#jesus-portrait

#jesus-portrait

The journey begins at the Temple Mount, where Jesus is said to have taught daily and, according to the Book of Matthew 21:12-17, 'cleansed the temple' of merchants and money changers seven days before his death.

According to the Gospel of John, Roman soldiers broke the legs of the two men executed alongside Jesus to hasten their deaths. But when they came to Jesus, they did not break his legs because they saw he was already dead. This detail has long intrigued historians and doctors because crucifixion victims often survived for many hours, and sometimes days.

Berat is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its unique historic downtown characterized by 18th and 19th century Ottoman structures and urban design, but human presence in the area goes back to the 4th/3rd millennium B.C. and there is evidence of an urban settlement in Berat defined by defensive walls dating to the 7th-6th century B.C.

One tenet of classical idealism is the idea that Roman and Greek statuary embodied an ideal of pure whiteness-a misconception modern sculptors perpetuated for hundreds of years by making busts and statues in polished white marble. But the truth is that both Greek statues and their Roman counterparts were originally brightly painted in riotous color.

Unlike Rossetti's Pre-Raphaelite paintings of winsome maidens surrounded by flowers, the 1877 chalk portrait of his sister offers a flat, realistic impression. She wears an impenetrable expression and dull-colored clothing that blends into an unadorned background. The somber tone is the product of family tragedy: Christina remains in mourning following the death of her older sister Maria, a writer and Anglican nun, in 1876.

Fontana is a rare example of a woman Old Master, one of only a few who managed to attain career success on her own and was the first woman elected to the Academy of Saint Luke in Rome. This painting is one of the most ambitious from her early career. Reflecting visual references to Michelangelo-a departure from her usual reference to Correggio and Raphael-the vibrant hues and dramatic composition reflect prevailing Florentine trends of the late 16th century.

Picture Book of the Life of St John and the Apocalypse is a unique and visually striking example of the picture-book Apocalypse - a distinctive group of medieval manuscripts that present the apocalyptic visions of the Book of Revelation primarily through images. Centred on the visions of St John and often framed by episodes from his legendary life, these manuscripts transform the biblical text into a continuous pictorial narrative.

A conversation with Alicia Walker on the pseudo-Arabic inscriptions (or pseudo-kufic) that appear on a number of tenth- and eleventh-century churches in Greece, most notably at the monastery of Hosios Loukas. What did the Arabic script signify in Orthodox culture at the time if not tension with Islam? Alicia Walker is Professor of History of Art at Bryn Mawr College.

I was intrigued by the similarity between two paintings recently featured in the Guardian: the Ecce Homo as restored by Cecilia Gimenez (Cecilia Gimenez, famed for Monkey Christ' mural mishap, dies at 94, 30 December) and Tete de Femme by Pablo Picasso (1m Picasso portrait up for grabs for 100 in charity raffle, 31 December). Perhaps Cecilia's work is in need of a reappraisal. Steve Shearsmith Beverley, East Yorkshire

Renais­sance artist Albrecht Dür­er (1471-1528) nev­er saw a rhi­no him­self, but by rely­ing on eye­wit­ness descrip­tions of the one King Manuel I of Por­tu­gal intend­ed as a gift to the Pope, he man­aged to ren­der a fair­ly real­is­tic one, all things con­sid­ered.