Free downloadable Catholic paintings which are in the public domain
The Hypapante is one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox church. According to the Gospel of Luke (2:22–38), when Joseph (far left) and the Virgin (center) presented Christ in the temple for the rite of purification forty days after his birth, his divinity was immediately recognized by...
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...
Donato de’ Bardi’s style blends Netherlandish and French influences, emphasizing refined detail and careful study of light. Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.crucifixion.jpg376 KBdownload-circle Please SUBSCRIBE or DONATE to help keep this site free!...
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...
The Hypapante is one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox church. According to the Gospel of Luke (2:22–38), when Joseph (far left) and the Virgin (center) presented Christ in the temple for the rite of purification forty days after his birth, his divinity was immediately recognized by...
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 reverse...
This early 19th-century Orthodox icon depicts Thomas the Apostle, who is traditionally shown holding a scroll representing his apostolic preaching. Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.apostle-thomas-icon.jpg56 KBdownload-circle Please SUBSCRIBE or DONATE to help keep this site free!...
Jacopo Tintoretto ran a busy workshop in Venice, specializing in dramatic, complex religious paintings, which he produced at incredible speed. This crowded composition, with its daring foreshortening and elongated figures, is consistent with Tintoretto’s style. However, the overall quality of the execution suggests the work is by studio assistants...
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...
Mariotto was famous for painting crisp details and the kind of subtle color shifts seen in the angels’ feathered wings and draped robes. These small panels once crowned the upper corners of a large altarpiece made for a church on the outskirts of Florence, Italy (Santo Stefano in Pane). During...
Saint Ambrose, who lived in the fourth century, was an important Christian scholar and bishop. Here he is depicted among his books in a forceful pose emphasized by his massive hands. On the table’s edge, a scourge, or whip—the knotted rope attached to a wooden rod—symbolizes Ambrose’...
According to legend, Veronica pitied Jesus as he carried his cross to Calvary and offered him her kerchief, or sudarium, which miraculously retained the imprint of Jesus' face after he wiped his brow. The cloth presumed to have been Veronica's-her name means vera icon, or true image-is...
This angel carries symbols of the Passion—the events associated with Jesus Christ’s suffering and death. The pitcher, basin, and cloth represent those used by Pontius Pilate to wash his hands of responsibility for Christ’s crucifixion.The painting belongs to a series of twelve angels carrying symbols of...
This painting illustrates a scene from the Christian Bible. A young maidservant accuses the apostle Peter, in the yellow cloak, of knowing Jesus. Fearing for his own safety, Peter denies the acquaintance. While working in Italy, the Dutch artist Gerrit van Honthorst earned the nickname Gerard of the Night for...
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...
Triptychs (hinged three-paneled works) such as this were often placed on or behind the altars of medieval churches and private chapels. The central panel of this triptych shows people mourning the death of Jesus. The city in the background is Bruges, where the artist worked. Saint John the Baptist and...
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...
This angel holds a tablet inscribed “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin was placed on the cross, above Jesus. The painting belongs to a series of twelve angels carrying symbols of Christ’s Passion—the events associated with Jesus Christ’s suffering and death--which...
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—...
Looser and less formal than the portraits that made him famous, this work was completed shortly before Van Dyck began a six-year stint in Italy. It follows the biblical description of Jesus Christ’s betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas, one of Jesus’ disciples, brings a band of soldiers...
Small etched scenes depicting the suffering of Jesus and the life of Mary (Gospels). Jacques Callot: 17th-century French printmaker famed for technical mastery in detailed etchings. Free DownloadThis image is in the public domain.download.jpg526 KBdownload-circle Please SUBSCRIBE or DONATE to help keep this site free!...
