Pilgrimage & devotion
Featured Artworks
The Assumption of the Virgin
Titian (1516–1518)
Titian’s The Assumption of the Virgin stages a three-tier ascent—apostles below, Mary rising on clouds, and God the Father above—fused by radiant light and Venetian <strong>colorito</strong>. Mary’s red and blue drapery, open <strong>orant</strong> hands, and the vortex of putti visualize grace lifting humanity toward the divine. The painting’s scale and kinetic design turned a doctrinal mystery into a public, liturgical drama for Venice. <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup>
The Great Wave off Kanagawa
Hokusai (ca. 1830–32)
The Great Wave off Kanagawa distills a universal drama: fragile laboring boats face a <strong>towering breaker</strong> while <strong>Mount Fuji</strong> sits small yet immovable. Hokusai wields <strong>Prussian blue</strong> to sculpt depth and cold inevitability, fusing ukiyo‑e elegance with Western perspective to stage nature’s power against human resolve <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[3]</sup>.