Mikeal C. Parsons
Miracles of Christ: Healing of the Ten Lepers (detail), Byzantine mosaic (12th century)
This mosaic depicting Christ healing the ten lepers (Luke 17:11–19) decorates the Monreale Cathedral in Sicily....
Prophet Jeremiah, by Donatello (ca. 1386–1466)
This life-size marble sculpture was originally intended for the campanile, the bell tower adjacent to the Duomo, the main cathedral in Florence....
Vanitas, by Pieter Claesz (c. 1597–1660)
The vanitas tradition in 17th-century Dutch still-life painting draws inspiration from the Vulgate version of Ecclesiastes 1:2: “Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas” [“Vanity of vanities, all ...
Good Samaritan, by Jacopo Bassano (1510–1592)
The parable of the good Samaritan, here depicted by the Italian mannerist painter Jacopo Bassano, illustrates generosity and one person’s support for another, devoid of prejudice....
Visitation, by Jacopo Pontormo (1494–1557)
Jacopo Pontormo painted the Visitation (1514–16) for the Church of the Annunciation in Florence, Italy, where the fresco remains....
Ascension of Christ, by Fra Angelico (c. 1395–1455)
In Fra Angelico’s depiction of Christ’s ascension, Mary occupies center stage....
The Conversion of Saint Paul, by Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) painted The Conversion of St. Paul to be paired with Crucifixion of St....
Triptych of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, by Nicholas Froment
The Resurrection of Lazarus, a triptych from 1461, is the earliest documented work by the French Renaissance artist Nicolas Froment....
Baptism of Christ and Temptations, by Michele Tosini
Painted by Michele Tosini (called Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, 1503–1577) in 1565 at the height of his career in Florence, this work combines the baptism of Jesus (Luke 3:2...
The Wedding at Cana, by Paolo Veronese
In 1562, Benedictine monks commissioned Paolo Veronese to decorate the refectory at their monastery on the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore....
Baptism of Christ, by Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378–1455)
In 1401, Lorenzo Ghiberti won the competition held by the Arte di Calimala, the guild of importers and finishers of woolen cloth, to decorate the north doors of the baptistery in Florence....
Christ Pantocrator, Alpha and Omega, surrounded by angels, the elect, and Mary, Mother of God, Dome of Paradise, by Giusto de’ Menabuoi (1320–1391)
Christ Pantocrator means “all-powerful or Almighty Christ.” The Pantocrator image, which typically depicts Christ seated in enthroned glory, was (and is) especially popular in the Byzantin...
Naomi Entreating Ruth and Orpah to Return to the Land of Moab, by William Blake
The English poet William Blake is almost as well known for his engravings and watercolors as he is for his poetry....
The Meditation on the Passion, by Vittore Carpaccio (ca. 1460–1525)
The dead Christ sits between St. Jerome on his left and Job on his right. Christ appears to be sleeping—a reference to the resurrection....
The Canaanite Woman, from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (15th-century Book of Hours)
A non-Israelite woman (in Mark, a Syrophoenician; in Matthew, a Canaanite) approaches Jesus, begging him to heal her daughter....
Bathsheba with King David’s Letter, by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669)
One reading of the story of David and Bathsheba depicts their encounter as a tryst between consenting adults or perhaps even as the result of Bathsheba’s plan to seduce David....
The Beheading of St. John the Baptist, by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1608
Caravaggio (1571–1610) depicted the beheading of St. John the Baptist for the oratory chapel dedicated to the same subject in the Cathedral of St. John in Valletta on the island of Malta....
Holy Trinity, by Masaccio (1401–1428)
Holy Trinity was executed around 1426–27 and is located in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence....
Ascension, miniature depicted in the Syriac Evangeliary of Rabbula (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence, Italy)
The image of the ascension in the illustrated Rabbula Syriac Gospels is one of the earliest depictions of the scene on parchment (586 CE) and sets the iconography for centuries to come....
Doubting Thomas, by Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi da, 1571–1610)
Caravaggio’s painting depicts the story of the apostle’s incredulity the way most of us remember it, but not exactly the way it is presented in John 20:27–28....