BALTIMORE — "Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe" at the Walters Art Museum here is the most beautifully mysterious exhibition I've seen this season.
For similar reasons, I suspect, some may feel that the new exhibition at the British Museum, Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe, is not for them.
These are jewels with soul as well as beauty, a rewarding introduction to the early history of Christianity and the medieval mind".Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe" is at the British Museum, London, until October 9th.
For their creation the most rarefied of luxury arts -- gilding, enameling, gem carving -- at the highest level of craftsmanship were brought into play, all of which is abundantly evident in "TREASURES OF HEAVEN: SAINTS, RELICS AND DEVOTION IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE" at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Under the terms of the Waddesdon Bequest the reliquary cannot leave the museum; in 2011 it was omitted from the Cleveland and Baltimore legs of the exhibition Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe.
The reliquary was featured in the BBC's A History of the World in 100 Objects, in which Neil MacGregor described it as "without question one of the supreme achievements of medieval European metalwork", and was a highlight of the exhibition Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe at the British Museum from June 23 to October 2011.
It turned out to have been the studio for royal scribes with a taste for art and a devotion to the heavens as the source of calculations for the ancient culture's elaborate calendars.
In each, Shiva balances on his right leg while crooking his left up and across his body, communicating the sense of imminent motion -- be it a spin across the heavens or a tremor of devotion -- that animates all great Indian sculpture.
We feel that God will surely reward him in the eternal Elysium of musical Heaven for his constant and generous devotion to the world of art and music.
This prayer was passed directly from Jesus to his disciples as a way of expressing devotion to God in heaven.
