Details: Saint Ephigenia of Ethiopia or Iphigenia of Ethiopia, also called Iphigenia of Abyssinia, is a folk saint whose life is told in the Golden Legend as a virgin converted to Christianity and then consecrated to God by St. Matthew the Apostle, who was spreading the Gospel to the region...
Details: Kaleb, also known as Saint Elesbaan, was King of Aksum, which was situated in modern-day Eritrea and Northern Ethiopia. Kaleb invaded Yemen around 520, to overthrow Dhu Nuwas, a Jew who was persecuting the Christian community of Najran. After much fighting, Kaleb's soldiers eventually routed Yusuf'...
Details: Martin de Porres Velázquez (9 December 1579 – 3 November 1639) was a mixed-race Dominican Order lay brother from Peru who was beatified by Pope Gregory XVI in 1837 and canonized by Pope John XXIII in 1962. His father was Spanish and his mother was of Peruvian and African descent....
Details: This sculpture originally stood high on the choir screen of Strasbourg Cathedral. Its place of honor near the center was marked by a canopy with angels holding a crown over the Virgin’s head. A rosebush stood next to Mary and the now-missing Child, linking Mary with Isaiah’s...
Details: Benedict of Nursia is a Christian saint venerated in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Anglican Communion. He is the patron saint of Europe. Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco, Lazio, Italy, before moving to Monte Cassino in the mountains...
Details: This delicate ivory plaque may once have decorated a side of a portable altar. It likely depicts the angel of the Lord appearing to the priest Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, at the altar in the temple. Like the identity of the object in Zacharias’s hands,...
Details: This statue is made of gilded wood, mother-of-pearl, ebony, red silk, gold wire, seed pearls, rock crystal, pen and ink on paper. 🙏🏽This image is in the public domain. Free Download 1964.357.h_print.jpg 891 KB download-circle Please Subscribe or Donate to Help Keep This Site Free!...
Details: This monumental yet intimate image of the Virgin and Child was probably a gift of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1419), or his wife, Margaret of Bavaria (d. 1424), to the convent they founded dedicated to the Franciscan order of Poor Clares at Poligny. As court sculptor...
Details: Italian fifteenth-century marble reliefs of the madonna and Child were highly esteemed by New York collectors in the first half of the twentieth century, and many were given to the Museum. Of these, the Altman Madonna by Antonio Rossellino is arguably the finest. The strong composition, subtle carving, and...
Details: This work exemplifies the visual qualities for which Guatemalan sculpture is renowned, namely, the refinement of its carving and the brilliant color of its polychromy. The Calvary is the work of more than one artist, each skilled in a different aspect of its production. The sculptor or sculptors who...
Details: This work has been associated with Johann Pieter Wagner, one of the leading Austrian sculptors of the second half of the 18th century. Because of its small size, it was most likely either a model for a larger altarpiece or an object designed for private devotion. Gold serves as...
Details: The Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary, also known as Milan Cathedral, is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Archbishop Mario Delpini, and is dedicated to the Nativity of St Mary. The cathedral took nearly six...
Details: Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence is an early sculpture by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. It depicts the saint at the moment of his martyrdom, being burnt alive on a gridiron. According to Bernini's biographer, Filippo Baldinucci, the sculpture was completed when Bernini was 15 years old,...
Details: One of the masterpieces of Romanesque art, this altar cross with some ninety-two figures and ninety-eight inscriptions is the vehicle for a complex iconographic program that is unrivaled in Christian art. On one side, the stylized trunk of a tree is superimposed on the Cross, and the terminals present...
Details: In 1486, Isabel of Castile, patroness of the explorer Christopher Columbus, commissioned an elaborate alabaster tomb for her parents, Juan II of Castile and Isabel of Portugal. This star-shaped tomb, still standing in the center of the church of the Carthusian monastery of Miraflores, outside Burgos, was made between...
Details: Juan Martínez Montañés was one of the greatest spanish sculptors of the first half of the seventeenth century. Based in Seville, he carved numerous wooden statues and reliefs that were painted and integrated into large altar screens called retablos (English: retables) for churches in his native region or to...
Details: This rare devotional shrine manifests Christian belief in the miracle of the Incarnation, by which God took on human body and nature, uniting both human and divine in the person of Jesus. Closed, it is a statuette of the enthroned Virgin Mary nursing the infant Jesus. When opened, the...
Details: Meant to be seen from both front and back, this large Crucifix represents Jesus hanging on the Cross, but nonetheless triumphant over death: his eyes are wide open, and he wears the gold crown of the King of Heaven. Though the original church from which this image comes is...
Details: One of the most famous ivory carvings to survive from the tenth century, this plaque depicts Christ enthroned against an open worked checkerboard background. He is blessing a model of a church presented to him by Emperor Otto the Great (r. 962–973) and a host of saints including...
Details: This panel, most likely one of five narrative scenes representing the Passion of Christ, comes from a now dismembered altarpiece. The central panel was undoubtedly a scene of the Crucifixion. Such carvings in alabaster were frequently painted in vibrant colors with added gilding. The flesh areas of the figures...
Details: The St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Community has come a long way from its inception, from a small Mission in Litchfield Park to one of the largest parishes in the Diocese of Phoenix. St. Thomas Aquinas mission church was the first church in Litchfield Park. Originally, mass was celebrated in...
Details: This miniature altar is one of the most beautiful examples of French goldsmiths’ work from the period around 1400. It may have come from the abbey of Chocques (Pas-de-Calais) and doubtless belonged to someone associated with the Paris court. Seeing Christ’s tormented body, the owner could meditate on...
Details: This panel was once part of an altarpiece depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ. The other panels would have included The Ascension of Christ, all mounted within a wooden framework attached to the altar. The reliefs, made by Nottingham craftsmen, were popular in both England and continental Europe,...
Details: When Innocent X (ruled 1644-55) became pope, Alessandro Algardi endeavored to obtain his patronage. This bronze Baptism of Christ is a casting from the molds used for an original silver sculpture that Algardi presented to the new pope to gain his support. The composition depicts an important scene in...
