Free downloadable Catholic paintings which are in the public domain
Details: The decoration on this page is by two or possibly three different hands. The headpiece, ornamented title, and initial letter "E" are the work of the scribe Luke the Cypriot, while the images and framing ornament in the side margin are by a professional artist(s). It...
Details: The painting "Christ in the Desert Served by Angels" (1581-1642) by Frans Francken II does not exist. While there are several paintings by Frans Francken II that depict Christ in the desert, none of them feature angels serving him. The closest painting to this description is "...
Details: The assumption of Mary (Doxaras) is a painting created by Greek painter Nikolaos Doxaras[1]. The painting depicts the death of the Virgin Mary and is one of the most popular themes in Greek and Italian art from the inception of the Christianity[1]. Nikolaos Doxaras (1706/10 – 2...
Details: According to the Bible, David played the harp for King Saul when an "evil spirit from the Lord" was upon him[1][2][3][4][5]. The music was thought to have a therapeutic effect and would help Saul relax and feel better, causing the evil spirit...
Details: This is a late example, very conservative in painting style, of a type of image that was first developed in Russia in the late 16th century. It is primarily based on the Old Testament story in which God revealed himself to Moses in a bush that burned without being...
Details: This is one of twenty-six known manuscripts by the hand of Luke the Cypriot (active 1583-1625), an accomplished Greek calligrapher who worked after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453). He copied it in 1594 at his episcopal see of Buzau (in Wallachia, now Romania) and soon took it to...
Details: The term pot-metal refers to glass that received its color in the melting pot when various metallic oxides were added. It was then possible to paint the surface of the glass in order to outline, decorate, and define details such as eyes and hair--as may be observed on this...
Details: Almighty God the Father is a painting by Antoine Coypel. The painting is a detail of the ceiling of the chapel of the Palace of Versailles, Yvelines, France[3][4][5]. It depicts God the Father in Glory surrounded by cherubs and angels[5]. The Chapel of the Palace...
Details: In the Christian tradition, Pentecost is the celebration of the person of the Holy Spirit coming upon the Apostles, Mary, and the first followers of Jesus[1]. It is also known as the birthday of the Catholic Church[2] and celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the...
Details: King David was the second king of ancient Israel, reigning for 40 years between approximately 1000 BCE and 960 BCE[1][2][3]. He was not born into royalty, but rose to found a dynasty after being a humble shepherd[4]. He is known for his diverse skills as...
Details: One of four codicologically unrelated leaves from an antiphonary, a choral book containing the music used in the Divine Office. 1 column of 6 staves in Latin. Bounding lines blind or light plummet, doubled and full-length to upper and lower edges, writing lines blind or light plummet, with upper...
Details: The upper half of this panel shows a unicorn hunt reconfigured to represent the Annunciation. Only a virgin could lure a unicorn who is seen here grasping the horn of the mythical beast; not far behind are the hunter and hounds. The Virgin here is the Virgin Mary and...
Details: Kenyon Cox painted this small, sketchlike image while studying in Paris. Although Cox trained with well-known French artists, his works were largely influenced by Greek, Roman, and Renaissance art. After Titian’s “Madonna of the Rabbit” is a copy of a painting in the Louvre by Italian Renaissance artist...
Details: Domenico Capriolo's Assumption of the Virgin is a painting located in the vestibule of the Annunciation chapel or Malchiostro in Treviso Cathedral[1]. It was commissioned in 1520[2] and is attributed to Domenico Capriolo[3][4][5]. The painting depicts the Virgin Mary being assumed into...
Details: The Christ Pantocrator in the Daphni Monastery is a mosaic dating back to 1080-1100[1], located in the main dome of the Church of Dormition in Daphni, Greece[2]. It was created by an anonymous 11th century Byzantine master mosaicist[3] and is thought to date from around 1100...
Details: Created between 1405 and 1408 or 1409, probably in Paris, the Belles Heures, or Beautiful Hours, a private devotional book, is one of the most sumptuous manuscripts to have come down to us from the Middle Ages. Commissioned by Jean de France, duc de Berry from the Limbourg brothers,...
Details: The Dream of Saint Joseph refers to four dreams described in the Gospel of Matthew in which Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is visited by an angel[1][2]. In the first dream, he learns of Mary's miraculous pregnancy and is told not to be afraid[...
Details: Francis of Assisi, also known as Saint Francis of Assisi, was an Italian Catholic friar and founder of the Franciscan Order[1]. He was born in 1181 or 1182 in Assisi, Umbria[2][3][4], to Pietro di Bernardone and his wife[2]. Francis experienced a spiritual conversion after...
Details: This panel was first identified in 1913 as a work by Leiden master Aert Claesz. van Leyden. From 1935 onwards, the work was attributed to other masters: to Abraham Schöpfer, a pupil of Wolf Huber, given the discernible influence of the Danube School; to Johannes N. Hogenberg, who came...
Details: St. James the Less, also known as James, son of Alphaeus or James the Younger[1], was one of the Twelve chosen by Jesus and is believed to have been a bishop of a church consisting mainly of Jewish converts[4]. He is thought to have been born around...
Details: Pompeo Batoni's painting 'Sacred Heart of Jesus' was created in 1767[2] and is enshrined above the altar in the northern side chapel of Il Gesù in Rome[3]. It is one of the oldest known depictions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus[3], inspired...
Details: The Devotion to the Sacred Heart began in the 1670s, when Jesus appeared multiple times to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French nun[1]. The devotion has its origins in the eleventh century, when pious Christians meditated on the Five Wounds of Christ[2]. It can be seen as...
Details: Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque was a French Catholic Visitation nun and mystic who was chosen by Christ to arouse the Church to a realization of the love of God symbolized by the heart of Jesus[1][2]. She is greatly recognized for her devotion to the Sacred Heart of...
Details: Sts. Cosmas and Damian were two Arab physicians who were reputedly twin brothers and early Christian martyrs[1][2]. They were born in Arabia and had become eminent for their skill in the science of medicine[2]. The Greek Church celebrates the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian on...
