Details: The Virgin Mary holds the Christ Child on her right hip and stands upon a crescent moon, an allusion to the passage in Revelation 12 that describes Mary as "a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet." Christ grasps her exposed nipple as...
Details: This mourning figure was part of a sculptural tableau depicting the Entombment, the scriptural event when Jesus was laid to rest in a tomb. The mourners for this kind of scene usually included the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, two further Marys (of which the present sculpture was probably one)...
Details: This limestone statue shows the standing Virgin Mary cradling the Christ Child in her arms. It is carved nearly in the round and was once vividly painted. Christ is warmly swaddled to his mother's chest and holds the fingers of his right hand to his mouth; Mary...
Details: Intended for the private contemplation and devotion of its owner, this palm-size ivory diptych illustrates both the reward of salvation and the consequence of damnation. The left wing represents the Coronation of the Virgin. At the bottom a retinue of the saved souls, including a mendicant friar, a king,...
Details: This miniature bust houses the relics of an unknown bishop saint. The assumption that this was Saint Lambert and that the reliquary came from the treasury of the basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht cannot be proven. The small lion feet are later additions. 🙏🏽This image is in the...
Details: Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has its origins in the second century with St. Justin Martyr[1] and in the 7th century with Pope Gregory the Great[1]. It was further developed in the 11th century when pious Christians meditated on the Five Wounds of Christ[2]...
Details: The simple patterning of the drapery lends elegance to this figure of the Virgin, while her slightly slumped shoulders, forward tilt, and placid gaze might suggest both fatigue and acceptance of her new role as the mother of Jesus. Traces of the medieval painted decoration are preserved. The Virgin’...
Details: The legend of Saint Margaret, the Early Christian martyr also known as Marina, details the many painful ordeals she endured before her eventual death during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305). Having been swallowed by the devil in the guise of a dragon, the saint burst unharmed...
Details: The Statue of St. Longinus in St. Peter's Basilica is a marble sculpture by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, completed in 1638[1]. It is located in the north-eastern niche of the nave of St. Peter's Basilica[2][4], and was created to hold...
Details: The statue of Christ the Redeemer in Viçosa, Brazil is a large art deco style statue of Jesus Christ[1]. It is located in the small town of Viçosa, Minas Gerais and has recently usurped Rio de Janeiro's famed Christ the Redeemer statue as the tallest in...
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 Basilica...
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 the...
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...
