In his left hand the Christ Child holds a swallow. Swallows were thought to hibernate during winter in nests of mud. Their re-emergence in spring symbolized the Resurrection of Christ.
Icon of the Adoration of the Magi by the Rybotychi school, from the village of Uherci. Held in the Historical Museum in Sanok, Poland.
Icon of the Adoration of the Magi from the early 18th century, from the village of Rodatychi in the Lviv region of Ukraine.
Tempera on panel, made in Florence, Italy. The painting measures 52 × 47.2 cm (20 1/2 × 18 9/16 in.).
The seemingly weightless figures, the startling color combinations, and the moody, imprecise setting all show El Greco’s interest in conveying the intense spirituality of these figures rather than their concrete reality.
Chrome lithography of the stained glass window: The life of Jesus, Paris, Imprimerie impériale.
Ukrainian icon of the Adoration of the Magi, made in the second half of the 18th century.
Oil on canvas painting by Jusepe de Ribera of the boy Jesus among the teachers in the Temple, dated 1612-1613.
Etching in black on off-white laid paper
from William Hole's series of THE LIFE OF CHRIST, which was published in the UK and in the USA both (in various books and publications) before 1923.
The Virgin Mary, known as "the rose without thorns" for having been born free of original sin, holds the symbolic flower while sitting upon the Throne of Wisdom. The scroll held by an angel reads: "Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled...
Donato de’ Bardi’s style brings together Netherlandish and French influences, focusing on refined detail and careful study of light. At the center of this painting, which is still in its original frame, Donato captures the sheltering affection between the infant Christ and Madonna. Gesturing to the goldfinch in his...
This work plays with our expectations of the flatness of the painted surface. Using a technique of gilded gesso, the artist gave Saint Nicholas’s miter and the crowns of the holy figures a raised surface. The Virgin’s robes and the intricate, angled throne also create a sense of...
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...
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...
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...
This scene depicting the Virgin Mary, her infant son Jesus Christ, and various saints and prophets also includes the kneeling figure of Louise de Bourbon (1495–1545), a member of the French royal family (Note the inscription LOYSE DE BOURBON on the hem of her dark habit). She was the...
This painting is an altarpiece, a devotional image used in a Christian church, and many of the details are religious symbols. The walled garden, for instance, refers to the garden in the Bible’s Song of Songs and is associated with the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. The...
Lucas Cranach the Elder worked in a time of religious upheaval. Martin Luther (a close associate of Cranach) led the Protestant Reformation challenging the Catholic Church, arguing that man could have a direct relationship with God without the need for a priest to intermediate. Cranach adapted familiar Catholic imagery to...
Mary, the mother of Jesus, insists you look her in the eye. She has long inspired intense devotion. Christians believed that a relationship with her would bring them closer to her son, and worshippers identified with her role as a mother. Segna portrays them both as very human and approachable—...
In this humanizing yet idealized depiction of the Virgin Mary embracing the baby Jesus, Sandro Botticelli conveyed the sacred beauty of maternal love. Mary, her expression soft and her skin luminous, nuzzles her son’s chubby cheek as he grasps the nape of her neck. An angel, smaller in scale,...
This painting is a 19th-century work by the French academic artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau, titled "The Virgin, the Infant Jesus and Saint John the Baptist" or "La Charité" (Charity). It's a classic example of academic art that blends religious subject matter with a...
This painting depicts the Christ Child adorned with Arma Christi, symbols of his future Passion, a common devotional subject in Christian art.
