Way of Beauty

Spanning the gap between the late medieval world and the so-called modern age, a phenomenon called the devotio moderna reshaped European religious sensibilities. A variety of pious interests characterize this loose movement, which strove to…

BY ELIZABETH LEV If the Virgin Mary is the most visually represented woman in history, then the Annunciation is the most favored scene from her life. Centuries of artists have fashioned images of this scene according to the spirituality of…

To commemorate the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s passing, the Vatican Museums have loaned one of the artist’s greatest paintings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Saint Jerome Praying in the Wilderness is on view in…

The glories of God have always inspired artists, and art is a powerful way of spreading his word. In earlier centuries, when many faithful couldn’t read and few understood Latin, paintings, sculptures, and stained glass windows brought the…