Free downloadable Renaissance Catholic paintings in the public domain.
This small tapestry depicts the infant Jesus pressing grapes into a chalice. The imagery was widely understood at the time of its creation to reference the physical sacrifice Jesus would later make in his crucifixion. In the Christian ritual of the Eucharist, followers drink holy wine to remember Jesus’s...
Mariotto was famous for painting crisp details and the kind of subtle color shifts seen in the angels’ feathered wings and draped robes. These small panels once crowned the upper corners of a large altarpiece made for a church on the outskirts of Florence, Italy (Santo Stefano in Pane). During...
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. The cloth presumed to have been Veronica's-her name means vera icon, or true image-is...
This scene depicting the Virgin Mary, her infant son Jesus Christ, and various saints and prophets also includes the kneeling figure of Louise de Bourbon (1495–1545), a member of the French royal family (Note the inscription LOYSE DE BOURBON on the hem of her dark habit). She was the...
This painting is an altarpiece, a devotional image used in a Christian church, and many of the details are religious symbols. The walled garden, for instance, refers to the garden in the Bible’s Song of Songs and is associated with the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. The...
Triptychs (hinged three-paneled works) such as this were often placed on or behind the altars of medieval churches and private chapels. The central panel of this triptych shows people mourning the death of Jesus. The city in the background is Bruges, where the artist worked. Saint John the Baptist and...
Lucas Cranach the Elder worked in a time of religious upheaval. Martin Luther (a close associate of Cranach) led the Protestant Reformation challenging the Catholic Church, arguing that man could have a direct relationship with God without the need for a priest to intermediate. Cranach adapted familiar Catholic imagery to...
This panel represents Catherine Benincasa of Siena, one of the most influential women of the late Middle Ages. Affiliated with the Dominican order, she was renowned for her devotion to the poor and sick as well as for her mystical visions. In one such vision, she saw herself marked with...
Created by Pietro Perugino during the height of the Italian Renaissance, "The Baptism of Christ" (1500–1505) reflects the period’s fascination with harmonious composition, balanced figures, and luminous color. Perugino, renowned as one of the leading artists of his generation and Raphael's teacher, masterfully incorporates...
These four panels, together with another one depicting the Resurrection (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), once constituted a predella—a series of small pictures, often narrative scenes, forming the base of an altarpiece. These predella scenes depict moments when Jesus’s divine nature was revealed: at his birth, at...
This series of panels illustrates scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist, a prophet who foretold Jesus’s arrival as the Christian savior. The Art Institute’s collection includes six panels that were originally part of a group of 12 that possibly formed the doors of a reliquary...
This series of panels illustrates scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist, a prophet who foretold Jesus’s arrival as the Christian savior. The Art Institute’s collection includes six panels that were originally part of a group of 12 that possibly formed the doors of a reliquary...
This series of panels illustrates scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist, a prophet who foretold Jesus’s arrival as the Christian savior. The Art Institute’s collection includes six panels that were originally part of a group of 12 that possibly formed the doors of a reliquary...
This series of panels illustrates scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist, a prophet who foretold Jesus’s arrival as the Christian savior. The Art Institute’s collection includes six panels that were originally part of a group of 12 that possibly formed the doors of a reliquary...
In this humanizing yet idealized depiction of the Virgin Mary embracing the baby Jesus, Sandro Botticelli conveyed the sacred beauty of maternal love. Mary, her expression soft and her skin luminous, nuzzles her son’s chubby cheek as he grasps the nape of her neck. An angel, smaller in scale,...
This small panel was once part of an altarpiece depicting the life of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, along with a Nativity scene now in the Rijksmuseum and a depiction of the Annunciation, now in the Glasgow Art Gallery. Forty days after the birth of a male child,...
"Jesus Among the Doctors" (1560) by Paolo Veronese is a significant painting that depicts a scene from the Gospel of Luke.
Bernardino Luini's "Christ among the Doctors" is a remarkable oil painting, currently housed in the National Gallery, London. This Renaissance masterpiece depicts a pivotal moment from the Gospel of Luke, where the twelve-year-old Jesus is found debating with theologians in the Temple of Jerusalem
Paolo Veronese was an Italian Renaissance painter, based in Venice, known for large-format history paintings of religion and mythology, such as The Wedding at Cana (1563) and The Feast in the House of Levi (1573).
This circular work of art, known as a tondo, shows the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph with the child Jesus, and Saint Elizabeth holding John the Baptist on the right.
This image, by the famous Italian painter Raphael, shows the resurrected Christ holding His right hand in a pose of blessing.
"The Penitent Magdalene" by Titian depicts Mary Magdalene in a state of deep repentance. She is shown with long, flowing hair, gazing upward with a sorrowful expression, symbolizing her plea for divine forgiveness. The dark background contrasts with her illuminated figure, emphasizing her emotional state. Symbols such as...
The painting you are viewing is "The Niccolini-Cowper Madonna," created in 1508 by the Italian artist Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino), who lived from 1483 to 1520. Raphael is renowned for his extraordinary clarity of form and ease of composition, as well as the serenity and harmony that...
"The Temptation of Christ" by Titian is a religious painting depicting Jesus during his 40-day fast in the wilderness, a common theme illustrating his spiritual trials. In this work, Christ is central, portrayed with a serene yet somber expression, his divinity and humanity highlighted by a halo and...
