Free stock photos of Catholic subjects.
The angular drapery of the loincloth, the facial expression, and the linear treatment of the hair and beard of Christ suggest the sculptor was a follower of the Rimini Master. src: metmuseum.org Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.crucifix.jpg411 KBdownload-circle Please SUBSCRIBE or DONATE to help...
The penitent Magdalen at the base of a now-lost crucifix was the focus of a carved altarpiece. Depictions of Mary Magdalen as a solitary figure before the cross first appeared in Italian painting of the twelfth century. src: metmuseum.org Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.mary-magdalene-at-the-foot-of-the-cross.jpg559...
This profile image of a bishop, carved in the dark limestone characteristic of the South Lowlands, is a fragment of a larger funerary relief. Although isolated from its original context, the sculpture still conveys the solemnity of the memorial monument. The image was carved at about the time when the...
Medieval reliquaries often took the form of the body parts they were created to contain. Bust reliquaries for the skulls of saints were placed on or near altars and, by the late Middle Ages, were assembled in large numbers in some church sanctuaries, from Cologne in the north to Ubeda...
Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.reliquary-bust-of-a-female-saint.jpg495 KBdownload-circle Please SUBSCRIBE or DONATE to help keep this site free!...
Piety in the late Middle Ages encouraged the believer's intense emotional empathy in the suffering of Christ. Here, stone is transformed into flesh by the actual wood thorns piercing the forehead. The capacity for sculptural naturalism developed in Burgundy by Claus Sluter (ca. 1360–before 1406) and Niclaus...
Miniature cradles for the Christ Child were popular devotional objects in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and were venerated, especially in convents, where they were often presented to women taking their vows. This splendid cradle comes from the Grand Béguinage of Louvain, Belgium, established for lay women in the twelfth...
The coats of arms of the donors, Pons de Gontaut and his brother Armand, in whose family funerary chapel this sculpture and the Pietà opposite originally stood, were held by the angels. The donors are represented in the Pietà. Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.entombment-of-christ.jpg999 KBdownload-circle...
Saint Catherine, depicted in the delicately jeweled statuette, was seen to embody the power of Christian erudition. According to legend, Saint Catherine's learned arguments on behalf of Christianity converted not only the court philosophers of the pagan emperor Maxentius, but 200 guardian soldiers and the ruler's...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Jesus is seen dead on the cross while his mother, Mary, and his favorite disciple, the Evangelist Saint John, mourn below. This large-scale work embodies the characteristics of Romanesque sculpture in the medieval period, with its heavy stylized bodies, calligraphic depiction of hair, and linear, energetic approach to rendering the...
With extraordinary anatomical precision, this sculpture focuses on the suffering of Christ, who is shown still alive and in extreme physical pain. Ivory was the material of choice for depictions of Jesus, not merely because it was an exotic material imported at great expense from southern Africa, but also because...
The figure of the Infant Saint John the Baptist was carved as a companion figure for the Infant Jesus Christ (on the opposite pedestal). source: artsmis.org Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.download.jpg423 KBdownload-circle Please SUBSCRIBE or DONATE to help keep this site free!...
German Nativity Scene (Krippe): – Elaborate 81-piece nativity featuring various figures, animals, and Baroque architecture. Unknown Artist: 18th-century German artisan, likely a carver specialized in religious folk art and complex multi-figure displays. Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.download.jpg446 KBdownload-circle Please SUBSCRIBE or DONATE to help keep this...
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 Gospel Lectionary from the eleventh century was written in clear Carolingian minuscule in Regensburg, Germany. Its original treasure binding is very fragile because the spine is made from delicate Byzantine or Islamic silk, so it is not possible to photograph the whole manuscript. Only the cover has been photographed,...
This is a fragment from the upper arm of a hand-held bronze cross. One side contains a bust of Saint John the Baptist. The other side displays a cross-shaped monogram whose letters form the word KYPIE, vocative of "Lord" - probably the beginning of an inscription that once...
A plain gold hoop with a high bezel treated with a row of fleur-de-lys in high relief. The bezel is inset with a disc nielloed with a cross within a wreath. Free DownloadThis image is in the public domainPL2_57.1582_Top_BW.jpg864 KBdownload-circle Please Subscribe or Donate to...
State officials in the early Byzantine Empire often inspected newly minted silver objects and stamped them to attest to the metal's purity. Four such stamps on the bottom of this cup for Communion wine contain, together with the inspectors' names, the monograms of Emperor Justinian (ruled 527-65)...
Ceramic vessels with monochrome painting in a similar style are typical of Christian Egypt. Birds and other animals are often found depicted on them. The meaning of the composition seen on this example is unclear. Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain1200px-Coptic_-_Dish_with_a_Human_Figure_and_...
