Recently I run into some very nice examples of 12th century art on display in online museum collection. And not only 12th century art, I also found other nice pieces of medieval art from other centuries… 😀

Normally I just look through the photos and information and save what I find interesting to my hard disk for later inspiration and research. But I got to know that some of my gentle readers are not only interested into medieval embroidery but also into history and medieval art. Therefore I started collecting new interesting links as soon as I run into them to be able to share them with you.

…and what happened? The bookmark list of my browser is already getting awfully long. I think this is a really good reason to start sharing my interesting finds that I can shorten my bookmark list again. I even started a new category for this kind of postings: “Museum – Online Collections“.

For the very first posting for my new “Museum – Online Collections” category I decided to introduce you to a beautiful piece of 12th century art – a lovely fresco on online “display” at an museum in the USA. At the website of the Museum of fine Arts Boston I found this beautiful 12th century fresco in the online collection:

Christ in Majesty with Symbols of the Four Evangelists

< Link to the “Christ in Majesty…” >

This Spanish (Catalan) “fresco secco transferred to plaster and wood” is from the 12th century. The museum gives the information that this fresco is on display in the “Catalonian Chapel Gallery”. I took a look through the website of the Museum of fine Arts Boston but I couldn’t find this section. I also took a look at the online available floor maps of the museum – well, maybe I just overlooked this section.

Short preview on the information given by the museum:

This fresco is among the greatest twelfth-century European paintings in the United States. It once decorated the apse – the semicircular area behind the altar – of the small church of Santa Maria del Mur, in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees….

I respect the copyright of the museum and therefore don’t use any of the online photos here on my blog – I ask for your understanding concerning this decision. Please visit the museum page to see the photos: < Link to the “Christ in Majesty…” >

This museum collection page allows access to several pictures of this lovely fesco – you can find them underneath the main picture. If you would like to see any of this pictures in a bigger resolution, just click on the “Zoom” icon underneath the main picture field.

I especially like the last pictures. The photos of the first niche and the second niche – it really looks to me like they are wearing stripped stockings, aren’t they?! 😉
…and then the angel with the maunches (or very wide sleeves) and of the lady  – Maria/Mary – the last picture. Marys head is resting on a very lovely pillow and you can also see what I and some other 12th century enthusiasts call “Trapunto sleeves” – the white underdress sleeves with the very regular “stripes”.

If it also happens to you that a picture seems to be broken while you are looking at the pictures in the gallery viewer – it seems that they are still accessible and viewable through the “Zoom” button.

This fresco is lovely, isn’t it? I really love 12th century art. 😀