Image Details

Alfredo Dagli Orti/Art Resource, NY

TONGUES OF FIRE. This 10th- to 11th-century illuminated manuscript depicts the descent of the Holy Spirit as described in Acts 2:1–4: “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” The manuscript is currently held in the Biblioteca Queriniana, Brescia, Italy.