Byzantium, Constantinople / c. 1450
Icon of the New Testament Trinity
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Icon of the New Testament Trinity as painting (Byzantium, Constantinople · c. 1450).
More than just a breakfast food, eggs are used to make the tempera paint used in this painting.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this painting as Tempera and gold on wood panel (poplar).
The museum's collection notes: This icon depicts an important subject in Orthodox Christian art, the three corresponding figures of the single godhead known as the Holy Trinity. The Trinity is represented here in a composition known as the “New Testament Trinity,” which features Christ and God the Father seated on a bench with a dove representing the Holy Spirit between them. The central field is occupied by a large wooden throne with gold highlights on which Christ (left) and the Ancient of the Days (God the Father as Christ in old age) are seated. The Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, hovers within an eight-pointed star that signifies the eighth day, the future eon. On
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtIcon of the New Testament TrinityOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.