Tree of the knowledge of good and evilIn Judaism and Christianity, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (ʿêṣ had-daʿaṯ ṭōḇ wā-rāʿ, ʕesʕ hadaʕaθ tʕov wɔrɔʕ) is one of two specific trees in the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2–3, along with the tree of life. Alternatively, some scholars have argued that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is just another name for the tree of life. Genesis 2 narrates that God places the man, Adam, in a garden with trees of whose fruits he may eat, but forbids him to eat from "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
MasaccioMasaccio (UKmæˈsætʃioʊ, USməˈsɑːtʃioʊ,_məˈzɑːtʃ(i)oʊ, maˈzattʃo; December 21, 1401 – summer 1428), born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was a Florentine artist who is regarded as the first great Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasari, Masaccio was the best painter of his generation because of his skill at imitating nature, recreating lifelike figures and movements as well as a convincing sense of three-dimensionality. He employed nudes and foreshortenings in his figures.
EstherEsther (originally Hadassah) is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In it, Ahasuerus, the king of the Achaemenid Empire, seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Esther is chosen to fulfill this role due to her beauty. Ahasuerus' grand vizier, Haman, is offended by Esther's cousin and guardian, Mordecai, due to his refusal to prostrate himself before Haman. Consequently, Haman plots to have all the Jewish subjects of Persia killed, and convinces Ahasuerus to permit him to do so.
Sandro BotticelliAlessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (1445 – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli (ˌboʊtiˈtʃɛli, , ˈsandro bottiˈtʃɛlli) or simply Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century, when he was rediscovered by the Pre-Raphaelites who stimulated a reappraisal of his work. Since then, his paintings have been seen to represent the linear grace of late Italian Gothic and some Early Renaissance painting, even though they date from the latter half of the Italian Renaissance period.
MuralA mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. The word mural is a Spanish adjective that is used to refer to what is attached to a wall. The term mural later became a noun. In art, the word mural began to be used at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1906, Dr. Atl issued a manifesto calling for the development of a monumental public art movement in Mexico; he named it in Spanish pintura mural (English: wall painting).
HamanHaman (הָמָן ; also known as Haman the Agagite) is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who according to the Hebrew Bible was an official in the court of the Persian empire under King Ahasuerus, commonly identified as Xerxes I (died 465 BCE) but traditionally equated with Artaxerxes I or Artaxerxes II. As his epithet Agagite indicates, Haman was a descendant of Agag, the king of the Amalekites. Some commentators interpret this descent to be symbolic, due to his similar personality.
Daniel (biblical figure)Daniel (Aramaic and דָּנִיֵּאל; Δανιήλ; دانيال) is the main character of the Book of Daniel. According to the Hebrew Bible, Daniel was a noble Jewish youth of Jerusalem taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, serving the king and his successors with loyalty and ability until the time of the Persian conqueror Cyrus, all the while remaining true to the God of Israel.
The School of AthensThe School of Athens (Scuola di Atene) is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. The fresco was painted between 1509 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. It depicts a congregation of philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists from Ancient Greece, including Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Archimedes, and Heraclitus. The Italian artists Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo are also featured in the painting, shown as Plato and Heraclitus respectively.
PinturicchioPinturicchio, or Pintoricchio (USˌpɪntəˈriːkioʊ, pintuˈrikkjo; born Bernardino di Betto; 1454–1513), also known as Benetto di Biagio or Sordicchio, was an Italian painter during the Renaissance. He acquired his nickname (meaning "little painter") because of his small stature and he used it to sign some of his artworks that were created during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Pinturicchio was born the son of Benedetto or Betto di Biagio, in Perugia.
San Pietro in VincoliSan Pietro in Vincoli (sam ˈpjɛːtro iɱ ˈviŋkoli; Saint Peter in Chains) is a Roman Catholic titular church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy, best known for being the home of Michelangelo's statue of Moses, part of the tomb of Pope Julius II. The Titulus S. Petri ad vincula was assigned on 20 November 2010, to Donald Wuerl. The previous Cardinal Priest of the basilica was Pío Laghi, who died on 11 January 2009. Next to the church is hosted the Faculty of Engineering of La Sapienza University, in the former associated convent.
