Virgin and Child Enthroned Between Saints and Angels: c. 560 AD; Encaustic on panel, 27 X 193/8." Monastery of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt.
The Virgin and Child Enthroned Between Saints and Angels is a late Roman mural painted in several style. Its connection to Graeco-Roman portraiture is clear not only form the use of encaustic, but also from the gradations of light and shade in the Virgin's face. Typical of early Christian iconography, the figures in this piece have unusually large heads, disproportionate to their bodies.