Christian images. From mosaic to Caravaggio

Unknown mosaic artists · About 547

Emperor Justinian never visited Ravenna, yet he takes part in a ceremony on the wall of San Vitale. The basilica was consecrated in 547. Soldiers and clergy stand beside the ruler, representing imperial authority in the city.

Attributed to Eadfrith · About 700

The Lindisfarne Gospels were made around 700. This page precedes the Novum opus preface. Its dense ornament gives it the name carpet page. The attribution to Bishop Eadfrith comes from a note added to the manuscript in the tenth century.

Unknown Byzantine icon painter · First third of the 12th century

Painted in Byzantium in the first third of the twelfth century, the icon was brought from Constantinople to Rus around 1130. It was repeatedly repainted over the centuries. Its present surface combines early painting with later alterations.

Andrei Rublev · Probably 1422–1427

Three angels sit at a table with a single cup. Rublev painted the icon for the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity–Sergius monastery, probably in 1422–27. Abraham’s three visitors form the basis of this Orthodox image of the Trinity.

Unidentified Ethiopian painter · Late 17th century

The Virgin and Child occupy the centre with archangels Gabriel and Michael beside them. The triptych follows the courtly First Gonderine style developed under King Iyyasu I. Large figures and rich ornament belong to a local tradition, recalling Ethiopia’s long independent history of Christian painting.

Berlinghiero · c. 1230s

Three hinged panels could be folded for storage and transport as a small domestic altarpiece. Berlinghiero led a workshop in Lucca, an important Tuscan center before Siena and Florence rose to prominence. Long lines defining garments and hands continue a Byzantine tradition. He is among the earliest Italian painters known by name.

Duccio di Buoninsegna · ca. 1290–1300

The infant moves Mary’s veil while her sorrow is understood in relation to the future Crucifixion. Candle burns survive on the original frame. They record close devotional use long before the image entered a museum.

Simone Martini · ca. 1326

Saint Andrew was one of five figures in a portable altarpiece. Its original rectangular frame survives. The government of Siena may have commissioned the altar. Its small panels could be folded for transport and opened for prayer.

Giotto di Bondone · 1303–1305

Giotto told the life of Christ through a sequence of frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel. Painted in 1303–05, the Lamentation shows the body on the ground, surrounded by mourners. Each has a different gesture, giving the shared event individual human responses.

Giotto di Bondone · possibly ca. 1320

This panel belonged to a seven-scene Life of Christ. A kneeling king lifts the infant while Mary watches closely. Physical care gives the sacred event unusual human immediacy. The museum’s dating remains qualified, possibly around 1320.

Fra Angelico · 1420s

This small panel is considered an early work by the Florentine friar and painter. Its original use is uncertain. The dimensions would suit the base of an altarpiece, but this subject was unusual there. Its minute detail also suggests private devotion. Gold unites garments, hangings, and the light around the central figures.

Masaccio · 1423–1427 (initial Brancacci Chapel cycle)

The fresco belongs to the story of Saint Peter in the Brancacci Chapel. Merchant Felice Brancacci commissioned the cycle after returning from Egypt in 1423. Masaccio places several moments of the tribute episode within one landscape. Peter appears repeatedly, allowing the narrative to move through time without dividing the wall into separate scenes.

Fra Angelico · About 1440–1450

The friars of San Marco encountered this fresco beside the stairs to their living quarters. Fra Angelico painted it around 1440–50, after the monastery’s rebuilding under Cosimo de’ Medici’s patronage. Gabriel announces Christ’s birth to Mary.

Andrea Mantegna · shortly after 1450

Shepherds approach the infant in worn working clothes after the angelic announcement still visible in the distance. The museum connects Mantegna’s detailed manner with Netherlandish painting admired at Ferrara. A commission from Borso d’Este remains a possibility.

Giovanni Bellini · late 1480s

Bellini places Mary and Christ before a landscape passing from dormancy to growth. The museum relates this transition to death and resurrection. The figures stand close to the viewer, while a stone parapet preserves the boundary between their sacred space and ours.

Sandro Botticelli · 1475–85

Mary brings her cheek close to the child, who wraps an arm around her neck. Botticelli combines a devotional image with recognisable maternal affection. Human contact brings the sacred subject close to the viewer. The smaller angel preserves the religious setting without disrupting the close embrace.

Sandro Botticelli · early 1490s

Jerome receives his final communion in his cell at Bethlehem. Monks support his frail body. The painting was commissioned by the Florentine merchant Francesco del Pugliese, a supporter of Savonarola. Its small scale suited close viewing and private religious devotion.

Vittore Carpaccio · ca. 1490

The dead Christ appears with Job and Saint Jerome in a landscape arranged for reflection on death and resurrection. Barren rock and fertile land occupy opposite areas. This is a gathering of religious figures across different periods rather than a single Gospel episode.

Antonio da Correggio · c. 1515

The young Correggio absorbed several artistic traditions. His pyramidal grouping recalls Raphael; soft contours suggest Leonardo, while the landscape reflects Northern European models. Working in Parma, away from Italy’s largest artistic centres, he developed his own manner. Soft light and close relationships between figures already anticipate his mature frescoes.

Raphael · c. 1510

Mary sits on the ground in the Madonna of Humility tradition. Jesus accepts a reed cross from John, anticipating the Crucifixion. Raphael coordinates inclinations and gazes with the circular panel. Such formats were related to round painted trays presented in wealthy Florentine homes after childbirth.

Raphael · 1512–1513

Raphael made the altarpiece for San Sisto in Piacenza, almost certainly on a commission from Julius II. Saints Sixtus and Barbara, venerated there, accompany Mary. The two familiar angels below were added late in the painting process. In 1754 Augustus III acquired the work for Dresden after two years of negotiations.

Leonardo da Vinci · 1495–1498

Leonardo painted the dining hall of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. He worked on dry plaster, allowing him to revise the composition and develop gradual tonal changes. The fragile technique soon began to fail. The apostles respond to Christ's announcement that one of them will betray him, above the room where the monks took their meals.

Annibale Carracci · after 1595

Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini commissioned this painting after Carracci arrived in Rome in 1595. Northern Italian colour and light meet an ordered composition informed by Raphael. The pose of God the Father derives from an ancient statue of Jupiter.

Caravaggio · 1606–7

According to tradition, Andrew continued preaching from the cross, and a later attempt to release him was miraculously prevented. Caravaggio brings a small number of participants into a confined space close to the viewer. Strong light reveals bodies against darkness, making the martyrdom tangible through physical effort.