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Topics

Jesus Christ

  • Summary
Jesus Receives His Cross
Image credit: St Stephen's House, University of Oxford

Jesus Receives His Cross

Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne (1854–1921)

St Stephen's House, University of Oxford

The life of Christ provided the main subjects for western art until the seventeenth century in Northern Europe and the eighteenth century in Catholic countries. His birth, teachings, death and resurrection inspired, and were a focus for, devotion and worship. The Madonna and Child idealised the relationship between mother and child; the Crucifixion depicts the pain, horror and grief of Christ’s death. Through these images, bible stories educated an illiterate population. The church and its prosperous donors were then the principal patrons of artists.


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The Reformation in Northern Europe forbade such images, and destroyed many of them. Later, nineteenth-century movements like the Nazarenes in Germany and the Pre-Raphaelites in Britain breathed new life into depictions of the life of Jesus.

Artworks

  • Madonna and Child
    Madonna and Child Giovanni Bellini (1431/1436–1516)
    Southampton City Art Gallery
  • The Baptism of Christ
    The Baptism of Christ Andrea Sacchi (1599–1661)
    The Fitzwilliam Museum
  • PINXIT
    PINXIT Brickland
    National Justice Museum
  • Madonna and Child with Saint Francis and Saint Bernardino of Siena
    Madonna and Child with Saint Francis and Saint Bernardino of Siena Girolamo di Benvenuto (1470–1524)
    York Art Gallery
  • The Annunciation
    The Annunciation Giulio Cesare Procaccini (1574–1625)
    York Art Gallery
  • The Baptism of Jesus by St John*
    The Baptism of Jesus by St John* British (English) School
    Magdalen College School
  • The Baptism of Christ
    The Baptism of Christ Italian School
    York Art Gallery
  • 469 more

Stories

  • Petrus Christus' 'Christ as the Man of Sorrows'

    Camilla Stewart

  • El Greco: madman or Renaissance master?

    Isabelle Kent

  • Setting the table: depictions of Christ's Last Supper

    Emma Cieslik

  • Hand to hand: works chosen from the Methodist Modern Art Collection

    Ben Quash

  • Early Netherlandish painting: deep feeling and great truth of character

    Adam Wattam

  • 'Our true Mother' – interpreting a genderqueer Jesus

    Emma Cieslik

  • Detail of 'Christ Discovered in the Temple'
    Simone Martini's 'Christ Discovered in the Temple': a 700-year-old gilded wonder

    Adam Wattam

  • What links Shrove Tuesday, pancakes and carnival?

    Andrew Shore

  • Bruegel's 'The Adoration of the Kings': not a picture-perfect Nativity

    Adam Wattam

  • What was the Transfiguration of Jesus and how has it been portrayed in art?

    Andrew Shore

  • Christ on the cross: depictions of the crucifixion

    Lydia Figes

  • Patrick Tuohy's 'The Baptism of Christ'

    John O'Brien

  • Giulio Cesare Procaccini: an Italian Baroque artist in UK collections

    Averil King

  • Nicholas Serota on Stanley Spencer

    Nicholas Serota

  • Carlo Crivelli: the Italian Renaissance artist who played with space and perspective

    Melissa Baksh

  • The Ascension of Christ
    What is the Ascension? Jesus' heavenward journey in art

    Andrew Shore

  • Write on Art: 'La Mitrailleuse' by C. R. W. Nevinson

    Jack Harrison

  • Intimate moments of salvation: Annunciation scenes through the ages

    Adam Wattam

  • Beyond cute: a brief history of cupids, cherubs and putti in art

    Anne Wallentine

  • Balancing act: ladders in art

    Imelda Barnard

Learning resources

  • ng-ng-ng2790-001-1-1.jpg
    Audio
    Audio description of 'The Adoration of the Kings' by Jan Gossaert
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
      SEND (ENG)
      SEND (NI)
      ASN (SCO)
      SEND (WAL)
  • NG_NG_NG2790-001.jpg
    Lesson plan
    The Superpower of Looking: the three wise men who visited Jesus
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
  • sculpture-in-focus-our-lady-seat-of-wisdom-1.jpg
    Video
    Sculpture in focus: 'Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom' by Peter Eugene Ball
    • KS3 (ENG)
      CfE L3 (SCO)
      CfE L4 (SCO)
      KS3 (WAL)
      KS3 (NI)

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® is a registered trade mark of the Public Catalogue Foundation.
Art UK is the operating name of the Public Catalogue Foundation, a charity registered in England and Wales (1096185) and Scotland (SC048601).