Catholic paintings from the Baroque period.
Stories of Christ’s childhood and adolescence became increasingly popular during the Counter-Reformation because they were easily understood by a broad public. Rather than taking a story from the Bible, Zurbarán appears to have invented this subject, in which Jesus pricks himself on a crown of thorns he is weaving,...
This small devotional picture by an anonymous 17th-century Venetian artist drew his composition from Guido Reni's large St. Andrew Led to Martyrdom fresco in Rome's Church of San Gregorio al Celio. The CMA painting portrays the central image of Reni's 1608 fresco by Reni....
Not all subjects are easy to identify. This museum long thought that the subject was the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, largely because tears are part of the standard representation of this ancient thinker. However, ter Brugghen omits the other crucial key to identifying Heraclitus--a globe over which he weeps. Instead, 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...
Boucher painted this picture for his patron, Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV. Partly to please the religious faction at court, she commissioned devotional pictures for the chapels in her various residences. She ordered this one of Saint John, her patron saint, for a chapel in the Capuchin...
Vouet worked in Rome for several years before he was summoned back to France in 1627 to serve as court painter to King Louis XIII. This painting, executed soon after his return, reveals how skillfully Vouet adapted his Italian experiences to local tastes: the focus on a single monumental figure,...
Salome’s dancing so pleased her stepfather Herod that he offered her anything she wanted. Her mother advised Salome to demand John the Baptist’s head, which Salome presented to her family in an elaborate dish. Here, the head stands on its own, with a startlingly tangible presence. Despite its...
Augustine of Hippo, also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian, philosopher, and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo] Saint Monica was an early African Christian saint and the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo. She is...
Saint Roch, born of noble French parents in the late 1200s, was the patron saint of the plague-stricken. Before he was twenty years of age, he disposed of his riches and henceforth devoted himself to nursing the sick. Saint Roch is frequently depicted with cockleshell, wallet, and staff in the...
Saint Jerome (about ad 347–420) translated biblical texts into Latin. Although he sometimes appears as a scholar in his study, Ribera represents him here as a penitent who withdrew to the desert, beating his chest with a stone to emulate Christ’s suffering and contemplating a skull symbolizing human...
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...
DID YOU KNOW? The crown worn by God in this painting resembles a papal tiara, last used by a Catholic pope in 1964. DESCRIPTION This vividly colored altarpiece was made in Antwerp, the center of religious learning in Catholic Flanders. In the mid-1500s when the Catholic Church mounted a defense...
Grasping a gold plate holding John the Baptist’s severed head, young Salome presents this gruesome prize to her mother. Salome’s stepfather, King Herod, had granted her a wish after she danced for him at a banquet. Prompted by her mother, she asked for John’s head. John had...
Saint Ambrose, who lived in the 4th 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...
After training in Rome in the 1630s and 1640s, Preti went to Naples where he continued working in a mode inspired by the work of Caravaggio. In this painting, dramatic lighting and intense naturalism depict the intersection of the heavenly and earthly realms. According to Catholic tradition, Saint Paul the...
The Immaculate Conception refers to the Catholic doctrine that the Virgin Mary, mother of Christ, was herself born without sin. Following traditional iconography, Castiglione depicted her as Queen of Heaven, accompanied by angels and standing on a crescent moon, a symbol of chastity. The doctrine, much debated, was supported by...
In this large canvas, Guido Reni, a leading seventeenth-century Bolognese painter, depicted one of the New Testament’s more macabre stories. Salome, the daughter of Queen Herodias, so pleased her stepfather, Herod Antipas, by dancing at his birthday feast that he promised to grant her any wish. Prompted by her...
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...
Better known for grand, monumental compositions and illusionistic decorations, here Lanfranco painted on a smaller scale, successfully portraying an intimate moment between the Madonna, her son, and her nephew. While the Madonna tenderly caresses her son, the two children extend their arms toward each other, expressing both familial and divine...
The Archbishop of Cambrai, Charles de Saint-Albin, was the illegitimate son of Philippe, duc d'Orléans, and a dancer at the opera. Although his father never recognized him officially, he smoothed his son's swift advance in the Church hierarchy and aided his appointment to the archbishopric of...
Transforming the theme of the temptation of Saint Anthony into a celebration of nature's magnificence, Flemish landscape and still life painter Roelandt Savery depicted the hermit Anthony reading a Bible--oblivious to the antics of numerous fantastic demons--while seated in a rustic cell. His wooden hut is nestled in...
Near death after being tied to a tree and shot through with arrows, Saint Sebastian barely notices the angel helping to remove them. Anthony van Dyck painted the subject of Saint Sebastian many times, choosing various moments in the saint's story but never focusing on the one thing...
Arms outstretched, Saint Francis of Paola levitates while surrounded by a divine light. The crowd surges towards the saint, whose expression conveys his communion with God at the apex of the composition. Famed for his miraculous healing powers, Saint Francis of Paola was invited to France by the sickly King...
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...
