Free downloadable Catholic paintings which are in the public domain
The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew is a painting by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio. It takes its theme from a passage in the Gospel of Matthew describing the moment when Christ called the two brothers Simon – later known as Peter – and Andrew, to be his disciples: As Jesus walked by the…
Details: Rest on the Flight into Egypt is an oil on canvas painting executed c.1665 by the Spanish artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo which is now in the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia. It depicts the Holy Family, attended by two Cupids, resting during a flight to safety. The theme...
A kneeling woman begs Christ in the midst of his disciples to heal her daughter, who is possessed by the devil (Matthew 15:21-21; Mark 7:24-30). On the right there is a disciple with a large book under his arm. On the left, two children are eating bread and in the foreground two dogs are playing.
In the Book of Genesis, the son of Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob, went to Haran, saw a well where shepherds were gathering their flocks to water them and met Laban's younger daughter, Rachel, his first cousin; she was working as a shepherdess. Jacob was 77 years old, and he loved Rachel immediately.
Salome’s dancing so pleased her stepfather Herod that he offered her anything she wanted. Her mother advised Salome to demand John the Baptist’s head, which Salome presented to her family in an elaborate dish. Despite its biblical
Laib was a German painter who spent most of his career in Austria. Proof that he came to Salzburg at an early age is suggested by the stylistic affinity of many of his works with Salzburg painting, including this one.
The Coronation of the Virgin celebrates the culminating scene in the narrative cycle of the life of the Virgin. The subject follows Mary’s ascent into heaven after her death. Surrounded by a choir of music-making angels, the Virgin kneels to accept her crown from God and Christ.
These pinnacles were originally set on top of a multipanel altarpiece that has now been lost. The angels' gestures and glances suggest that they were placed to the left and right of a central image.
A saint, holding an abbot or bishop’s crozier, blesses a kneeling figure, probably the donor who commissioned the window. It forms a pair with another panel showing Saint Fiacre, also owned by the Museum.
In Christian theology, the Harrowing of Hell (Latin: Descensus Christi ad Inferos, "the descent of Christ into Hell") is the descent of Jesus into Hell (or Hades), a period of time between the Crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection.
The Descent from the Cross, or Deposition of Christ, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospels' accounts of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after his crucifixion (John 19:38–42).
While Mary is most often depicted wearing a blue shawl, Ethiopian artists in the mid-16th century began painting the shawl red, a practice that related to their study of Cretan icons. The Ge'ez inscriptions found on the icons are instrumental in identifying specific individuals. For instance, St.
This large icon, meant to be seen by many people, was carried in church processions on holy days. The subject of Christ crowned with thorns and flanked by tormentors was modeled after Ethiopia's famous imperial icon that was carried into battle by the emperor's army.
This is an important Ethiopian Orthodox icon that was once owned by a parsonage. On the proper right panel it depicts the gruesome scene of St. George being chopped into pieces below the twelve apostles and the saint himself killing a dragon.
The Christ Child extends his arm to Mary Magdalene who kneels by the child. On the floor is a skull (which represents Christ’s victory over death) and a book (which represents the scriptures).
In the spring of 1890 Berthe Morisot and her husband, Eugène Manet, rented a house with a garden overlooking the Seine River in the rural French town of Mézy. Morisot worked in the attic studio while the pair was there.
Lorenzo was born in Manila of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, both Christians. Thus he learned Chinese and Tagalog from them, and Spanish from the Dominicans whom he served as altar boy and sacristan. Lorenzo's life took an abrupt turn when he was accused of murder.
This scene and that of King Solomon Receiving the Queen of Sheba are particularly fine examples of the decorative style practiced in Antwerp by a group of largely anonymous artists now dubbed Antwerp Mannerists.
This painting illustrates a scene from the Old Testament. After the prophet Samuel anointed David as King Saul's successor, Saul became jealous and plotted David's death.
In the crumbling remains of a Roman temple, a monk prays at the foot of an altar. Absorbed in his devotions, he is unaware of three young women sneaking inside to steal flowers from a makeshift shrine.
Surrounded by a diverse array of onlookers, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius kneels and prepares to raise the holy cross. Barefoot and clad in drab robes, Heraclius has abandoned his fine clothing in order to pass through the gate of Jerusalem with humility.
Wading carefully through the water of the River Jordan, Christ leans his upper body forward, and extends his arms for balance, his fingertips gently touching Saint John the Baptist's side. Christ’s outstretched arms may prefigure his position on the cross at his crucifixion.
The words Ave gratia plena Dominus tecum (Greetings most favored one! The Lord is with you) from Saint Luke’s Gospel (1:8) emerge from the archangel Gabriel’s mouth as he announces the conception of Christ to the Virgin Mary.
At the left, Saint Peter and other disciples of Christ pull their teeming nets of fish aboard a boat. After an unsuccessful night of fishing on the Sea of Tiberius, the tired and hungry disciples had seen a man standing on the shore and followed his advice to cast their nets over the boat's right…
