Unknown. Saint Macarius and a Cherub (13th century). Tempera on panel. 38.2 x 24.9 x 2.7 cm (15 1/16 x 9 13/16 x 1 1/16 in.). The Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt, SCA 391. Photography by Bruce M. White, 2005.
The greatest gift of the exhibition documented in this catalogue is exemplified by catalogue entry 44 (by Glenn Peers), a small panel of just two figures. The desert father Makarios stands to one side, straight and intensely decorous in the “angelic robe” of the monk, his right hand resting on his long beard, his left lightly raised. Beside him looms a seraph, its upswept wings echoing Makarios’s hood, its cherubic face intent. Gently, it takes...
