This week we take a closer look at #Acts of the Apostles 19. Norman Lewis was a 20th-century American artist and political activist who contributed to Abstract Expressionism. Click here to read about Lewis's painting 'Ritual': thevcs.org/search-authe...

The Psalter was the fundamental devotional text of the Middle Ages, and our exhibition of the week on Psalm 27 features three different ones. Click here to read the comparative commentary: thevcs.org/lord-my-ligh...

The Ormesby Psalter is the most sumptuous manuscript in this week's exhibition on #Psalm 27. In the historiated initial D, the prophet Samuel pours oil over the head of the kneeling David. Above, God descends from Heaven, carrying a blue shield emblazoned with a gold cross.

The initial in this illuminated psalter depicts David twice: In the top half, a tonsured cleric holds a lighted candle, extending his right hand towards the naked king. In the lower half, an angel defends the king against a group of armed men. thevcs.org/lord-my-ligh...

New from @thevcs.bsky.social - Bible and Art Daily will take you on a series of journeys through the world of Scripture and the history of art. Watch the exclusive preview by @benquash.bsky.social here: www.youtube.com/shorts/Mpy9w...

Our exhibition of the week on Psalm 27 features three medieval psalters. Psalters made in the Mosan region of the Netherlands expanded their response to the words of the #psalm with a typological image of Christ healing the blind man. Find out more: thevcs.org/lord-my-ligh...

I mentioned these Hogarth murals in my @thevcs.bsky.social Good Samaritan essay and almost included them in my The Parables after Jesus book. Glad they are now open to the public!

Today is St Francis of Assisi's feast day. In this panel by Sassetta, we see the young saint standing naked under a colonnade in front of his raging father, Pietro Bernardone. Bishop Guido of Assisi shields #Francis while imploring his enraged father to restrain himself.

Leviticus 16 follows with the priestly instructions for the Day of Atonement, better known as #YomKippur. In the same chapter we read about the scapegoat, famously painted by William Holman Hunt, but also depicted by James Tissot.

In this film, VCS Director @benquash.bsky.social interviews the legendary American composer Steve Reich. They discuss the profound role of the Bible in transforming both the subject matter and style of Reich’s music. Click here for this 'Creative Conversation': thevcs.org/creative-con...

Have you watched @benquash.bsky.social in conversation with Harmonia Rosales? Harmonia's roots in Yoruba culture have inspired her engagement with biblical stories and artistic traditions as conversation partners for her work. Click here to watch our film: thevcs.org/creative-con...

Our Exhibition of the Week is called 'Treasures in Heaven' and is on Matthew 13:44–52. It features a fifth-century Roman mosaic, a fourth-century mosaic in Aquileia, and an icon by Fr. Serafim Aldea. Click here to read the comparative commentary: thevcs.org/treasures-he...

“Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Matt. 13:52) St Thaney's story models ‘new things from old’ in another way. Read about this week's third work: thevcs.org/treasures-he...

To a modern eye, this detail from a 4th-c. mosaic seems to show angels catching fish. To an affluent ancient Roman viewer, it would probably recall seascapes that they had seen in luxury villas. Read about this mosaic in our exhibition of the week: thevcs.org/treasures-he...

This week's exhibition is on Matthew 13:44–52 and is called 'Treasures in Heaven'. We first take a look at this fifth-century mosaic in which the three Magi find the Christ child, seated on a throne, beneath the star that has guided them thus far: thevcs.org/treasures-he...

Happy #RoshHashanah! During the Jewish New Year festival pomegranates are traditionally eaten in hopes of prosperity and abundance in the year ahead. Read about Israeli painter Reuven Rubin's pomegranates in our exhibition on Psalm 72: thevcs.org/long-live-ki...

The third work in this week's exhibition is Rubens' interpretation of the meeting of David and Abigail. Abigail has dismounted from her donkey and is kneeling on the ground, pointing to the loaves of bread that the servants have brought with them. thevcs.org/abigail-wife...

Guido Reni paints David standing confrontationally in front of Abigail. This is a moment of spiritual realisation: David understands that YHWH has sent this woman to show him the path of justice, and to direct him away from the exacting of retribution. thevcs.org/abigail-wife...

