Evangelists Mark and Luke

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Intent on their work, Saints Mark and Luke pen extraordinary messages based in medieval theology rather than the text of their gospels. Mark links belief in the Resurrection of Jesus to the medieval legend that the lion breathes life into stillborn cubs three days after their birth. Saint Luke acknowledges that his task is divinely inspired. Both highly sculptural and delicately engraved, these figures likely come from the high altar of the abbey of Grandmont, near Limoges. When it was destroyed during the French Revolution, a few fine elements were spared, apparently by a local copper smelter.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art