix was the focus of a carved altarpiece. Depictions of Mary Magdalen as a solitary figure before the cross first appeared in Italian painting of the twelfth century. src: metmuseum.org Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.mary-...
This profile image of a bishop, carved in the dark limestone characteristic of the South Lowlands, is a fragment of a larger funerary relief. Although isolated from its original context, the sculpture still conveys the solemnity of the memorial monument. The image was carved at about the time when the...
Medieval reliquaries often took the form of the body parts they were created to contain. Bust reliquaries for the skulls of saints were placed on or near altars and, by the late Middle Ages, were assembled in large numbers in some church sanctuaries, from Cologne in the north to Ubeda...
Reliquary bust of a female saint by a South Netherlandish artist, made in the early 16th century.
Piety in the late Middle Ages encouraged the believer's intense emotional empathy in the suffering of Christ. Here, stone is transformed into flesh by the actual wood thorns piercing the forehead. The capacity for sculptural naturalism developed in Burgundy by Claus Sluter (ca. 1360–before 1406) and Niclaus...
Miniature cradles for the Christ Child were popular devotional objects in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and were venerated, especially in convents, where they were often presented to women taking their vows. This splendid cradle comes from the Grand Béguinage of Louvain, Belgium, established for lay women in the twelfth...
The coats of arms of the donors, Pons de Gontaut and his brother Armand, in whose family funerary chapel this sculpture and the Pietà opposite originally stood, were held by the angels. The donors are represented in the Pietà. Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.entombment-of-christ....
Saint Catherine, depicted in the delicately jeweled statuette, was seen to embody the power of Christian erudition. According to legend, Saint Catherine's learned arguments on behalf of Christianity converted not only the court philosophers of the pagan emperor Maxentius, but 200 guardian soldiers and the ruler's...
Ponsonelli presents a vision of the Virgin Mary floating on clouds, one foot placed firmly on the crescent moon, the other on a dragon (symbol of the devil). The iconography represents the Immaculate Madonna, referring to the Catholic doctrine that Mary was born without sin, like her son Jesus. Ponsonelli...
The lifeless body of Jesus Christ, taken off the cross after his crucifixion, rests in his mother Mary’s lap. John the Evangelist holds his head. Mary Magdalene, with an ointment jar, looks at his feet—according to the Gospel of Saint John, she had once anointed Jesus’s feet...