This illumination in the so-called Crusader Bible is one of very few works to depict not only the encounter between David and Abigail, but also the subsequent events involving Nabal. Find out more in this week's exhibition, 'Abigail, Wife of Nabal': thevcs.org/abigail-wife...

Our Exhibition of the Week is called 'The Narrow Gate'. Written by artist Zara Worth, it features her own work 'Think of a door (temptation/redemption)', as well as works by Derek Hirst and Hélio Oiticica. Find out more by following the link: thevcs.org/narrow-gate#...

The installation 'PN1 Penetrável' by Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica is composed of narrow doors, echoing Matthew 7:13–14 and Luke 13:22–30. Click here to read about the third artwork in our exhibition of the week: thevcs.org/narrow-gate#...

Derek Hirst’s golden door, 'Puerta Grande De Oro', is beguiling and evasive. In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is similarly evasive when asked in the course of his teaching who will gain entry to the kingdom. Read about this work in our exhibition 'The Narrow Gate': thevcs.org/narrow-gate#...

Is your phone a portal to paradise, or eternal torment?⁣ ⁣ Artist Zara Worth explores this and similar questions in her work, 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳, and in our exhibition of the week, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘎𝘢𝘵𝘦: thevcs.org/narrow-gate#...

Our Exhibition of the Week is called 'Balaam and the Ass' and is on Numbers 22:1–35. It features a manuscript by Rudolf von Ems, and paintings by Miss Lassie and Rembrandt. Read Bridget Nichols' comparative commentary: thevcs.org/balaam-and-a...

In our third work of art this week, #Rembrandt’s treatment of Balaam has elements of sheer comic hyperbole. He has exploited the motif of sight to the full: the professional seer does not see the angel, yet the female animal does. Find out more here: thevcs.org/balaam-and-a...

Gladwyn K. Bush, nicknamed ‘Miss Lassie’, was a fourth generation Cayman Islander. Self-taught, she began to paint at the age of 62 and had a prolific career. Today, we look at her highly-original treatment of this week's subject, 'Balaam and the Ass': thevcs.org/balaam-and-a...

The three central figures from Numbers 22:1–35—Balaam, the ass, and the angel—appear in this manuscript version of the Austrian poet Rudolf von Ems’s compilation of salvific events in world history. Read about it in our exhibition of the week, 'Balaam and the Ass': thevcs.org/balaam-and-a...

This week's exhibition is called 'Lament of the Hen' and is on Matthew 23:37–39 and Luke 13:31–35. It features Bach's Saint Matthew Passion, a painting by Frans Floris, and a drawing by Lucas Cranach the Younger. For the comparative commentary, click here: thevcs.org/lament-hen#l...

Cranach's drawing recalls a prominent subject of Catholic piety: the Virgin of Mercy who with her mantle promised intercession and has been associated with the mother hen from Scripture. Read about the third object in this week's exhibition: thevcs.org/lament-hen#h...

Frans Floris employs a highly-unusual iconography. Many sources have been connected with this painting, including a sermon by #Luther urging to seek protection ‘under the wings and shoulders of Christ’. Read about it in this week's exhibition: thevcs.org/lament-hen#w...

Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion is a rare piece of non-visual art on the VCS. Read about it in light of Matthew 23:37–39 in our exhibition of the week, 'Lament of the Hen': thevcs.org/lament-hen#l...

Our Exhibition of the Week is called 'The Woman with Nard' and looks at Mary Magdalene in Matthew 26:6–13, Mark 14:3–9, and John 12:1–8. It features a thirteenth-century French manuscript, a painting by El Greco, and an illumination by Jean Fouquet: thevcs.org/woman-with-n...

Mary #Magdalene appears twice on this page from 'Les Heures d'Etienne Chevalier', illuminated by Jean Fouquet. At the top, her prostration at the Feast in the House of Simon leaves little doubt that her act of anointing Jesus is to be read as an expression of repentance.

