Free downloadable Catholic paintings which are in the public domain
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...
Details: Dewing’s painting responds to a biblical story from the book of Tobit. After the elderly Tobit was blinded by sparrow dung, his son, Tobias—accompanied by a dog and the angel Raphael, disguised as a young man—traveled to Media to collect a debt for his father’s...
Details: Based on a passage from the New Testament book of Matthew, this work depicts Saint John the Baptist performing Christ's baptism in the river Jordan, during which the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove. The powerful modeling of the bodies...
Details: Charles Sprague Pearce based this work on a passage from the biblical Book of Exodus describing the tenth plague of Egypt, in which God declared his intention to kill every first-born Egyptian child unless Pharaoh freed the Israelites.He instructed Moses to tell the Jews to mark their doors,...
Details: A carpet page is a type of illuminated manuscript page that is characterized by intricate, non-figurative, patterned designs. They are often found at the beginning of Gospel Books in Insular manuscripts, and are known for their use of bright colors, active lines, and complex interlacing patterns. Carpet pages may...
Details: The Lindisfarne Gospels is an illuminated manuscript gospel book probably produced around the years 715–720 in the monastery at Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland, England[2]. It contains the Gospels of the four Evangelists Mark, John, Luke, and Matthew[2]. The manuscript was produced in a scriptorium...
Details: The Lindisfarne Gospels is an illuminated manuscript gospel book probably produced around the years 715–720 in the monastery at Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland, England[2]. It contains the Gospels of the four Evangelists Mark, John, Luke, and Matthew[2]. The manuscript was produced in a scriptorium...
Details: The Chi-Rho is a Christian symbol formed by superimposing the first two letters of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christos), which are 'Chi' (X) and 'Rho' (P)[1][2][3]. It looks like an X placed over the stem of a P[4][5]. The Lindisfarne...
Details: The Lindisfarne Gospels is an illuminated manuscript gospel book produced around the years 715–720 in the monastery at Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland, England[1][2]. It is a spectacular example of Insular or Hiberno-Saxon art[3], created with a quill pen and black ink made from...
Details: Folio 27r from the Lindisfarne Gospels, incipit to the Gospel of Matthew. The main text contains the first sentence of the Gospel According to Saint Matthew: "Liber generationis Iesu Christi filii David filii Abraham" ("The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David,...
Details: Eastman Johnson painted The Lord Is My Shepherd only months after the Emancipation Proclamation of New Year’s Day, 1863. The image of a humble black man reading from his Bible was reassuring to white Americans uncertain of what to expect from the freed slaves. But the simple act...
Details: San Juan Nepomuceno is the Spanish name for Saint John of Nepomuk[1], a Catholic saint who was tortured and ordered to be thrown into a river by the king[2]. He is known as the "martyr of the seal of confession"[2]. Several paintings and sculptures...
Details: Many of Sarah Dodson’s paintings were inspired by religious or mythological subjects. This image shows Saint Thechla (or Thecla), who converted to Christianity and renounced marriage after hearing a sermon by the Apostle Paul. Her family and fiancé condemned her disobedience, and Thecla was cast to her fate...
Details: Sainte Madeleine au sépulcre (1842) is a painting by French history and portrait painter Léon Cogniet (1794-1880)[1][2][3][4]. It is an oil on canvas painting[1], located in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Petit Palais[1]. The painting depicts Mary Magdalen at...
Details: Samson and the Philistines (1863) is a painting by Carl Bloch which was uploaded on November 28th, 2019[4]. The painting depicts the biblical story of Samson and the Philistines[1], and was created in 1863 in Academicism style[1]. It is considered to be one of Bloch'...
Details: The Denial of Saint Peter (1610) is a painting by the Italian painter Caravaggio[2]. It depicts Peter denying Jesus after Jesus was arrested[2]. It is thought to be one of the last two works Caravaggio painted before his death in 1610[3][4], and is known for...
Details: Most paintings of the Sacred Heart of Jesus are inspired by the apparition of Jesus, under the title of the Sacred Heart, to St Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690)[5]. Savinien Petit was a French painter who was born in 1815 and died in 1878[1]. He was known for...
Details: Christus Consolator (1837) by Ary Scheffer is a painting of Jesus Christ consoling all the people who suffer. The initial version of the painting was exhibited in 1837 at the Paris Salon[1]. Ary Scheffer was a Dutch-French Romantic painter[2]. He was known mostly for his works based...
Details: The baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist is a major event in the life of Jesus described in the three synoptic Gospels of the New Testament[1]. It is an act of humility, with Jesus consenting to be counted as if he were a sinner, along with everyone...
