Free downloadable Renaissance Catholic paintings in the public domain.
Saint Paul and Saint Sirus are panel paintings likely from the same large altarpiece. Panel painting was a lengthy process that required many steps. The panel is a plank of wood that was prepared with many layers of gesso, a glue-size-chalk substance that forms the white base layer of the...
These panels depicting Saints Anthony the Abbot and Michael originally flanked a central scene of the Madonna and Child with Angels, now lost, to form a triptych. Giovanni di Cosimo de’Medici of Florence commissioned the ensemble in 1457 as a gift to Alfonso V of Aragon. Fra Filippo Lippi,...
Little is known about the life and career of Sint Jans. He seems to have been born in Haarlem in Holland in the northern Low Countries where he may have been attached to the Knights of Saint John as a lay brother, and likely produced an altarpiece for that order....
Correggio spent most of his brief career in the northern Italian city of Parma. Removed from the great centers of Renaissance art, he was able to create a remarkably innovative body of work. This intimate devotional panel is a product of the artist’s youth. Here Correggio revealed his own...
Sebastian, a bodyguard for the Roman emperor Diocletian, was shot with arrows and was eventually drowned for his commitment to Christianity. While the arrow alludes to Saint Sebastian, the young man’s clothing dates to the late 1400s, indicating that this is a contemporary portrait, rather than an image of...
Saint Catherine (1347-1380) was the daughter of a prosperous Sienese cloth dyer. At the age of six, she saw a vision of Christ and thereafter dedicated herself to chastity, penance, and good works. She became much beloved in Siena for selflessly caring for victims of the Black Death. This panel,...
Saint Catherine holds the sword with which she was martyred, and Saint Barbara holds both a book and a ring symbolizing her scholarly pursuits and union with God. According to legend, the leather thongs with which she was beaten were transformed into peacock plumes. These two paintings were originally the...
Saint Nicolas of Bari, patron saint of children, sailors, and travelers, and the prototype of Father Christmas, was bishop of Myra (Lycia) in Asia Minor during the AD 300s. His remains were said to have been taken to Bari in Italy during the 11th century. The saint is shown vested...
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'. Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_(art)#:~:text=A%20Madonna%20(Italian%...
A donor portrait or votive portrait is a portrait in a larger painting or other work showing the person who commissioned and paid for the image, or a member of his, or (much more rarely) her, family. Donor portrait usually refers to the portrait or portraits of donors alone, as...
The perfectly round form, called a tondo, became popular during the 1440s. Made for domestic settings instead of churches, the circular format challenged the artist to create a harmonious, balanced composition within this more difficult shape. The attribution has been a matter of debate. Botticelli often collaborated with students, including...
Saint Romuald, born in 950, founded a strict order of monks who valued austerity and meditation. His white robe shows that his order was related to the better-known Benedictines, and his book and staff, made from reeds, speak to his wisdom and commitment to living simply. The fine details of...
The woman is Mary Magdalene. She can be identified by her jar of ointment, which she used to anoint Jesus’s feet. Van Scorel painted her as a seductive, luxuriously dressed courtesan, a reference to her reputed past as a prostitute. Her clothing shows the influence of Italian painting, to...
Against an open, hilly landscape, the lifeless body of Christ hangs from a wood cross, his slumped head, open mouth and tense muscles capture the dramatic moment of his death. The monumental figures of the Virgin (left) and Saint John the Evangelist (right) stand at his side and in the...
Savoldo depicts Mary Magdalene in the Garden of Gethsemane peering from behind shimmering folds of satin fabric, tentatively looking outward at the viewer. She is identifiable by her ointment jar on the left, containing the oil with which she anointed Christ’s feet. She stands by the sepulchre, preparing to...
Bronzino depicts Saint John the Baptist's muscular figure in a restricted space, his torso twisted to accommodate the panel’s vertical format which creates a series of strong diagonal accents, zigzagging the length of the painting. This artificial, serpentine pose marks Bronzino’s move away from naturalism toward...
For four years, Saint Jerome retreated to the desert to the southeast of Antioch (in modern-day Turkey), where he purified his soul through physical suffering. Seated before the vaulted ruin of his desert hermitage, his wiry limbs, sunken eye sockets, and tanned skin are a testament to the harsh conditions...
I saw our Lord fastened upon the cross coming down towards me and surrounding me with a marvelous light… Then there came down from the holes of his blessed wounds five bloody beams, which were directed towards the same parts of my body: to my hands, feet, and heart. This...
These panels once served as wings of a portable altarpiece used for private devotion. The left panel shows Saint Francis, who is recognized by the stigmata on his hands, feet, and side. The three knots tied in the sash around his waist symbolizing his Franciscan Order's three religious...
While performing mass one day, Pope Gregory became aware of a disbeliever in the congregation and prayed for a sign that would leave no doubt about the real presence of Christ in the Mass. Christ materialized above the altar as the Man of Sorrows, displaying the stigmata and surrounded by...
In this small painting, the figure of Christ is almost lost amid the dense, multi-colored crowd. Identified by a pale yellow halo, Christ stands on a rustic podium near the crowd's center. He presents his sermon on the conditions of blessedness. Behind Christ, his disciples pay rapt attention,...
This crowded and colorful panel displays the story of Christ's Crucifixion along with episodes of damnation and salvation. At the left, Christ carries the cross and Veronica hands him her veil. In the center, Christ's broken body hangs on the cross between the two thieves. At...
The Madonna of Humility, an extremely popular subject in Flanders, sits on the ground on a cushion, presenting the haloed Christ Child in her arms. A crescent visible below her skirts at the left symbolizes the moon on which the Virgin stands in representations of the Immaculate Conception. The open...
The mood is one of lavish ceremony, as Christ places an ornate gold crown upon the Virgin Mary’s slightly bowed head. Groups of musical angels watch from either side as she is crowned Queen of Heaven. Gentile da Fabriano used extensive tooling, pastiglia (areas of raised gesso which is...
