Free downloadable Catholic paintings which are in the public domain
‘St Cecilia’ was created in 1606 by Guido Reni in Baroque style. Saint Cecilia, is a Roman martyr venerated in Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden.
During the early 1700s, Roman artists returned to fundamental Christian subjects, especially those focused on the Christ child. This work presents the Holy Family with Christ’s maternal grandparents and baby cousin, John the Baptist, stressing the importance of family relationships.
Different from the paintings of the past masters and their interpretation of this scene, Bouguereau gives a unique view of this sacred event. Although he follows the standards of traditional Christian religious imagery, the atmosphere is entirely different, mainly because of Mary’s presence.
According to the canonical gospel accounts, Jesus, after His crucifixion, was placed in a tomb by a councillor of the sanhedrin named Joseph of Arimathea,. In art, it is often called the Entombment of Christ. This painting was created in 1855 by Alexander Ivanov.
The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the first bishop of New France, who founded a confraternity
After losing three of his five children to health issues, as well as his wife, Nelly Monchablon, Bouguereau felt the pain of grief and translated it into many paintings, like Pieta.
The French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau concluded the oil painting entitled Sainte Famille, translated as The Holy Family, in the year 1863 and was exhibited in the Paris Salon shortly after.
This splendid crucifixion scene originally served as the canon illustration in a liturgical missal. The open landscape is remarkable since it is not found in Dutch missals before the end of the 1500s. The large number of figures at the foot of the cross is also exceptional.
According to all four canonical Gospels, immediately after the Last Supper, Jesus took a walk to pray. Each Gospel offers a slightly different account regarding narrative details. the anguish of Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemani. The incident is narrated in St. Matthew (26:36-46) and St.
The subject of Saint Peter’s repentance was a popular one in the 16th and 17th century in Catholic countries like Italy and Spain. The Catholic Church wanted to promote the idea of repentance to the people.
In the late 1400s and early 1500s Rouen was an established and important center of book production. The city’s cathedral had a wealthy chapter that spent large sums of money to commission books and to maintain its extensive library.
Saint Ildefonsus or Ildephonsus was a scholar and theologian who served as the metropolitan Bishop of Toledo for the last decade of his life. His Gothic name was Hildefuns.
Ribera painted many half-length images of saints for Catholic patrons, most likely for private worship. Here he rendered the hermit Saint Onophrius—unkempt, wearing a loincloth of leaves—with great realism: dirty fingernails, hollowed cheeks, flesh sagging from his emaciated frame.
In this work the artist creates a strikingly beautiful pair of figures whose serene poses and serious facial expressions project an aura of sadness without sentimentality.
The infant Jesus embraces his mother with his left arm while tenderly grasping at the ruff of her shirt with his right hand.
The young figure on horseback can almost certainly be identified as Louis of Toulouse (1274-97), the second son of Charles II, king of Naples, who renounced the throne of Naples and entered the Franciscan order.
This leaf was excised from a volume of a large set of choral books known to have been commissioned by Bartolomeo delle Rovere for Ferrara Cathedral.
This life-size painting, a serene vision of angels serenading the sleeping Jesus in the arms of a graceful young Mary, is one of the most important works by Bouguereau in the United States.
Jerome, (c. 342–420) also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Latin priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. Jerome was born at Stridon, a village near Emona on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia.
According to the ancient Martyrologies, Margaret was 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.
Saint Ursula is a legendary Romano-British Christian saint, died on 21 October 383. Her feast day in the pre-1970 General Roman Calendar is 21 October.
Some might say this image—named Whisperings of Love— is a depiction of Cupid and a young girl. However, Bouguereau was a French Catholic, studied for the priesthood, and made many Catholic themed images.
The lamb is a commonly used symbol of innocence's nature. In Christianity, for example, Jesus is referred to as the "Lamb of God", thus emphasizing his sinless nature.
In early Western Europe, markets developed close to monasteries, castles or royal residences. Priories and aristocratic manorial households created considerable demand for goods and services - both luxuries and necessities and also afforded some protection to merchants and traders.
