Public domain paintings of the Passion of Jesus Christ.
This is a rare example of a surviving 15th-century painting from the northern provinces of the Netherlands (present-day Holland). This region had fewer centers of artistic production than the more populous southern Netherlands, and it also experienced substantial destruction of artworks during the iconoclastic outbursts of the mid-16th century. The...
This manuscript was illuminated by a circle of at least five highly organized manuscript painters active in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. The principal illuminator was Alexander Bening, who painted the majority of the book's miniatures. Manuscripts produced by this circle of artists are renowned for...
Against an open, hilly landscape, the lifeless body of Christ hangs from a wood cross, his slumped head, open mouth and tense muscles capture the dramatic moment of his death. The monumental figures of the Virgin (left) and Saint John the Evangelist (right) stand at his side and in the...
In this painting, El Greco combines the iconic power of the crucifix with the expressive power of landscape painting. He sets the cross atop Golgotha, the "place of the skull," with Jerusalem looming in the background. He eliminates the other characters from the biblical narrative, encouraging the viewer...
This small painting was probably the right-hand side of a diptych with two hinged panels. Very likely the panel opposite depicted the Virgin and Child. The man or woman who meditated on this image during private devotions would have made an intimate connection with the grief of the mourners who...
This crowded and colorful panel displays the story of Christ's Crucifixion along with episodes of damnation and salvation. At the left, Christ carries the cross and Veronica hands him her veil. In the center, Christ's broken body hangs on the cross between the two thieves. At...
The son of Fra Filippo Lippi, Filippino began his training as a very young boy in his father's workshop. Documents record a partial payment he received in 1469 for the frescoes in the apse of the duomo in Spoleto, whose execution, interrupted by Fra Filippo's death...
The Corpse of Christ is a painting by the Italian Baroque master Annibale Carracci, dating to c. 1583-1585 and housed in the Staatsgalerie of Stuttgart, Germany. The work, dating to Carracci's early career, is a manifest homage to Andrea Mantegna's Dead Christ, which he had perhaps...
Jesus hangs on the cross, his attenuated arms stretched far apart. He looks down at his grieving mother, whose flowing draperies emphasize her swooning posture. By depicting him with an elongated torso, uncomfortably crossed legs, and an elegantly drooping head, the artist emphasized Jesus' human suffering and frailty. The...
In this depiction of the lamentation of Christ, Fernando Gallego looked to Northern European paintings for inspiration but included distinctly Spanish elements such as a subdued palette and unidealized figures. Unlike Netherlandish artists who were interested in depicting the natural world in minute detail, Gallego concentrated on the pietà'...
The use of light and shade, saturated colors, and bold gestures dramatically capture the drama of the Resurrection, so vividly recorded in the Bible. Famous as the teacher of Rembrandt, Pieter Lastman brought a direct, emotional conviction to religious themes in his native Amsterdam in the early 1600s. In The...
A free downloadable public domain Catholic painting.
a free public domain download of Jesus being crowned with thorns.
