Saint Agnes,You will be responsible for finding out who that saint is, and finding a work of art (painting, sculpture, manuscript illumination, engraving, tapestry, etc.) of that saint. This may be a simple image of the saint him- or herself, or a narrati

Now that we are preparing to study art of the Early Christian world, we will be encountering a range of images of narrative stories from the Bible and stories about the lives of the holy people Christians call saints. For this assignment, you will write a short paper of approximately 750 words (3 double-spaced pages in a reasonably-sized font, such as Times New Roman 12 point), on an image of your patron saint.

Your patron saint may be a saint who shares your name, or whose feast day is your birthday. Alternatively, they may be the patron of a particular profession that interests you, or one of your favourite activities, or one whom people pray to in order to obtain relief from a problem or illness.

You will be responsible for finding out who that saint is, and finding a work of art (painting, sculpture, manuscript illumination, engraving, tapestry, etc.) of that saint. This may be a simple image of the saint him- or herself, or a narrative image illustrating a story from the saint’s life or miracles. Ideally, you will try to find an image that is a work of art from the period covered by this course (i.e., up to about 1300 CE).

Describe the way that artist has rendered the saint: what do they look like? What are the distinguishing characteristics of this saint, such as hairstyle (tonsure/beard), clothing (colour/type of garment), and attributes (objects that the saint is holding, or animals that accompany the saint)? If the artist is illustrating an episode from the saint’s life, what is it?

Please attach a copy of the image to your essay.

For this assignment, you may use reliable, scholarly, internet sources if you wish. The following may be helpful:

The Catholic Encyclopedia:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/

Catholic Saints:
http://catholic saints.info/

The Web Gallery of Art:
http://www.wga.hu/index1.html