Art of the Saints
70 artworks found
A saint in a painting is almost never anonymous. Centuries of practice built a visual shorthand — a wheel, a gridiron, a lily, a lion — so that a congregation who could not read could still tell one holy figure from another across a dim church.
Altarpiece of the Church Fathers: St Augustine and St Gregory by Michael Pacher - Framed Canvas
By: Michael Pacher
Christ Blessing by Giovanni Bellini - Framed Canvas
By: Giovanni Bellini
Brother Juniper and the Beggar by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo - Framed Canvas
By: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Christ contemplated by the Christian Soul by Diego Velázquez - Framed Canvas
By: Diego Velázquez
Christ as 'The Light of the World' by Paris Bordone - Framed Canvas
By: Paris Bordone
Christ Embracing St. Bernard from the Cross by Francesc Ribalta - Framed Canvas
By: Francesc Ribalta
Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian by Antonio del Pollaiuolo - Framed Canvas
By: Antonio del Pollaiuolo
Martyrdom of St. Stephen by Juan de Juanes - Framed Canvas
By: Juan de Juanes
Joan of Arc by Jules Bastien-Lepage - Framed Canvas
By: Jules Bastien-Lepage
Miracles of Saint Salvador of Horta by José Juárez - Framed Canvas
By: José Juárez
Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Antonio Solario - Framed Canvas
By: Antonio Solario
Madonna and Child with Saints by Cima da Conegliano - Framed Canvas
By: Cima da Conegliano
Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina - Framed Canvas
By: Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina
The Death of Saint Martin by Simone Martini - Framed Canvas
By: Simone Martini
Maestà by Duccio di Buoninsegna - Framed Canvas
By: Duccio di Buoninsegna
Saint Cecilia by John William Waterhouse - Framed Canvas
By: John William Waterhouse
Saint Florian by Francesco del Cossa - Framed Canvas
By: Francesco del Cossa
Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata by Jan van Eyck - Framed Canvas
By: Jan van Eyck
Sacred Heart of Jesus by Charles Bosseron Chambers - Framed Canvas
By: Charles Bosseron Chambers
Saint Jerome in His Study by Antonello da Messina - Framed Canvas
By: Antonello da Messina
Saint Augustine by Philippe de Champaigne - Framed Canvas
By: Philippe de Champaigne
Saint Jerome in Penitence by Il Sodoma - Framed Canvas
By: Il Sodoma
Saint Jerome in a Landscape by Cima da Conegliano - Framed Canvas
By: Cima da Conegliano
Saint Jude Thaddeus by José de Ribera - Framed Canvas
By: José de Ribera
Saint Lucy by Francesco del Cossa - Framed Canvas
By: Francesco del Cossa
Descent from the Cross by Filippino Lippi and Pietro Perugino - Framed Canvas
By: Filippino Lippi and Pietro Perugino
Saint Martin Dividing his Cloak by Anthony van Dyck - Framed Canvas
By: Anthony van Dyck
Saint Mary Magdalene by Guido Reni - Framed Canvas
By: Guido Reni
Saint Philip Benizi by Pietro Perugino - Framed Canvas
By: Pietro Perugino
Saint Veronica by Lorenzo Costa - Framed Canvas
By: Lorenzo Costa
Saints Augustine and Monica by Ary Scheffer - Framed Canvas
By: Ary Scheffer
Saint Rose of Lima by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo - Framed Canvas
By: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
St. Anthony Mary Claret by Luis de Madrazo - Framed Canvas
By: Luis de Madrazo
St. Anthony and the Miracle of the Mule by Domenico Beccafumi - Framed Canvas
By: Domenico Beccafumi
Saint Sebastian by Cima da Conegliano - Framed Canvas
By: Cima da Conegliano
Saints Genevieve and Apollonia by Lucas Cranach the Elder - Framed Canvas
By: Lucas Cranach the Elder
St. Lawrence by Juan Correa de Vivar - Framed Canvas
By: Juan Correa de Vivar
Saints John the Evangelist, Scholastica and Benedict by Master of Liesborn - Framed Canvas
By: Master of Liesborn
St. Augustine by Justus van Gent - Framed Canvas
By: Justus van Gent
Saint Ursula by Antonio Solario - Framed Canvas
By: Antonio Solario
St. Luke Displaying a Painting of the Virgin by Guercino - Framed Canvas
By: Guercino
St. Basil Dictating His Doctrine by Francisco de Herrera - Framed Canvas
