Free downloadable public domain Catholic paintings of the Apostles
The liberation of the apostle Peter is an event described in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 12 in which the apostle Peter is rescued from prison by an angel. Although described in a short textual passage, the tale has given rise to theological discussions and has been the subject...
Saint Paul and Saint Sirus are panel paintings likely from the same large altarpiece. Panel painting was a lengthy process that required many steps. The panel is a plank of wood that was prepared with many layers of gesso, a glue-size-chalk substance that forms the white base layer of the...
A donor portrait or votive portrait is a portrait in a larger painting or other work showing the person who commissioned and paid for the image, or a member of his, or (much more rarely) her, family. Donor portrait usually refers to the portrait or portraits of donors alone, as...
During Jesus’s arrest on the night of the Last Supper, the apostle Peter denied knowing him. Although Christ forgave his betrayal, Peter was consumed by guilt. La Tour represents Peter as an old man, reflecting on his past actions in a state of perpetual repentance. The apostle’s red-rimmed...
Although Saint Andrew is typically associated with an X-shaped cross, here he is depicted on a standard vertical cross. Saint Andrew’s efforts to introduce Christianity to Greece in the first century AD were met with hostility from local authorities. He was sentenced to die on the cross because he...
Against an open, hilly landscape, the lifeless body of Christ hangs from a wood cross, his slumped head, open mouth and tense muscles capture the dramatic moment of his death. The monumental figures of the Virgin (left) and Saint John the Evangelist (right) stand at his side and in the...
When this painting was made in 1333, according to the date given on the lower frame, the style was a bit old-fashioned. Saint Paul’s frontal stance, the intensity and fervor of his direct gaze, the inclusion of his name in red-backed gold letters on either side of his head,...
Carlo Dolci painted this as part of a series depicting the Four Evangelists. Matthew is depicted transcribing the opening words of his Gospel, which are accurately reproduced in Hebrew, the saint's native language. With characteristically detailed brushwork, Dolci meticulously describes the textures of the saint's wispy...
Inspired by a series of apostles that Rubens painted in 1610 for the Duke of Lerma, Spain's chief minister, Anthony van Dyck set about making his own similar series, including this painting of the Apostle Simon. Simon is shown bust-length, his head turned so that his profile is...
Simon “the Zealot” is one of Jesus’s apostles in the first three Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), but otherwise Simon is an elusive figure. Legend says that he was martyred by being sawn apart, but there is no saw to indicate his martyrdom in this half-length portrait. This panel...
Simone Martini depicts Saint Matthew holding a book, quill pen, and inkpot in the process of writing his Gospel. This panel, along with nine others of apostles, including three in the National Gallery of Art’s collection depicting Saint Simon, Saint James Major, and Saint Judas Thaddeus, were once part...
Saint Judas Thaddeus once decorated the predella of an altarpiece along with nine other small portraits of apostles, three of which are in the collection of the National Gallery of Art: Matthew, Simon, and James Major. This panel of Saint Judas Thaddeus is among the best preserved of the four...
This small panel once decorated the predella of an altarpiece along with nine other small portraits of apostles, three of which are in the collection of the National Gallery of Art: Saint Matthew, Saint Simon, and Saint Judas Thaddeus. The brother of the apostle John, Saint James Major was in...
This image, along with Saint Peter and Christ Blessing, originally occupied a single panel. They and two others—one now in a museum in France, the other lost—were cut from the same altarpiece. It would have been an imposing work with triangular gables (see Reconstruction). The considerable dimensions and...
This Bible was written and illuminated in the Armenian quarter of Isfahan, the capital of Persia (present-day Iran) in the 1600s. The artists Malnazar and Aghap'ir lavishly decorated this book with scenes from the Old Testament, such as the Creation of the World, and portraits of the four...
This image, along with Christ Blessing and Saint James Major, originally occupied a single panel. They and two others—one now in a museum in France, the other lost—were cut from the same altarpiece. It would have been an imposing work with triangular gables (see Reconstruction). The considerable dimensions...
Observed by his symbol, the eagle, and poised to write God's words, Saint John looks up for divine inspiration, which he receives as brilliant light. Saint John, the Galilean fisherman who became one of Christ's apostles, is traditionally considered the author of the Gospel according to...
This and another panel in the National Gallery of Art depicting Saint James Minor were part of a large—11 feet long—and impressive altarpiece made for the church of San Francesco al Prato in Perugia (see Reconstructions). Only the monks and other clergy would have seen these paintings because...
Saint James Minor is one of the more elusive of Jesus’s disciples. He is usually identified—as in the inscription running along the arch here—as the son of Alphaeus, and by his attribute, a fuller's club. James was said to have been the first bishop of...
Saint John the Evangelist, most beloved of Jesus’s disciples, holds his head in sadness. According to John’s Gospel, he was present at Christ’s crucifixion, and this panel, along with one depicting the Virgin Mary also in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, was originally part...
Like Duccio’s The Nativity with the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, this small panel was part of the Maestà, one of the most important masterpieces in the history of Western painting. The monumental Maestà was a two-sided altarpiece that dominated the main altar in Siena’s cathedral for nearly two...
Domine, quo vadis? is a c. 1602 painting by the Italian Baroque painter Annibale Carracci (1560–1609), depicting a scene from the apocrypha Acts of Peter. It is housed in the National Gallery, London, where it is given the title Christ appearing to Saint Peter on the Appian Way. The...
The liberation of the apostle Peter is an event described in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 12 in which the apostle Peter is rescued from prison by an angel. Although described in a short textual passage, the tale has given rise to theological discussions and has been the subject...
Made just eight years before Rembrandt's death, this painting depicts Saint Bartholomew holding a knife in his right hand, a reference to the fact that he was skinned alive when martyred. One of Rembrandt's neighbors may have posed as the model for the saint. By showing...
