Annibale made this brutal depiction of Christ crowned with thorns shortly after suffering a catastrophic mental breakdown, from which he never fully recovered. No longer able to cope with large-scale painting commissions, he devoted himself almost exclusively to drawings and prints. In this period, his works are affecting and intimate—...
This Lectionary was created ca. 1000 in Trier. Written in a clear Caroline minuscule, it contains decorated initials at the openings of important readings. A set of illuminated letters marks the beginning of the Epistle and Gospel lessons for Easter; they display the hierarchy of scripts with capital letters decorated...
This Lectionary was created ca. 1000 in Trier. Written in a clear Caroline minuscule, it contains decorated initials at the openings of important readings. A set of illuminated letters marks the beginning of the Epistle and Gospel lessons for Easter; they display the hierarchy of scripts with capital letters decorated...
This is a list of my favorite 12 orders of Catholic nuns and sisters in no particular order. This list includes their history, and images of their habits. What is a Catholic Nun or Sister? In the Roman Catholic tradition, there are many religious institutes of nuns and sisters (the...
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These three panels are from an altarpiece painted for a Dominican church in the Marchigian town of Ascoli Piceno. It is possible that the child was originally shown reaching for a flying bird, his frequent attribute. The cracked marble dais is a recurrent feature of Crivelli's work. On...
Foppa was the founder of Renaissance painting in Milan, where he worked for the dukes. In addition to major fresco cycles and altarpieces, he also painted touching images of the Madonna and Child for private devotion. This one dates to about 1480 and shows them before a rose hedge—the...
The Hypapante is one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox church. According to the Gospel of Luke (2:22–38), when Joseph (far left) and the Virgin (center) presented Christ in the temple for the rite of purification forty days after his birth, his divinity was immediately recognized by...
The inscription identifies the image as Christ Antiphonetes, an icon type used by the empress Zoe (r. 1028–50) for her coinage. Steatite, easily carved stone, usually soft green or buff in color, came to be widely used for the production of small icons. source: metmuseum.org Free DownloadThis image...
Images of the Virgin Eleousa, the Virgin of Compassion, developed in the later Byzantine centuries and profoundly influenced the art of the Latin West. Here, the intimate poses of the heads and hands display the warm emotional attachment of the Virgin and Child. The fifteenth-century Latin inscription on the reverse...
This early 19th-century Orthodox icon depicts Thomas the Apostle, who is traditionally shown holding a scroll representing his apostolic preaching. Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.apostle-thomas-icon.jpg56 KBdownload-circle Please SUBSCRIBE or DONATE to help keep this site free!...
An icon depicting Mar Gabriel, a Persian Bishop and the Nestorian Metropolitan of Malabar, who was a significant spiritual and political figure in Kerala during the early 18th century. Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.download.jpg262 KBdownload-circle Please SUBSCRIBE or DONATE to help keep this site free!...
This is the Church of the Holy Apostle Thomas (Serbian: Crkva Svetog apostola Tome). It is situated in the Bežanijska Kosa neighborhood of New Belgrade (Novi Beograd), Serbia. It is a Serbian Orthodox church. Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.download.jpg639 KBdownload-circle Please SUBSCRIBE or DONATE to...
This icon depicts the Dormition of the Mother of God (her "falling asleep" or death). The central figure is Christ, who stands over Mary's body holding a small, swaddled child. This child might represent Mary’s pure soul, which Christ is receiving to carry into heaven....
Finally, in the Whirlwind of the mystical ecstasy, the true God is manifest. He is Jesus, the Divine Imagination, and the Forgiveness of Sins: the only God whom Blake recognized. He is in a cruciform position and his right foot is forward. He descends below the cloud-barriers which normally separate...
The Virgin Mary sits on a stone bench. A halo of light around her head cuts through the shadows of the space. She looks tired and pensive as she cradles the baby Jesus in her lap. Any new parents can recognize the exhaustion and the weight of responsibility. She rests...
Jacopo Tintoretto ran a busy workshop in Venice, specializing in dramatic, complex religious paintings, which he produced at incredible speed. This crowded composition, with its daring foreshortening and elongated figures, is consistent with Tintoretto’s style. However, the overall quality of the execution suggests the work is by studio assistants...
In the 1400s and 1500s, southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland were centers of innovation in stained glass. From the 1480s on, roundels were popular and often incorporated into larger glass windows. This and four other large roundels were likely made for the family chapel in a castle or palace. Their...
This small tapestry depicts the infant Jesus pressing grapes into a chalice. The imagery was widely understood at the time of its creation to reference the physical sacrifice Jesus would later make in his crucifixion. In the Christian ritual of the Eucharist, followers drink holy wine to remember Jesus’s...
Annibale made this brutal depiction of Christ crowned with thorns shortly after suffering a catastrophic mental breakdown, from which he never fully recovered. No longer able to cope with large-scale painting commissions, he devoted himself almost exclusively to drawings and prints. In this period, his works are affecting and intimate—...
Welcome to this week's newsletter! Enjoy our Weekly Picks: Archangels Ethiopian Icon (2025) by Angelo Cason Jr. - Public Domain Orthodox Icon Coloring Page Saint Veronica with the Sudarium (1475) by Germany; after Master E. S. - Public Domain Catholic Painting Balaam Prophesies That a Star Will Rise...
The book of Matthew relates the story of a miracle witnessed by three of Jesus’s disciples. They saw him “transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.” Suddenly the prophets Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with Jesus. Then,...
Mariotto was famous for painting crisp details and the kind of subtle color shifts seen in the angels’ feathered wings and draped robes. These small panels once crowned the upper corners of a large altarpiece made for a church on the outskirts of Florence, Italy (Santo Stefano in Pane). During...
Some of Domenico Tiepolo’s drawings series dealt with specifically identifiable subjects, including the baptism of Jesus Christ. Though the story of John baptizing Jesus appears in three of the New Testament gospels, the details of the accounts are scant, leaving artists great latitude in depicting this event. Domenico responded...
Shepherds have arrived in the stable in Bethlehem to see the newborn savior king, Jesus. Yet, Annibale has placed a massive wooden post in the foreground to emphasize the division between their earthly space and the miraculous space occupied by the radiant baby, his haloed parents and two angels. Though...
Ponsonelli presents a vision of the Virgin Mary floating on clouds, one foot placed firmly on the crescent moon, the other on a dragon (symbol of the devil). The iconography represents the Immaculate Madonna, referring to the Catholic doctrine that Mary was born without sin, like her son Jesus. Ponsonelli...
Saint Ambrose, who lived in the fourth century, was an important Christian scholar and bishop. Here he is depicted among his books in a forceful pose emphasized by his massive hands. On the table’s edge, a scourge, or whip—the knotted rope attached to a wooden rod—symbolizes Ambrose’...
The lifeless body of Jesus Christ, taken off the cross after his crucifixion, rests in his mother Mary’s lap. John the Evangelist holds his head. Mary Magdalene, with an ointment jar, looks at his feet—according to the Gospel of Saint John, she had once anointed Jesus’s feet...
According to legend, Veronica pitied Jesus as he carried his cross to Calvary and offered him her kerchief, or sudarium, which miraculously retained the imprint of Jesus' face after he wiped his brow. The cloth presumed to have been Veronica's-her name means vera icon, or true image-is...