By: Francisco de Herrera
The Knighting of Saint Martin by Simone Martini - Framed Canvas
By: Simone Martini
St. Bonaventure by Francisco de Zurbarán - Framed Canvas
By: Francisco de Zurbarán
St. Bonaventure Receiving the Host from the Hands of an Angel by Francisco de Herrera - Framed Canvas
By: Francisco de Herrera
St. Sebastian by Antonio Bellucci - Framed Canvas
By: Antonio Bellucci
St. Clare by Simone Martini - Framed Canvas
By: Simone Martini
St. Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger - Framed Canvas
By: Hans Holbein the Younger
St. Florian's Martyrdom by Albrecht Altdorfer - Framed Canvas
By: Albrecht Altdorfer
St Peter Enthroned with Saints by Cima da Conegliano - Framed Canvas
By: Cima da Conegliano
St. Francis in Meditation by Francisco de Zurbarán - Framed Canvas
By: Francisco de Zurbarán
Our Lady of Perpetual Help by Unknown - Framed Canvas
By: Unknown
St. Ambrose Converting Emperor Theodosius by Pierre Subleyras - Framed Canvas
By: Pierre Subleyras
St. Joseph Cupertino by Ludovico Mazzanti - Framed Canvas
By: Ludovico Mazzanti
Supper of St. Benedict by Juan Rizi - Matte Canvas
By: Juan Rizi
The Madonna and Child with Saints James the Greater, Jerome, the Infant Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria by Bonifazio Veronese - Matte Canvas
By: Bonifazio Veronese
The Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist, Elizabeth and Catherine of Alexandria by Bonifazio Veronese - Framed Canvas
By: Bonifazio Veronese
The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer by Jean-Léon Gérôme - Framed Canvas
By: Jean-Léon Gérôme
The Last Communion of Saint Jerome by Domenichino - Framed Canvas
By: Domenichino
The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian by Andrea Mantegna - Framed Canvas
By: Andrea Mantegna
The Sacred Heart by Pompeo Batoni - Framed Canvas
By: Pompeo Batoni
The Mass of Saint Gregory the Great by Adriaen Isenbrant - Framed Canvas
By: Adriaen Isenbrant
The Holy Family with Sts. Francis, Anthony, Magdalene, John the Baptist and Elizabeth by Bonifazio Veronese - Framed Canvas
By: Bonifazio Veronese
The Virgin and Child Enthroned among Angels and Saints by Benozzo Gozzoli - Framed Canvas
By: Benozzo Gozzoli
The Port of Ostia with the embarkation of Saint Paula by Claude Lorrain - Framed Canvas
By: Claude Lorrain
The Temptation of St Anthony Abbot by Annibale Carracci - Framed Canvas
By: Annibale Carracci
The Triumph of St. Augustine by Claudio Coello - Framed Canvas
By: Claudio Coello
Virgin and Child with Angels and Saints by Felice Torelli - Matte Canvas
By: Felice Torelli
Vision of St. Hubertus by Wilhelm Carl Räuber - Framed Canvas
By: Wilhelm Carl Räuber
The Virgin and Child by Giovanni Bellini - Framed Canvas
By: Giovanni Bellini
The saints and their attributes
These attributes are the most useful thing a viewer can learn. Catherine of Alexandria carries the wheel she was condemned to and which broke at her touch. Lawrence carries the gridiron. Jerome keeps a lion, from the legend of the thorn drawn from its paw, and usually a skull and a book besides. Peter holds keys; Paul holds a sword. Once the vocabulary is familiar, a crowded altarpiece stops being a crowd and becomes a named gathering.
The saints also gave painters their one licence to paint ordinary life. A Madonna is bound by convention, but a saint in his study is a man at a desk, and painters took the opening: Antonello's Jerome sits in a room of shelves and small animals, more interested in the furniture than the theology. Caravaggio pushed it furthest, using street models for apostles and being told, repeatedly, that he had gone too far.
The single most painted subject among them is martyrdom, and it is worth understanding what the painters were doing. These are not pictures of pain for its own sake. The convention is that the saint is calm — Sebastian pierced with arrows and looking upward, Agatha composed — because the point being made is that the executioner has failed. Renaissance and Baroque painters who could render agony perfectly well chose, in these pictures, not to.