Sunday, October 13, 2013

Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Byzantine Art)

This is a piece of Byzantine art called Our Lady of Perpetual Help. This piece depicts Mary (Mother of Jesus) sheltering a frightened young Jesus, who must have been running so fast, that his sandal is coming off. We then see the Archangels Michael and Gabriel on either side. I recognize this piece as Byzantine art because of the way Jesus' head is. In this time period, artists had not yet learned how to draw babies, or young children, so instead of looking like an actual baby, Jesus looked like a little man.