A-Level: Identity—The divine

videos + essays

Rubens's enormous altarpiece invites us to take part in the physical and emotional experience of Christ's elevation.

Demons as haunting as these could be a sign of delirium, or just another of Grünewald’s otherworldly creations.

Mantegna was fascinated by perspective. His radical foreshortening and realism focus attention on Christ’s wounds.

Greek gods battle Giants for supremacy of the universe, so deeply carved that they almost step out into our world.

This altarpiece lacks setting and symbols, but it’s hardly empty. Moving figures fill the space.

Divinity in stone, an early Buddha from Mathura.

This painting blends deep piety with scientific observation. Both its architecture and figures were radically new.

Holding on to pagan traditions in the early Christian era

Mary cries and falls into John’s arms. Rogier’s precise observations accentuate the emotional impact of this scene.

This exquisite example of a Goryeo Buddhist painting depicts the bodhisattva on his mountain-island abode.

The sculptor Martínez Montañés was the “God of Wood,” but it’s the painter Pacheco who brought this work to life.

This boyish bodhisattva reminds us that through humble bearing, we can spiritually blossom—like a lotus flower.