Christ in Majesty or
Christ in Glory is the Western Christian image of
Christ seated on a throne as ruler of the world, always seen frontally in the centre of the composition, and often flanked by other sacred figures, whose membership changes over time and according to the context. The image develops from
Early Christian art, which directly borrowed the formulae of depictions of the enthroned
Roman Emperor. In the
Byzantine world, the image developed slightly differently into the half-length
Christ Pantocrator, "Christ, Ruler of All", a usually unaccompanied figure, and the
Deesis, where a full-length enthroned Christ is entreated by
Mary and
St. John the Baptist, and often other figures. In the West, the evolving composition remains very consistent within each period until the
Renaissance, and then remains important until the end of the
Baroque, in which the image is ordinarily transported to the sky.