Free downloadable Catholic paintings which are in the public domain
Joseph the Carpenter is an oil painting by Georges de La Tour created circa 1642. The painting depicts a young Jesus with Saint Joseph, his earthly father. Joseph drills a piece of wood with an auger. The shape of the auger reflects the shape of the Cross and the geometry...
The composition of this Virgin and Child is loosely based on the Hodegetria, one of the more powerful and enduring icon types of the Orthodox Christian church. The Virgin gestures toward the child to show him as the “way” (hodos in Greek), the source of salvation. The throne and her...
The Virgin Mary, enthroned as Queen of Heaven, is surrounded by angels, some in attitudes of prayer, others playing musical instruments and singing. Twisting in his mother’s lap, the infant Christ reaches for a lily, a symbol of Mary’s purity, and clutches a goldfinch, an allusion to his...
The story from the Book of Judith revolves around Judith, a daring and beautiful widow, who is upset with her Jewish countrymen for not trusting God to deliver them from their foreign conquerors. She goes with her loyal maid to the camp of the enemy general, Holofernes, with whom she...
Domine, quo vadis? is a c. 1602 painting by the Italian Baroque painter Annibale Carracci (1560–1609), depicting a scene from the apocrypha Acts of Peter. It is housed in the National Gallery, London, where it is given the title Christ appearing to Saint Peter on the Appian Way. The...
The liberation of the apostle Peter is an event described in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 12 in which the apostle Peter is rescued from prison by an angel. Although described in a short textual passage, the tale has given rise to theological discussions and has been the subject...
This miniature, cut from a book of Old Testament prophets made in Sicily, presents the first of the prophet Zechariah's eight visions, a subject rarely depicted in art. Zechariah stands on the left, next to an angel who points to a man mounting a red horse. The angel...
Giovanni Lanfranco conceived this painting as part of a series executed for the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura (Saint Paul Outside the Walls) in Rome. Lanfranco depicts the imposing figures as if seen from below, imbuing them with a sense of...
This side wing and its companion were once part of an altarpiece commissioned in 1408 by the confraternity of the Virgin and Saint Stephen for the church of Santo Stefano in Pane, on the outskirts of Florence. The central panel, now in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, shows the Coronation...
Three boats approach the German city of Cologne where Saint Ursula, on her way back north after a pilgrimage to Rome, was martyred together with her virgin companions. Ursula, identified by her crown and golden halo, sits under a baldachin in the stern of the foreground boat; their imminent arrival...
During his devotions in the wilderness, Saint Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian order, a monastic community committed to solitary meditation, experienced a vision. Gazing intensely up at the sky, the saint tentatively reaches out to touch the mystical illusion of angels appearing in the sky. To the left, two...
This folio tells part of the biblical story of David and his rebellious son Absalom. In the upper left, King David, crowned and enthroned, is dismayed to hear the news that Absalom has conspired against him and invaded his lands. Unwilling to fight, David withdraws from his palace but leaves...
Made just eight years before Rembrandt's death, this painting depicts Saint Bartholomew holding a knife in his right hand, a reference to the fact that he was skinned alive when martyred. One of Rembrandt's neighbors may have posed as the model for the saint. By showing...
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called il Guercino or simply Guercino, meaning “The Squinter”, a nickname referring to a congenital eye condition from which he suffered. In 1621, Guercino was called to Rome from his hometown of Cento, Ferrara, to paint this portrait of Pope Gregory XV (1554–1623). Despite being a...
Following a model established for papal portraits by Raphael two decades earlier, Sebastiano del Piombo painted Pope Clement VII (Giulio de'Medici, reigned 1523–1534) in three-quarter length and seated in an armchair, positioned diagonally to the picture plane. In a letter dated July 22, 1531, Sebastiano told his...
Holding the jawbone as his attribute, Samson looks upward, perhaps to God. The great strongman slew a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass (Judges 15:19). Overcome by thirst, he then drank from the rock at Lechi, a name that also means "jawbone" in Hebrew. Due...
In the classic biblical tale of faith, daring, and skill overcoming brute strength and superior odds (1 Samuel 17), the shepherd boy David slew the armored Philistine giant Goliath with just a stave, a slingshot, and a pouch containing a few pebbles from a local brook. After stunning Goliath with...
The use of light and shade, saturated colors, and bold gestures dramatically capture the drama of the Resurrection, so vividly recorded in the Bible. Famous as the teacher of Rembrandt, Pieter Lastman brought a direct, emotional conviction to religious themes in his native Amsterdam in the early 1600s. In The...
This panel depicts the early Christian saint, Catherine of Alexandria, holding a book and a palm leaf of martyrdom, surrounded by a dozen scenes from her legend. A beautiful and highly intelligent young noble woman, Catherine vowed only to marry if she found a suitor who surpassed her in every...
Lurking in the shadows, grotesque monsters emerge to taunt Saint Anthony, attempting to impede his meditation. Grinning with satanic delight, the demons take human and raptor-like animal forms. Unperturbed, Saint Anthony continues to read his meditations. Divine light illuminates his figure, forming a bright halo around his head. He is...
Saint Sebastian is more conventionally depicted bound to a tree or pillar and pierced by arrows, or having his wounds tended to by Irene. Having recovered from the attempted execution by arrows, Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered that he be beaten to death and disposed of in the sewer. The denial...
This painting illustrates the Roman widow Irene nursing Saint Sebastian back to health after he was discovered to be a Christian and shot with arrows by Roman archers. Writhing in pain, Saint Sebastian looks heavenward as Saint Irene pulls arrows from his pierced body. Vicente López y Portaña dynamically composed...
God the Father sits enthroned, holding the crucified Christ with the Holy Spirit between them, all three dominating the composition. Together they represent the Trinity, the central doctrine of the Christian faith, in which all three are united as one. This recently discovered altarpiece was carefully designed for the kneeling...
Le Sueur depicts Christ on the cross, still alive, alone in a rocky and mountainous landscape. Following an older tradition in art, he is represented attached to the cross with four nails. As he hangs dying, blood trickles from his feet and hands onto the cross and the rock of...
