Details: Cofounders of the Society of Jesus, Saints Ignatius Loyola (1491–1556) and Francis Xavier (1506–1552) were canonized together in 1622. These two sculptures may well have been made to mark the hundredth anniversary of their canonization. Saint Ignatius is distinguished by his heartshaped face and the Latin motto...
Details: Edmonia Lewis developed her skills in Rome by copying classical sculptures. These copies would often be sold to American tourists, providing a much-needed source of income. The original sculpture of Moses by Michelangelo, completed around 1515, stands in the tomb of Pope Julius II in St. Peter’s...
Details: Tino da Camaino was an important and gifted sculptor who worked in Siena, Pisa, and Florence before being summoned to the Angevin court at Naples in 1323. He created a series of tomb sculptures there until his death in 1337. This pair of marble angels is thought to have...
Details: Götz covers every surface in gold leaf, giving each part of the object equal importance, rather than simply framing a central picture. In this distinctively Central European approach, figural narrative is subordinate to the overall ensemble. Götz designed this object to rest on top of an altar, probably in...
Details: There were many styles of sculpture throughout human history. Baroque sculpture, was one of the most popular styles. It followed Renaissance and Mannerist sculpture and was succeeded by Rococo and Neoclassical Sculpture. Rome was the earliest centre where the style was formed. The style spread to the rest of...
Details: This sculpture, along with that of Saint Lawrence (1959.42) and two others in Germany, are believed to be the remaining fragments of a large altarpiece carved by Riemenschneider for the Dominican convent in Rothenburg in Franconia (demolished in 1813). Saints Stephen and Lawrence both wear the dalmatic to...
Details: During the Counter-Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church increasingly upheld Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary’s mother, as an example of virtuous motherhood, particularly in emphasizing her daughter’s religious education. Its graceful composition also connects to the idealized, elegant work of Guido Reni. Source 🙏🏽This image is in...
Details: Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic, is bisected by the Vltava River. Nicknamed “the City of a Hundred Spires,” it's known for its Old Town Square, the heart of its historic core, with colorful baroque buildings, Gothic churches and the medieval Astronomical Clock, which gives an...
Details: Hagar is a biblical woman. According to the Book of Genesis, she was an Egyptian slave, a handmaiden of Sarah, whom Sarah gave to her own husband Abram as a wife to bear him a child. Abraham's firstborn son, through Hagar, Ishmael, became the progenitor of the...
Details: Eucharistic adoration is a Eucharistic devotional practice primarily in Western Catholicism in which the Blessed Sacrament is adored by the faithful. Wikipedia 🙏🏽This image is in the public domain. Free Download DSCF0982.jpeg 4 MB download-circle Please Subscribe or Donate to Help Keep This Site Free!...
Details: Andrea was the nephew and disciple of Luca della Robbia, who developed the blue and white glazes used on terracotta sculpture with which the name della Robbia is associated. By the time he made the Lehman Madonna, about 1470–75, Andrea had for some years been chiefly responsible for...
Details: With regal elegance and a tender face, this image of the Virgin constituted the upper portion of a standing or enthroned figure that would have been accompanied by the child Jesus. Artists working in clay would normally divide a large sculpture horizontally with a wire before firing to ensure...
Details: Erected in 1857, this monument commemorates the 1854 adoption of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. The monument has a square marble base, and incorporates an ancient Roman Corinthian Column that had been uncovered in 1777 during the construction of the Monastery of Santa Maria...
Details: This sculpture belongs to a tradition of seated Virgins that were prominent in Netherlandish art in the decades around 1400, and by extension may be associated with the Valois courts at Paris, Dijon, and Bourges. The theme of the Christ child who writes into an open book or onto...
Details: North Rhine-Westphalia commonly shortened to NRW, is a state in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the most populous state of Germany. Apart from the city-states, it is also the most densely populated state in Germany. Covering an area of 34,084 square...
Details: This kneeling angel may originally have served an ecclesiastical function on an altar in front of a tabernacle. The smooth and angular modeling of the flesh and drapery contrasts with the looser treatment of the wings, hair, and tree trunks. This pair of apparently unique casts are similar in...
Details: In 1964, Loretta Hines Howard generously gave the Met Museum over 140 Neapolitan crèche figures, dating from the second half of the eighteenth century. The varied assortment includes figures from the three traditional scenes of a complete Neapolitan presepio: the Nativity, with angels, shepherds, and sheep; the procession of...
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...
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’...
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...
