Free downloadable Catholic paintings which are in the public domain
Rose of Viterbo, T.O.S.F., was a young woman born in Viterbo, then a contested commune of the Papal States. She spent her brief life as a recluse, who was outspoken in her support of the papacy.
The Transfiguration is the last painting by the Italian High Renaissance master Raphael. Commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de Medici, the later Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), and conceived as an altarpiece for the Narbonne Cathedral in France, Raphael worked on it until his death in 1520.
St. Sebastian is the subject of three paintings by the Italian Early Renaissance master Andrea Mantegna.
The Assumption of the Virgin Mary or Assumption of the Holy Virgin, is a painting by Peter Paul Rubens, completed in 1626 as an altarpiece for the high altar of the Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp, where it remains.
The Disputation of the Sacrament (Italian: La disputa del sacramento), or Disputa, is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael.
According to the Synoptic Gospels, Herod, who was tetrarch, or sub-king, of Galilee under the Roman Empire, had imprisoned John the Baptist because he reproved Herod for divorcing his wife (Phasaelis, daughter of King Aretas of Nabataea) and unlawfully taking Herodias, the wife of his brother Herod…
Lucia of Syracuse, also called Saint Lucia or Saint Lucy, was a Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution. She is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox churches.
During the Renaissance, altarpieces commonly portrayed biblical scenes, such as Madonna and Child, examples of which are in this gallery. These two paintings, Saint Sirus and Saint Paul, were likely part of a larger altarpiece made up of many panels, called a polyptych.
The painting depicts the Virgin Mary while receiving the marriage ring by Saint Joseph, in front of a priest of the Temple of Jerusalem. Michelino painted a Dove of the Holy Ghost above Joseph, to underline the supernatural choice of him as Mary's husband.
The arrest of Jesus was a pivotal event in Christianity recorded in the canonical gospels. Jesus, a preacher whom Christians believe to be the Son of God, was arrested by the Temple guards of the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is said to have been martyred for having converted Polymius, King of Armenia, to Christianity.
The crucifixion of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in either AD 30 or AD 33. Jesus' crucifixion is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and is considered an established historical event by many.
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as being one god existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit — three distinct persons sharing one essence.
This tapestry is a fragment of a larger hanging. Since both Saint John the Evangelist and the faltering Virgin look upward, it is probable that this was from the left side of a tapestry of the Crucifixion.
A Madonna is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is from Italian ma donna 'my lady'.
For the medieval viewer, this Crucifixion instantly recalled wrenching extra-biblical details, like the fact that Christ could not rest his head to the side lest his shoulders be pierced with thorns.
Saint John the Baptist was, by all accounts, a rough character, living in the wilderness on locusts and honey. But Italian and Spanish artists of the 1600s often depicted the Biblical figure as an innocent child, and this painting by Joshua Reynolds was inspired by those Old Masters.
Tarcisius was a twelve-year-old acolyte during one of the fierce Roman persecutions of the third century, probably during that of Valerian.
The Adoration of the Magi or Uffizi Triptych is a group of three tempera-on-panel paintings by Andrea Mantegna, dating to around 1460.
The Taking of Christ (Italian: Presa di Cristo nell'orto or Cattura di Cristo) is a painting, of the arrest of Jesus, by the Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.
As Passion obsession developed, so did indulgences, which reduced one's punishment for sins. In the fifteenth century, people who prayed to Christ's body could earn 300 days per limb.
This is an image of an unknown Saint Mary and an unknown male saint painted by Yumeji Takehisa. Takehisa was a Japanese poet and painter.
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican, or simply Saint Peter's Basilica, is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal enclave that is within the city of Rome. Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
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.
