The image is titled "Annunciation to the Shepherds" and was created in 1906 by Hans Thoma, a German artist who lived from 1839 to 1924. The artwork depicts an angelic figure appearing to a group of shepherds, surrounded by a host of other angelic beings. The scene is...
The text on the image reads: Prayer for the relief from the Cholera epidemic. St. Mary of Succour. O God, you who does not want the death of the sinner, but that he turns to you, look mercifully on your people who return to you in repentance and sorrow, and...
About the Image: The brothers Jacob H. and Philipp Schiff were members of one of the old Jewish families in Frankfurt. Jacob H. Schiff was eighteen when he emigrated to America, where he became a very successful banker. He contributed most of his considerable fortune - some 100 million dollars...
About the Image: Between 1950 and 1981, the Städel succeeded in reuniting the parts of Elsheimer’s greatest work, which was documented but presumed lost. The modern frame of this domestic altarpiece was reconstructed after sketches made in 1612. While the central panel shows the exaltation of the Cross, the...
About the Image: This imposing, cruelly exact image depicts the corpse of one of the two criminals crucified with Jesus. Executed in the workshop of Robert Campin in Tournai around 1430 – at about the same time as the Van Eyck brothers’ Ghent Altarpiece – it is all that remains of one...
About the Image: This vertical-format work shows a view of the Sachsenhausen bank of the Main River and the eye-catching tower of the Dreikönigskirche. Beckmann's flat and his studio in Schweizer Strasse were just steps away from the Eiserner Steg footbridge, whose railing can be seen as a...
About the Image: The arena of cruel, pagan public amusement in antiquity has become a place of Christian faith. Various groups of believers are scattered across the vast oval of the ruined Colosseum. A wooden cross rises in the centre of the monument, which Pope Benedict XIV had dedicated during...
About the Image: In the view of the Nazarene Philipp Veit, who was appointed director of the Städelsches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt in 1830, the art of the future should be based entirely on the Christian Middle Ages. His fresco, which was transferred to canvas, shows an allegorical representation of the...
About the Image: This exquisite statue, gracing the facade of St. George's Church in Antwerp, represents the apostle James the Less. Evident in the intricately carved folds of his robe and the contemplative expression on his face, the sculpture is a testament to the craftsmanship and attention to...
About the Image: To test his unconditional loyalty, God has commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. But an angel intervenes before the patriarch can harm the boy, who is half lying across a sacrificial altar. A ram appears in the thorny thicket to give its life instead. As the...
About the Image: These panels once belonged to an impressive high altarpiece which stood in the Dominican Church of Frankfurt into the 17th century. Together with other paintings, these works decorated the double folding wings of an altarpiece structured around the shrine, with sculptures in the center. Unfortunately the shrine...
About the Image: Silence. The onlooker’s gaze is guided towards the light through a rounded arch. Snow reflects the sun, which casts a dim light onto the church ruin. The atmospheric mise-en-scène appeals to the viewer’s curiosity to find out what is going on. Set in a wintry...
About the Image: This statue of the Apostle James. Saint James, also known as the Apostle James or James the Greater, was one of Jesus Christ’s 12 disciples. He was honored with a favored position by Jesus Christ and was one of the twelve chosen disciples of Jesus. He...
Details: This work depicts Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Virgin Mary, and is likely a fragment from an altarpiece dedicated to the life of the Virgin. While Joachim was fasting in the wilderness, an angel appeared to tell him that he and Anne, who had previously been unable...
Details: The "Wedding at Cana" is a biblical account of a wedding celebration where Jesus Christ performed his first miracle by turning water into wine. Cana is a town in Galilee, located in modern-day Israel. The term "miracle" refers to a supernatural event that cannot be...
Details: Built in 1903/04 according to a design by city architect Otto Richter. Due to building damage, services were discontinued in 1982. The renovated church was re-consecrated in May 1997. The church nave was reduced in size by a partition wall. Today, the Jacobikirche is used for a variety...
Details: The newborn Christ lies swaddled in a manger and reaches toward his mother, the Virgin Mary, while Joseph sits nearby. The resemblance of Christ's manger to a Gothic tomb poignantly signals his eventual sacrifice. Above, God the Father extends a banderole reading, "You are my son,...
Details: The "Parable of the Sower and Seeds" is a story told by Jesus in the Bible. In this parable, a farmer goes out to sow seeds in his field. Some of the seeds fall on the path and are eaten by birds, some fall on rocky ground...
The dead Christ hangs from the Cross, haloed and crowned with thorns. Blood issues from the wounds in his hands, feet, and side, where Roman soldiers pierced him with a lance. To either side stand his mother, the Virgin Mary, and his favorite disciple, John the Evangelist, to whom he...
In this large devotional panel, the condemned Christ stumbles as he drags the Cross through the city of Jerusalem to the site of his Crucifixion. His mother and disciples—passing through the city gate at left—watch sadly and console one another. Christ and his followers are taunted by crowds...
Details: The resurrected Christ rises triumphantly from an opened tomb, the wound on his side reminding us of his death by crucifixion three days prior. He wears a red cape, bears a banner with a white cross on a red field, and holds forth his right hand in blessing. An...
Details: This painting shows Christ and his twelve disciples seated at a round table for the Last Supper. Christ raises his hand to consecrate the items before them—a chalice of wine and a loaf of bread, partially sliced to resemble the Eucharistic wafers of the Mass. Biblical accounts make...
Details: This late medieval manuscript miniature shows the dead Christ hanging from the Cross, suspended by three enormous nails that pierce his hands and feet. The skull of Adam, whose sin Christ redeemed, lies broken below the Cross; above is a banner with the letters INRI (the Latin initialism for...
