Free downloads of Catholic paintings of female saints in the public domain.
Lucia of Syracuse (283–304), also called Saint Lucia (Latin: Sancta Lucia) or Saint Lucy, was a Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution. She is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox churches. She is one of eight women (including Saint Mary)...
One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, Agatha (231-251 AD) was put to death during the Decian persecution (250–253) in Catania, Sicily, for her determined profession of faith. Her feast day is February 5th. According to the 13th-century Golden Legend, the 15-year-old virgin Agatha was...
According to The Golden Legend, Margaret the Virgin was a native of Antioch and the daughter of a pagan priest named Aedesius. Her mother having died soon after her birth, Margaret was nursed by a Christian woman five or six leagues (6.9–8.3 miles) from Antioch. Having embraced...
Elizabeth of Hungary (7 July 1207 – 17 November 1231) was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Landgravine of Thuringia, Germany, and a greatly venerated Catholic saint who was an early member of the Third Order of St. Francis, by which she is honored as its patroness. Elizabeth was married...
Elizabeth of Aragon, more commonly known as Saint Elizabeth of Portugal (1271 – 4 July 1336), was queen consort of Portugal, a tertiary of the Franciscan Order and is venerated as a saint of the Catholic Church. Elizabeth showed an early enthusiasm for her faith. She said the full Divine Office...
Elizabeth (also spelled Elisabeth; Hebrew: אֱלִישֶׁבַע / אֱלִישָׁבַע "My God has sworn") was the mother of John the Baptist and the wife of Zechariah, according to the Gospel of Luke. She was past normal child-bearing years when she gave birth to...
According to apocryphal Christian tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come only from the Protoevangelium of James. The Protoevangelium...
While contemplating the crucifix, Mary Magdalene clasps her hands in prayer and devoutly kneels with her eyes raised towards the heavens. The agitated drapery of her gown and the white light streaming into her tear-filled eyes convey a deeply emotional and spiritual scene. A vision of angels appears in the...
Saint Cecilia (Latin: Sancta Caecilia), is a Roman martyr venerated in Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden. She became the patron of music and musicians, it being written that, as the musicians played at her wedding, Cecilia "sang in her heart to...
Jean Bellegambe worked in Douai, in a part of northern France that was once part of the county of Flanders. These panels are the wings of a triptych, a three-paneled folding altarpiece, whose center (now in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels) shows the Virgin and Child enthroned under an...
Lucy's history has been lost and all we really know for certain is that this brave woman who lived in Syracuse lost her life during the persecution of Christians in the early fourth century. Her veneration spread to Rome so that by the sixth century the whole Church...
A gifted follower of Perugino, Lo Spagna expanded on the master’s calm style in numerous works made for Perugia and the surrounding region of Umbria. This panel represents Catherine Benincasa of Siena (1347–1380), who was one of the major religious figures and most influential women of the late...
A devout woman, shown at lower right, is presented by saints and an angel to the central Virgin and Child. In clockwise order from her is Saint Lucy, identified by the cauldron and sword at her feet; Saint Agnes, by the lamb; Saint Scholastica, by the dove she holds; and...
Jerome and Catherine sit on a grass-covered bench before some rose bushes. The two saints can be identified by their attributes: Jerome with the lion, and Catherine with the sword and the broken wheel. Catherine was the daughter of a king and served as a role model for wealthy courtly...
In the upper half of this oil study, Christ is depicted in glory surrounded by adoring angels. Looking up at him are four martyr saints: Saints Celsus, Marcionilla, Julian, and Basilissa. Pompeo Batoni made this sketch when he was only twenty-eight, in preparation for his first important commission in Rome....
Gertrude, a Benedictine nun in Helfta, Saxony, was one of the great mystics of the 13th century. Together with her friend and teacher Saint Mechtild, she practiced a spirituality called “nuptial mysticism,” that is, she came to see herself as the bride of Christ. Her spiritual life was a deeply...
The artist covered the sides and reverse of this panel with a thin layer of gesso (a type of plaster), allowing the texture of the rough wood to remain visible. He then painted it to resemble porphyry, a beautiful and valuable stone. Source [https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1924.199]...
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,...
Saint Catherine (1347-1380) was the daughter of a prosperous Sienese cloth dyer. At the age of six, she saw a vision of Christ and thereafter dedicated herself to chastity, penance, and good works. She became much beloved in Siena for selflessly caring for victims of the Black Death. This panel,...
Saint Catherine holds the sword with which she was martyred, and Saint Barbara holds both a book and a ring symbolizing her scholarly pursuits and union with God. According to legend, the leather thongs with which she was beaten were transformed into peacock plumes. These two paintings were originally the...
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...
A Madonna is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is from Italian ma donna 'my lady'. Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_(art)#:~:text=A%20Madonna%20(Italian%...
The woman is Mary Magdalene. She can be identified by her jar of ointment, which she used to anoint Jesus’s feet. Van Scorel painted her as a seductive, luxuriously dressed courtesan, a reference to her reputed past as a prostitute. Her clothing shows the influence of Italian painting, to...
This small panel depicts an episode from the life of the Dominican tertiary and mystic, Saint Catherine of Siena, as described in her biography of 1385, written by her confessor, Raymond of Capua. Receiving the sacrament of Communion gave Saint Catherine visions and ecstasies that lasted hours and left her...
