#religious art

Art History 101

Byzantine Icons: Everything You Need to Know

Byzantine icons are more of a prayer object than anything else. Though likened to idolatry, the icons mean more than what can be confined by that...

Rachel Witte 20 December 2023

Art History 101

Divine Portrayals: Pantocrator Christ Depictions

When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, the word Almighty was rendered Pantocrator, from the Greek words pas (all) and kratos (might,...

Ledys Chemin 20 December 2023

Muisca Raft, ca 600-1600, gold, Museo del Oro, Bogotá, Colombia. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Muisca Raft

The Muisca Raft is a masterpiece of Pre-Columbian art. It was created by the Muisca people who lived in a region of today’s Colombia. Muisca...

James W Singer 14 December 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Venerable Celestial Bodhiruma

Imperial Chinese art has a long history stretching through many dynasties and many centuries. Many social, political, and economic factors have...

James W Singer 8 December 2023

Art History 101

The Art of Mandala – An Artistic Road Towards Enlightenment

The art of the mandala is like a secret language of the soul. It represents both a map of the cosmos and the soul’s progress through meditation...

Marina Kochetkova 8 December 2023

Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, ca 1766-1833, lacquered gilt wood, Vietnam, Musée Guimet, Paris, France. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara

Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara was donated to the Musée Guimet in Paris, France, in 1889 by French archeologist Gustave Dumoutier. It represents the...

James W Singer 7 December 2023

Striding Lion, 604-562 BCE, glazed clay bricks, Processional Way, Babylon, Iraq, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Striding Lion from the Ishtar Gate

Striding Lion is a masterpiece of Mesopotamian art with monumental size and composition. It symbolizes the strength of King Nebuchadnezzar II and the...

James W Singer 5 December 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Judgement Scene from Book of the Dead of Hunefer

Death continues to be one of the greatest fears of human society. Since the dawn of recorded history through the centuries of plague, pestilence, and...

James W Singer 3 December 2023

Chambri People, Ancestor Mask, early 20th century, wood and natural pigments, Ceremonial House, Chambri Lake Village, Papua New Guinea, Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Chambri People’s Ancestor Mask

Ancestor Mask is a masterpiece of Papua New Guinean art. It symbolizes a vanishing tribal lifestyle rarely seen outside of...

James W Singer 30 November 2023

Jean Bondol and Nicholas Bataille, The Apocalypse Tapestry, 1377-1382 Medieval Art

Biblical Tale in Threads: The Apocalypse Tapestry

Tapestry, a delicate medium, is perfect for an elusive apocalypse narrative. This narrative becomes substantiated through the Book of Revelation, in...

Anna Ingram 16 November 2023

Literature

Most Beautiful Qurans You Must See

Three monotheistic religions are the so-called “religions of the book”. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all refer back to a spoken, and...

Magda Michalska 13 November 2023

Painting

Theosophy and Art: There Is No Religion Higher Than Truth

 “There is no religion higher than truth”, reads the motto of the American Theosophical Society, functioning since its foundation in New...

Magda Michalska 26 October 2023