How you can use this image
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, whose names are given in Greek, are shown reclining inside a cave where a basket of olives hangs from the roof. Jagged mountain peaks rise above the cave. Legend records that the Christian youths seeking refuge in a cave, from the persecution of the Emperor Decius in c.200 , fell asleep and were miraculously awakened over two hundred years later at the time of the Council of Ephesus (AD 431). This was a popular subject in Cretan icons from the fifteenth century onwards.
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
Oxford
Title
Icon of The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus
Date
16th C–17th C
Medium
oil on panel
Measurements
H 15.2 x W 13.2 cm
Accession number
AN1988.23
Acquisition method
Presented by Miss Rosemary Rendel in memory of her parents, Sir George and Lady Rendel, 1988
Work type
Painting
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
Beaumont Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 2PH England
This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.
View venue