Gospels of Luke and John, Period:Middle Byzantine, circa: Late 12th-early 13th century A.D. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.
Relief plaque icon, depicting the Crucifixion with full-length figures of the Virgin on the left and St John on the right, Late Byzantine (13 thc). Materials: Steatite – Gold.
Octagonal intaglio, Period: Late Byzantine; circa: 14thc. Made in: Constantinople. Dimensions: Height: 1.7 centimetre. Material: sard. British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year. Fast facts about the British Museum: Founded: 1753, Collection size: 8 million objects, Oldest object in the collection: Stone chopping tool (nearly 2 million years old).
The Entry into Jerusalem, Period: Late Byzantince circa: 13 th century. Place (created): Nicaea (Modern Iznik, Turkey, Anatolia). Dimensions: Leaf: 20.6 × 14.9 cm (8 1/8 × 5 7/8 in.). Materials: Tempera colors and gold leaf on parchment. The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and photography from its beginnings to the present, gathered internationally.
Constantine Xeros, Sebastos. Period: Late Byzantine, 12th.c. second half. Translation: May you, all-holy Virgin, be the keeper and seal of the correspondence of the sebastos Constantine Xeros. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.
Cameo; opaque red; Period: Late Byzantine circa: 13 thc. Materials: glass. Made in: Venice. The Crucifixion with St John and St Mary and inscription, in relief. British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year. Fast facts about the British Museum: Founded: 1753, Collection size: 8 million objects, Oldest object in the collection: Stone chopping tool (nearly 2 million years old).
Glass Cameo, Period: Late Byzantine; circa: 13th century A.D. Brick-red, opaque; on the front, the Crucifixion with, the Virgin at left, St John at right. Set in a metal frame. Diameter: 51 millimetres. British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year. Fast facts about the British Museum: Founded: 1753, Collection size: 8 million objects, Oldest object in the collection: Stone chopping tool (nearly 2 million years old).
Head of a Female Saint, Fresco transferred to panel, Period: Late Byzantine circa: 12th-14th centuries. The MFA is open 7 days a week. Monday and Tuesday 10 am–5 pm, Wednesday–Friday 10 am–10 pm, Saturday and Sunday 10 am–5 pm.
Icon, St John the Baptist. Period: Late Byzantine; circa: Early 14th century. Place: Byzantium, Athos. Technique: tempera on panel lined with canvas. Dimensions: 66x39x2,2 cm. The collection of the State Hermitage includes over 3 million works of art and world culture artefacts. It contains paintings, graphic works, sculptures, works of applied art, archaeological artefacts and numismatic objects. The Hermitage is considered to have been founded in 1764, when Empress Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of works from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. The museum celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year on 7 December, St. Catherine’s Day. Opening Hours: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday: 10.30-18.00 Wednesday, Friday: 10.30-21.00 Closed: Monday.
Saint Luke, Manuscript, Period: Late Byzantine circa: early 13th century. Place: Nicomedia (Modern Izmit, Anatolia, Turkey) Materials: Tempera colors and gold leaf on parchment. Dimensions: Leaf: 20.6 × 14.9 cm (8 1/8 × 5 7/8 in.) Museum Description: “Before the Gospel of Saint Luke, the illuminator placed a portrait of the evangelist. Seated in an elaborate throne with his book open on his knees, Luke writes his Gospel, his account of Jesus’ life and teachings. The tradition of including author portraits in manuscripts began in antiquity; by the thirteenth century, the inclusion of portraits of the evangelists in Gospel books had become quite common. ”
The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and photography from its beginnings to the present, gathered internationally.
The Annunciation, Manuscript. Period: Late Byzantine, circa: 13th century. Dimensions: Leaf: 20.6 × 14.9 cm (8 1/8 × 5 7/8 in.). Place: Nicaea, Medium: Tempera colors and gold leaf on parchment. (Modern Iznik, Turkey). The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and photography from its beginnings to the present, gathered internationally.
