On August 15th Roman Catholic Church celebrates feast of Assumption of Virgin Mary, as Jesus’ mother was supposed to be taken to Heaven at the end of her earthly life: her body and soul together. It should be noted though that the dogma about Assumption was officially announced by the…
Saint Christopher is one of the most popular patrons; of course, everybody knows a Chris. Interestingly, it is a purely legendary saint; it even seems that his name derived from his legend. Christóforos means “Christ-bearer”, and that is how St. Christopher was depicted: as a man holding Christ-Child on his arm…
Most of the holy martyrs have been depicted as holding attributes related to their martyrdom. Many of them ended up beheaded, and one of the best known examples would be St. Denis. His attribute is quite peculiar: it is his own head. He is a cephalophore, that is a saint…
In 2016 the Bowes Museum (Barnard Castle, County Durham, UK) acquired an early-Netherlandish painting of St. Luke drawing the Virgin and Child. It is attributed to the workshop of Dirk Bouts, one of the most important Netherlandish painters of the 15th century. It was probably not completed by the Master…
Some time ago I wrote o post on several animals described in medieval bestiaries (available HERE), and now I would like to get back to that subject. Today I will focus on one particular beast: a unicorn. A unicorn was a mythical creature quite often depicted in medieval art. It…