The Middle Ages, contrary to its name, was a dynamic time of innovation. During this period, the visual arts were employed to communicate important messages to the public and wealthy private patrons. Various means were used to spread ideas. Although the sense of decorum has changed, the purpose of these moralizing images of religious figures has remained the same. Art was, and still is, an extremely useful and powerful tool for both religious and political progress. The two passages to be considered in this article were created using scenes from the life of Christ. Themes from the Old and New Testaments were often used in the art of the Middle Ages to convey important messages to a largely illiterate population, show the wealth of a few individuals, and create feelings of patriotism and support for the monarch by linking them to divinity. Both pieces come from different mediums and probably different forms of patronage. This contribution analyzes an illuminated manuscript page (fig 1) and an ivory diptych (fig 2). There are many similarities, as well as differences in all works. I will describe each piece and then continue to compare and contrast them, this will serve to facilitate a greater understanding of the Middle Ages through works of art. The illuminated manuscript page (fig 1) was a popular art form throughout the Middle Ages. Illuminated manuscripts, ornate manuscript pages executed on an animal skin called parchment, were popular throughout the Middle Ages. Most of these surviving colored pages were produced during the Romanesque era, at the request of the clergy and emperors. Done on parchment, an animal skin with ink. Charlemagne, probably the most important emperor of the Carolingian dynasty......middle of paper......eaten in different eras, the style as well as the means still possess many similarities. This is a testimony to the complex communications that occurred in the Middle Ages between all forms of creation.Bibliography1. JA Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (New York: B. Franklin, 1969),2. Heinrich Fichtenau, The Carolingian Empire (Oxford: Blackwell, 1957), 823. “Carolingian Art,” accessed March 5, 2011, http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/carolingian-art .htm.4. Consular Diptychs and Christian Ivories,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 13 (1918): 8, accessed 3 February 20115. Georg Swarzenski, “The Gothic Ivory Diptych,” Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum 10 (1947)6. Peter Barnet and Nancy Wu, The Cloisters, Medieval Art and Architecture (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005