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About the Image: Padre Pio, also known as Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, was an Italian Franciscan Capuchin friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic. He was born on May 25, 1887, in Pietrelcina, Italy, to peasant farmers[2][5]. As a child, he was very religious and by the age of five,...
About the Image: Susanna and the Elders is a painting by Pompeo Batoni, created in 1751 in Rococo style[3]. The painting depicts the biblical story of Susanna, who was spied on by two elders while bathing and falsely accused of adultery[1]. The painting is considered a testament to...
About the Image: By mid-eighteenth century Pompeo Batoni prevailed as the leading portraitist in Rome catering to an elite clientele of wealthy tourists from the British Isles. Decades earlier, he had launched his career painting historical and biblical subjects, and he continued to depict such subjects in a dignified, classicizing...
About the Image: The Return of the Prodigal Son is a story from the Bible, appearing in the Gospel of St. Luke[3]. It tells the story of a son who asks his father for his inheritance and leaves the parental home, only to fritter away all his wealth. He...
About the Image: "The Return of the Prodigal Son" is a renowned oil painting by Rembrandt that depicts the moment of the prodigal son's return to his father in the Biblical parable. The painting is part of the collection of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and is among the...
About the Image: Murillo's great talent for dramatic painting is apparent in this monumental depiction of the familiar parable of the prodigal son, an allegory of repentance and divine forgiveness. With players and props effectively placed to underscore the drama, it is reminiscent of a well-staged theater piece. The artist...
About the Image: The Return of the Prodigal Son is a story from the Bible, that appears in the Gospel of St. Luke[3]. It tells the story of a son who asks his father for his inheritance and leaves the parental home, only to fritter away all his wealth....
About the Image: The story of Christ and the Woman of Samaria at the Well is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 4, verses 4-42[4]. Jesus was traveling through Samaria on His way to Galilee when He stopped at a well in the town of Sychar. While His...
About the Artist: Giovanni della Robbia (1469-1529) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, primarily known for his work in ceramics. He was the son of Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), the brother of Girolamo della Robbia (1488-1566), and the grandnephew of Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-1482)[1]. Giovanni worked as an assistant...
About the Image: A number of paintings of favorite saints sometimes decorated a bedroom. (The 1784 inventory of Manuel Herrera in Oruro, in present-day Bolivia, lists more than fifty religious paintings in the alcoba.) This Cuzco school image of Saint Joseph, who also served as the patron saint of the...
About the Image: Christ appears to his followers at the cenacle, the upper room where they had shared the Last Supper. Exposing his glowing wounds, Jesus reveals himself to them—to their delight and wonder—while the servants who tend the disciples peer through the curtains in astonishment. About the...
About the Image: Mother of God Church, or Mutter Gottes Kirche, is a Catholic church located on 6th Street in the Mutter Gottes neighborhood of Covington, Kentucky, which was named for the church. Built between 1869 and 1871, the impressive Renaissance Revival-style church once was home to a large German-speaking...
About the Image: Built in 1904 to house an English-speaking Catholic congregation formed in 1887, St. James Church was built in the Gothic Revival style. In 1912, St. James Catholic School was built next to the church in the Classical Revival style. The buildings, designed by local architect Walter Sheblessy,...
About the Image: In the Bible, there is a story about Jesus as a child, where he is seen debating with the doctors (Luke 2:41-51). This image depicts that scene, using perspective to create a visually stunning piece of art. The temple's four pillars are prominently displayed in the...
About the Image: In this parable, a young man leaves the comfort of family, wanders foreign lands, and resorts to begging after wasting a fortune through debauchery. Returning, he receives the embrace of his father, who warmly welcomes him home despite his mistakes, prompting the young man to repent the...
About the Image: Christianity most likely arrived in Ethiopia in the first century. The conversion of King Ezana in 330 c.e. led to its official acceptance and the minting of coins bearing one of the earliest uses of the cross as a Christian symbol. Although the silver pendant crosses...
About the Image: This is a typical example of the two-sided panels carried in fifteenth-century religious processions. Such objects were regularly handled and exposed to the elements. On one side, the theologian Thomas Aquinas and the mystic Catherine of Siena, who holds the heart that Christ gave to her, flank...
About the Image: In 1612, the owners of Antwerp's Plantin Press, Jan and Balthasar Moretus, asked their friend Peter Paul Rubens to create thirteen illustrations for a new Catholic prayer book called Breviarium Romanum. Rubens completed these drawings, including one of the Assumption of the Virgin, by March 1614. Balthasar...
About the Image: In preparation for a ceiling fresco of the Assumption commissioned by a Medici prince for a church in Florence, Volterrano made many compositional drawings. This study for the fresco, one of the most complete, includes all the principal elements of the painting, with only a few figures...
About the Image: Guido Reni's Assumption of the Virgin is a renowned oil on canvas painting that was created in 1627. The original painting is located in the church of Santa Maria Assunta in Castelfranco Emilia, with additional versions in Lyon and the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. There are also...
About the Image: The Assumption of the Virgin is a religious belief that has been around since the time of the Apostles, who knew Mary personally4. The doctrine's development is closely related to a feast devoted to Mary that passed from a general celebration in her honor to one celebrated...
About the Image: The Assumption of the Virgin is a religious belief that has been around since the time of the Apostles, who knew Mary personally4. The doctrine's development is closely related to a feast devoted to Mary that passed from a general celebration in her honor to one celebrated...
About the Image: This relief was once part of a larger object, probably a decorated metal sheet that covered a painted icon for protection and embellishment. Christ, holding a Gospel book in one hand and making the sign of blessing with the other, would originally have faced a portrait of...
About the Image: Saint Helena (AD c. 246/48–330) was an Empress of the Roman Empire and mother of Roman emperor Constantine the Great. She was born outside of the noble classes, possibly in the Greek city of Drepana, Bithynia in Asia Minor. Helena ranks as an important figure...
