William Tyndale.

(Tyndale is most usually portrayed by artists as being burnt at the stake or being strangled. This is because he was strangled first and then burned at the stake as a Christian Protestant Martyr. Most all of Tynale's English Bible translations survived and we know it today at the King James Bible.)

William Tyndale (sometimes spelled Tindall or Tyndall; pronounced /ˈtɪndəl/) (c. 1494 – 1536) was a 16th-century Protestant reformer and scholar who, influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther, translated considerable parts of the Bible into the Early Modern English of his day. While a number of partial and complete Old English translations had been made from the seventh century onward, and Middle English translations particularly during the 14th century, Tyndale's was the first English translation to draw directly from Hebrew and Greek texts, and the first to take advantage of the new medium of print, which allowed for its wide distribution. In 1535, Tyndale was arrested, jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde outside Brussels for over a year, tried for heresy and burned at the stake. He was strangled before his body was burnt.

Much of Tyndale's work eventually found its way into the King James Version (or "Authorised Version") of the Bible, published in 1611, which, as the work of 54 independent scholars revising the existing English versions, drew significantly on Tyndale's translations. The King James Version New Testament is 83.7 per cent Tyndale's work, with the KJV Old Testament 75.7 per cent Tyndale's.

Whereas John Wycliffe had earlier produced an English translation of the Bible from Latin, Tyndale was the first to translate from the original Greek language. This was only made possible after Erasmus made the Greek New Testament available in Europe.

William Tyndale depicted in art works:

• Statue of Bible Translator, William Tyndale
• Sculpture at Whitehall Extension of William Tyndale
• Stained Glass Image of Tyndale at the First Congregational Church of Greenwich
• A variety of old illustrations of William Tyndale at a website dedicated to his memory
• gettyimage of William Tyndale burning at the stake
• Old illustration from an English Bible of Tyndale being strangled
• Lovely old copy of an English Bible with Tyndale's portrait here
• Tyndale carved on the side of a cathedral
• Another popular stained glass image of Tyndale
• Red engraving of Tyndale from the Bible
• Book Cover of William Tyndale

The "Black Leonardo" George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver (January 1864 – January 5, 1943), was an American scientist, botanist, educator and inventor whose studies and teaching revolutionized agriculture in the Southern United States. The day and year of his birth are unknown; he is believed to have been born before slavery was abolished in Missouri in January 1864.

      Much of Carver's fame is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life. The most popular of his 44 practical bulletins for farmers contained 105 food recipes that used peanuts. He also created or disseminated about 100 products made from peanuts that were useful for the house and farm, including cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline, and nitroglycerin.
      In the Reconstruction South, an agricultural monoculture of cotton depleted the soil, and in the early 20th century the boll weevil destroyed much of the cotton crop. Carver's work on peanuts was intended to provide an alternative crop.
      In addition to his work on agricultural extension education for purposes of advocacy of sustainable agriculture and appreciation of plants and nature, Carver's important accomplishments also included improvement of racial relations, mentoring children, poetry, painting, and religion. He served as an example of the importance of hard work, a positive attitude, and a good education. His humility, humanitarianism, good nature, frugality, and rejection of economic materialism also have been admired widely.
      One of his most important roles was in undermining, through the fame of his achievements and many talents, the widespread stereotype of the time that the black race was intellectually inferior to the white race. In 1941, Time magazine dubbed him a "Black Leonardo", a reference to the Renaissance Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci. To commemorate his life and inventions, George Washington Carver Recognition Day is celebrated on January 5, the anniversary of Carver's death.

      Carver is often depicted with laboratory equipment or as a young slave in a wide variety of art medium.

Links to artworks of George Washington Carver:

• United States Postal Stamp honoring Dr. George Washington Carver
  
• National Monument of George Washington Carver in southwestern Missouri
  
• A poster and painting of George Washington Carver
  
• Armeda Jennings' drawing of George Washington Carver
  
• Monument of Carver in Phoenix, Arizona
  
• Illustrated book about G. W. Carver
  
• George Washington Carver sculpted by Elaine Bell
  
• Comic book images of Carver at Reconstruction Junction
  
• Illustrations of George Washington Carver by Charlene Potts
  
• Carver statue at the MO. Botanical Gardens

Decline Of Art.

