Deities and Holy Figures
Gods, saints, buddhas and other sacred beings as different religious traditions have given them form.
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Images of gods, saints, prophets and holy beings make the unseen present, and every tradition has rules about how. Judaism and Islam have generally avoided picturing God, while other faiths multiply forms and attributes. Ancient Egyptian sculptors gave Horus a falcon's head, and Chola bronze-casters in South India showed Shiva as Nataraja, dancing within a ring of flames, around the 11th century.
Buddhist art developed calm, codified figures, from the seated Buddha of Sarnath (5th century) to the vivid Kamakura sculptures of the Kei school, whose members included Unkei and Zen'en. Yoruba carvers made dance wands for Shango, the thunder god, topped with a double axe. In Christian Europe, Andrei Rublev's icon The Trinity (early 15th century) pursued stillness, while painters such as Bernardo Daddi and Giovanni Bellini surrounded the Virgin and saints with gold or soft Venetian light. Look for halos, attributes, hand gestures and gold grounds.
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