Likely produced in either Britain or Ireland, this Gospel book is best known for its illuminations and was named after the Abbey of Kells, where it was housed for many centuries. Because of its illuminations, it is often considered the pinnacle example of insular art — an artistic style from the post-Roman British Isles ("island" is insula in Latin)-which is characterized by intricate inter-weaving designs, vibrant colors, and large Celtic crosses.

The Bayeux Tapestry was made in England in the decade following the Battle of Hastings, which was part of the larger Norman Conquest of England spearheaded by William the Conqueror. Depictions of the battle were embroidered onto a cloth over 200 feet in length, which means that it is technically not a tapestry (since it is not woven), though the name stuck. While it was also made in England and not in Bayeux, France, the piece "rediscovered" at Bayeux Cathedral by art historians in the eighteenth century.

This work is one of the most significant tapestries created in Medieval Europe, the Bayeux Tapestry. The Bayeux Tapestry commemorates the invasion of England by William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and his eventual defeat of the English King Harold. Housed at Bayeux Cathedral in Normandy, a tapestry was able to show the full story of William's invasion and display it in a prominent place, due to its large scale and durability from being made of cloth.

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The Bayeux Tapestry depicts the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy, and his succession to becoming King of England. The panel shown here is one of the most significant elements, as it depicts the death of Harold II, then King of England. The Latin legend "Hic Haroldus Rex Interfectus Est," meaning "Here King Harold is killed," is placed above an image of a soldier being impaled in the eye with an arrow.

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The Lindisfarne Gospels are highly detailed, illuminated manuscripts that are highly representative of Hiberno-Saxon Art. Also known as Insular Art, from the Latin for "island," the style of Art flourished in the British Isles between the decline of Roman Britain in 410 to the Norman Conquest in 1066. The Lindisfarne Gospels were created at the monastery of Lindisfarne in the Northern England Kingdom of Northumbria around the year 700.

This work, known as The Justinian Panel, is placed on a wall inside the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, depicting the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. Although the work is in Italy and Justinian was known as "the last Roman" for his desire to reclaim the territory of the Roman Empire, this work is classically Byzantine in composition, style, and especially in its use of mosaic. Mosaic is a work of art which is composed of small pieces of glass or stone placed together to form larger images and was widely used in the late Roman and Byzantine empires in large scale works.

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The Justinian Panel, depicting Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, is one of many mosaics placed around the Basilica of San Vitale in Rome, and is one of two depicting royalty, with the other featuring Justinian's wife Theodora. The mosaic is in one of the great Byzantine churches in Italy, which reflects Justinian's two main aims as Emperor: regaining the lost territory of the Western Roman Empire and reinforcing Christianity in the Mediterranean world.

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The conversion of the Emperor Constantine in 312 CE at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge was a turning point for Christianity, as it began to move it from a persecuted religion to an official, state-sponsored one. The art of Christians before Constantine is little known today because of the widespread persecution, while most images of Jesus and the disciples only developed in the fourth and fifth centuries as Christianity became the Roman state religion.

The term "iconoclasm" in art generally refers to any attempts to ban religious imagery or iconography. In the Byzantine Empire, such a movement occurred in two separate waves, once in the eighth century and again in the early ninth century. This was particularly notable, as the Greek Orthodox Church had traditionally utilized icons in a variety of religious capacities.

During the baptism of Jesus, all four gospels of the New Testament describe the holy spirit coming down from the heavens as "a bodily shape, like a dove on him." Because of the uniform description, this symbol became inextricably linked to the holy spirit and was used frequently in medieval art.