Cross with Pearls, Period: Late Byzantine, circa: 1200–1400. Materials: Gold and pearls. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 303. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.
The Agony in the Garden, Manuscript, Period: Late Byzantine; circa: 1200 to 1299 A.D. Place: Nicaea. (Modern Turkey) Material: Tempera colors and gold leaf on parchment bound between wood boards covered with light brown velvet. Dimensions: Leaf: 20.6 × 14.9 cm (8 1/8 × 5 7/8 in.)
Museum Description: “Placed within the Gospel of Matthew, the full-page miniature of the Agony in the Garden represents one of the more powerfully emotional moments in Jesus’ Passion. After the Passover meal, Jesus and his apostles retire to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus foretells Saint Peter’s betrayal. Jesus then asks his closest disciples to stay awake with him, but later, while he prays, the apostles fall asleep.
The artist represents Jesus twice in the miniature: once confronting Peter at the bottom of the image and then praying above. Jesus’ feelings of isolation and abandonment as he prays are expressed visually by his physical separation not only from the apostles but also from the angel shown behind him. Against the hilly landscape, the apostles huddle together in their sleep, their bodies forming a mound almost as large as the mountain itself. The crisp folds of their garments are made of embedded geometric forms that echo the shape of the rocks at the top of the mountain.“
The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and photography from its beginnings to the present, gathered internationally.
Four Icons from a Pair of Doors (Panels), possibly part of a Polyptych: John the Theologian and Prochoros, the Baptism (Epiphany), Harrowing of Hell (Anastasis), and Saint Nicholas. Period: Late Byzantine, early 15th century, Made in Crete, Materials: Tempera and gold on wood. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 303. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.
Saint Mark. Period: Late Byzantine circa: late 13th century. Place: Constantinople (Place created) Dimensions: Leaf: 21 × 14.9 cm (8 1/4 × 5 7/8 in.). Museum Description: “Saint Mark pauses, quill in hand, as he writes his account of the life of Christ. This portrait of the saint as author introduces his Gospel in a Greek manuscript of the late 1200s. An inscription in red on the gold leaf background identifies the saint by name. ” The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and photography from its beginnings to the present, gathered internationally.
Saint John the Evangelist Dictating, Manuscript, Period: Late Byzantine; circa: 1200 to 1225. Place: Nicomedia (Modern Izmit, Turkey) Materials: Tempera colors and gold leaf on parchment. Dimensions: Leaf: 20.6 × 14.9 cm (8 1/8 × 5 7/8 in.) The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and photography from its beginnings to the present, gathered internationally.
Fragment of an Icon of the Crucifixion with Mary Magdalen and the Virgin Mary. Material: Steatite. Period: 14th century, Late Byzantine. The Cleveland Art Museum Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Closed Mondays.
Benediction Cross, Period: Late Byzantine, circa: 1200s-1400s. Materials: black schist, gold, silver. The Cleveland Art Museum Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Closed Mondays.
Icon of Depicting Virgin Mary Thornousa, which was probably part of a wider composition depicting Extreme Humiliation or Crucifixion. Period: Late Byzantine; circa: The fourth quarter of the 14th century. The shape of the Virgin Mary, with the scattered hair and the deformed by pain characteristics, refers to the expressive, anti-classical flow of Byzantine painting.
Double-sided circular jewellery attachment. Christ Pantokrator is depicted on one side and the Virgin Orans on the other side. Period: Late Byzantine; circa: early 12th century. Dimensions: 0,026 m. The Benaki Museum of Greek Culture is housed in one of the most beautiful neoclassical-style buildings in Athens, near the National Garden and the Hellenic Parliament. It was converted into a museum in order to shelter the collections of Antonis Benakis and was donated to the Greek nation by himself and his three sisters, Alexandra, Penelope and Argine. Following its most recent refurbishment (1989–2000), the building houses a unique exhibition on Greek culture arranged diachronically from prehistory to the 20th century.