(What Is Art? by creature comforts)

      As long as a family thought itself comfortably furnished with a chest or two, a wardrobe, a box-bedstead, a dozen earthenware pots of different sizes, and three or four vessels of pewter or copper, each one of these objects of utility might become a vehicle for a good deal of artistic thought. The piece would be handed down from mother to daughter, from father to son. At all events, it would be made with that possibility in mind. It was made to last, and in an artistic community it would be the object of a good deal of careful consideration as to its form and as to the little adornments that might be added to it. Now, however, when the poorest family requires two hundred utensils of one and another kind, and finds, moreover, that these utensils are furnished at an incredibly low price by great companies which make them by the thousand and force them upon the customer with favorable opportunities for immediate delivery and gradual payment, the possibility of having the common objects of life beautiful has gone. --Russell Sturgis, "Lubke's History of Art."

Legend or Legacy? History of "The Devil's Bible."

      According to legend the scribe was a monk who broke his monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled up alive. In order to forbear this harsh penalty he promised to create in one single night a book to glorify the monastery forever, including all human knowledge. Near midnight he became sure that he could not complete this task alone, so he made a special prayer, not addressed to God but to the fallen archangel Satan, asking him to help him finish the book in exchange for his soul. The devil completed the manuscript and the monk added the devil's picture out of gratitude for his aid.
      It is also speculated that the inscription of various exorcism spells is the monk trying to exorcise the devil out by himself. (Similar to monks who sinned, and were punished by having them write out the Bible by hand, as it was believed that God's goodness would be transferred to them by doing that.)
      Despite this legend, the Codex Gigas was not forbidden by the Inquisition, and was studied by many scholars.The codex was created in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice near Chrudim, which was destroyed during the 15th century. Records in the codex end in the year 1229. The codex was later pledged to the Cistercians Sedlec monastery and then bought by the Benedictine monastery in Břevnov. From 1477-1593 it was kept in the library of a monastery in Broumov until it was taken to Prague in 1594 to form a part of the collections of Rudolf II. During the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the entire collection was stolen by the Swedish army as plunder and now it is preserved at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm.
      The Codex includes the entire Latin Vulgate version of the Bible, except for the books of Acts and Revelation, which are from a pre-Vulgate version. Also included are Isidore of Seville's encyclopedia Etymologiae, Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, Cosmas of Prague's Chronicle of Bohemia, various tractates (from history, etymology and physiology), a calendar with necrologium, a list of brothers in Podlažice monastery, magic formulae and other local records. The entire document is written in Latin.
      The manuscript includes illuminations in red, blue, yellow, green and gold. Capital letters are elaborately illuminated, frequently across the entire page. The codex has a unified look as the nature of the writing is unchanged throughout, showing no signs of age, disease or mood on the part of the scribe. This may have led to the belief that the whole book was written in a very short time (see Legend). But scientists are starting to believe and research the theory that it took over 20 years to complete.
      Page 290, otherwise empty, includes a unique picture of the devil, about 50 cm tall. Several pages before this are written on a blackening vellum and have a very gloomy character, somewhat different from the rest of the codex. The reason for the different coloring is that when vellum is exposed to light it "tans", as vellum is made from animal skins, so over the centuries the pages that were exposed will have a darker color to them.

• Codex Gigas - National Library of Sweden.
  
• World Digital Library - High quality version of book at WDL
  
• National Geographic's "The Devil's Bible"

"The Lady with the Lamp" or Florence Nightingale.

      "The Lady with the Lamp," or Florence Nightingale an English philanthropist, was born, of wealthy parents, in May, 1820. She commenced in early life to ameliorate the condition of the poor around her, investigated the actual workings of reformatory institutions, schools, and hospitals in England and on the Dontinent, and in 1851 took up her abode at the institution of Protestant Sisters of Mercy at Kaiserswerth, on the Rhine. At the request of Lord Herbert, Secretary of War, Miss Nightingale undertook the orginization and direction of a band of lady-superintendents and nurses to serve in the hospital wards during the Crimean war. She performed her duties with rare devotion and ability, rendered inestimable services to the British soldiers, and saved a great number of lives. A sum of fifty thousand pounds having been raised by subscription as a testimonial for her services, it was devoted, at her especial request, to maintaining an institution for the training and employment of nurses. She has written several valuable works, among which is "Notes on Hospitals", of which about one hundred thousand copies were sold before 1883.

      Nightingale is most usually depicted in art in a hospital setting or holding a lamp or candle stick. We've linked to some sample art works of Florence Nightingale below.

Links to art works about Nightingale

• Florence Nightingale...the lady with the lamp
  
• In Scutari Florence Nightingale Attends to a patient
  
• Maintenance of Public Art- Cleaning Florence
  
• Cast Stone sculpture of Florence Nightingale
  
• Happy Birthday Florence Nightingale: Lady with lamp service revived
  
• Florence Nightingale Museum