Create in Me a Clean Heart: Psalm 51 and the Penitent David
Create in me a clean heart, O God. Follow Psalm 51 and the penitent King David through Christian art, from the Stuttgart Psalter and Books of Hours to Honthorst, de Grebber and Guercino.
Psalm 23, The Lord Is My Shepherd: Full Text (KJV), Meaning, and Art
The Lord is my shepherd has shaped Christian art for eighteen centuries. Follow Psalm 23 from the Roman catacombs to Ravenna, the medieval psalters, and the great devotional painters.
Masaccio’s Holy Trinity and the Illusion of Depth
The Holy Trinity by Masaccio is one of the most important paintings of the early Renaissance, famous as the first…
Christ of Saint John of the Cross: Dali’s Sacred Geometry
Christ of Saint John of the Cross is one of the most famous religious paintings of the twentieth century, made…
Murillo’s Vision of the Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables is the most celebrated of the many versions of this subject painted by Bartolome…
Caravaggio’s Calling of Saint Matthew: A Beam of Grace
The Calling of Saint Matthew is one of the great paintings of the Baroque, made by Caravaggio at the very…
Rembrandt’s Storm on the Sea of Galilee
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee is the only seascape Rembrandt ever painted, and one of the most dramatic…
Robert Campin’s Merode Altarpiece and Its Hidden Symbols
The Merode Altarpiece, also called the Annunciation Triptych, is one of the founding works of Early Netherlandish painting, made by…
Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal Son, His Last Word
The Return of the Prodigal Son is among the last and most moving works of Rembrandt, painted around 1668, near…
Bouguereau’s Pieta: A Mother’s Sorrow
Pieta is one of the most moving religious paintings of the nineteenth century, made by the French master William-Adolphe Bouguereau…