Eike Schmidt, who has led the museum since 2015, said that “devotional art was not born as a work of art but for a religious purpose.”
religious art
Posted inArt
The Last Tourist in Assisi
A writer reflects on Giotto, St. Francis, and what it means to have faith amid a pandemic.
Posted inNews
Crucified Stormtrooper Sculpture Removed from Historic London Church After Complaints
The sculpture featuring one of the iconic Star Wars henchmen was part of a charity auction exhibition at St. Stephen Walbrook.
Posted inArt
After Surviving a Fire, St. John the Divine’s 17th-Century Tapestries Return
After a catastrophic 2001 fire, the 17th-century Barberini tapestries have returned to view at Manhattan’s Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.
Posted inArt
The Vivid Violence and Divine Healing of Ex-Voto Paintings
The ex-voto painting is a Catholic folk art tradition depicting individual misfortunes that were mollified by divine intervention.
Posted inArt
Divination, Geomancy, and the Supernatural in Islamic Art
Over 100 rare objects from the 12th to 20th centuries are used to explore the role of the supernatural in Islamic art at the Ashmoleon Museum in Oxford.
Posted inArt
How Anamorphic Paintings Represented the Miracles of the Saints
Which saint you see in this 17th-century painting depends on where you stand.
Posted inArt
Two Exhibitions Showcase the Bloody Relics of Hermann Nitsch’s Rituals
Viewers may have seen similar Nitsch installations before, but it is important to re-experience his work, much of which has been long misunderstood by an art world dominated by political theory and formalism.
Posted inArt
An Altarpiece in Guatemala Gets a New Life
ANTIGUA, Guatemala — The Cathedral of San Francisco in the colonial town of Antigua, Guatemala, was first built by the Spanish in the 16th century, but it’s as alive today as a center of worship as it ever was.
Posted inArt
The Gore and Agony of New Baroque Sculptures at the Met
Baroque Spanish sculpture was long considered gaudy and secondary to the paintings of the same era but that is changing.
Posted inArt
Light up a Lithophane, Reveal a Hidden 19th-Century Image
Imperceptible in the light, only when illuminated by flame in the dark is a 19th-century lithophane image revealed.
Posted inArt
A Visit to an Overlooked Folk Art Cave of Crystals
MEMPHIS — Secreted in a cemetery in Memphis is a meditative work of 1930s folk art, a man-made cave created from five tons of quartz crystal and a unique process of turning concrete to wood.