Few artists feature in more VCS exhibitions than El Greco. In this week's exhibition we look at the artist's 'Feast in the House of Simon', continuing a closer look at Mary #Magdalene: thevcs.org/woman-with-n...

Standing behind Jesus, one of two female figures in this manuscript illumination towers over all the men. She holds the bottom of a jar with two hands, pouring oil on Jesus's head.

Our Exhibition of the Week is called 'Nineveh Relents' and is on #Jonah 3. It features an Eritrean painting by an Ethiopian priest, a medieval Italian relief, and Behnam Keryo’s calligraphy. Click here to read the comparative commentary: thevcs.org/nineveh-rele... #CofEPeeps #narthex

Behnam Keryo’s #calligraphy uses Aramaic words, the language of Nineveh—Keryo’s homeland, and it recounts Jonah's preaching. The calligraphy forms six free-standing circles, as if they are ripples—but do they ripple inward, or outward? Find out more: thevcs.org/nineveh-rele...

This relief from Sessa Aurunca Cathedral possibly depicts Jonah preaching against the city of Nineveh, although its subject might be Jonah arguing with God on account of the city. Find out more in our exhibition of the week, 'Nineveh Relents': thevcs.org/nineveh-rele...

In this Eritrean painting from the 1940s, by an Ethiopian priest whose name is not known, Jonah slides out of the mouth of the fish. Find out more in our exhibition on Jonah 3, 'Nineveh Relents': thevcs.org/nineveh-rele...

This icon from early 17th-century Russia is of the rare and enigmatic ‘You Are a Priest Forever’ type, its name taken from #Hebrews 7:17. Find out more about the third and final object in our exhibition of the week, 'After the Order of Melchizedek': thevcs.org/after-order-...

Our exhibition of the week is called 'After the Order of Melchizedek' and looks at #Hebrews 7–8. Alexander Ponekhalsky was born in present-day Ukraine and settled among the Romanians of Maramureș in the Carpathians, becoming one of the most renowned artists in the region.

I hadn't come across this icon before (thanks @thevcs.bsky.social) but it's quite awesome and my new favourite. thevcs.org/after-order-... ⚓

I was delighted to be invited to contribute a commentary to @thevcs.bsky.social. Read it here: thevcs.org/peters-mothe... #arthistory #history #exvotos #votives

Our Exhibition of the Week is called 'Trial by Water' and is on #Numbers 5. It features a painting by Richard McBee, an Ethiopian Manuscript, and a work by Andi Arnovitz. Click here to read Maryanne Saunders' commentary: thevcs.org/trial-water#...

American-Israeli artist Andi Arnovitz created 'The Dress of the Unfaithful Wife' in 2009 from the key components of the Sotah ritual: hair, dirt, Hebrew letters, and paper. Find out more in our exhibition on #Numbers 5, 'Trial by Water': thevcs.org/trial-water#...

An apocryphal tradition recounts Mary being given the ‘bitter waters’ of #Numbers 5 after her pregnancy becomes apparent. A rare depiction can be found in this manuscript made by the Ethiopian Amhara peoples in the late 14th to early 15th centuries: thevcs.org/trial-water#... #CofEPeeps #narthex

In this week's exhibition we consider the unusual Sotah ritual, or the ‘ordeal of the bitter water’, found in Numbers 5. ‘Sotah’ is the rabbinic term for a (suspected) disloyal wife. The first work, 'Sotah Drinks', is a painting by Richard McBee: thevcs.org/trial-water#... #CofEPeeps #narthex

Anna Gannon writes about her namesake '... mediating past and present, and boldly and unequivocally recognizing and indicating Jesus as the transformative Redeemer.' Our Exhibition of the Week is called 'The Prophet Anna': thevcs.org/prophet-anna...

Is this Rembrandt's mom?⁣ ⁣ The painting's current label in the Rijksmuseum, 𝘖𝘭𝘥 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘈𝘯𝘯𝘢, is rather more tentative.⁣ Find out more in our exhibition on Luke 2:36–38,⁣ 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘵 𝘈𝘯𝘯𝘢, by clicking on the link: thevcs.org/prophet-anna...