Famous artists tell Bible stories in their paintings

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

To create a masterpiece, many of the artists used a time-tested method: take one of the biblical subjects and present it on canvas in accordance with their own skills and their own philosophy. And how much it was interesting for viewers of all times to make such excursions into the Old and New Testaments, can be judged by the fact that many such picturesque illustrations of the Bible represent the best in the world of fine arts.

Why are biblical subjects so common in the paintings of the classics?

Even now, not a single book can compete in popularity with the Bible. For centuries, texts sacred to Christians and Jews have inspired artists. The second of the commandments given to Moses ordered not to make an idol for oneself and "no image of what is in heaven above, what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth." And, nevertheless, from the second century AD, the first drawings on biblical subjects began to appear, first on the walls of the Roman catacombs, and from the IV century, when Christianity was recognized as the state religion of the Roman Empire, images of saints and scenes from the life of Christ and the Mother of God have already decorated the walls of temples.

For a thousand years, the church was the only customer for artists, and when creating works on biblical subjects, strict canons came into effect: figures were depicted flat, the background was made vague, the landscape, if any, was filled with special symbols. In Byzantium, where icon painting different from the Roman traditions took shape, it was believed that the original images of Christ and the Mother of God appeared miraculously, and those created by artists were recognized as copies, copies.

From the late Middle Ages, secular painting began to appear, not only churches, but also wealthy connoisseurs of beauty who wanted to decorate their homes were customers of works of fine art. The painting technique changed - the figures became three-dimensional, three-dimensional, the composition of paints improved, the artists experimented with composition, proportions, foreshortenings, and light. The characters depicted on the canvas from the Old and New Testaments acquired individuality, and with it - physical beauty, they became masculine or feminine, weak or strong, merciful or cruel. During the Renaissance, saints were portrayed in a contemporary artist setting, in the same clothes.

Later, during the Enlightenment, the painters were already delving into the study of the life of those times in which the events unfolded in the picture, striving for historical accuracy. To achieve this goal, they even took a trip to Palestine - this helped to correctly depict the landscape against which the events of the chosen biblical plot developed. And later the masters allowed more and more liberties, solving their own artistic tasks at the expense of sacred texts.

Plots of the Old Testament

Painting has never been an occupation available to everyone, but demanded quite serious financial costs. This led to the fact that the artists sought to work not so much for casual lovers of painting, but for a permanent, and most importantly, solvent and generous customer, which was the church. In addition, the events described in the Old and New Testaments gave the artist an opportunity to express himself - to create exactly what his talent demanded. And a complex work, where several characters are shown, their inner torment, and large-scale scenes of disasters and disasters, and peaceful landscapes, and nudity - it was not required to invent new plots when there were those that had been tested for centuries. Thousands of paintings have been written based on biblical themes, many of them are included in the treasury of world art.

If the texts of the Old Testament gave painters hundreds of themes for works, then the New Testament - many times more. This is partly due to religious norms: in Catholic Spain and Italy, the creation of paintings and frescoes based on Old Testament subjects was not encouraged. A significant part of the works is devoted to the expulsion from Paradise of Adam and Eve, the events preceding this are rare in the history of fine arts. And yet they are encountered, such as the story of the creation of Eve from the rib of Adam. Popular among painters of all times were stories about the expulsion of Hagar, the sacrifice of Isaac, the death of Sodom, the story of Jonah and the whale, the feat of Judith.

Plots of the New Testament

The plots of the New Testament, which found expression in the works of artists, mainly relate to the life of Jesus Christ and the Mother of God. There are several themes especially beloved by painters, among them - the Annunciation, the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary. This plot was used by most of the creators of the Renaissance - Fra Angelico, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Titian and many others. Despite the fact that the artists were not bound by strict requirements when creating paintings, "Annunciation" traditionally obeys certain pictorial canons.

At the moment Gabriel appeared in front of her, the Mother of God was reading or spinning, and therefore she is often depicted with a book or a spindle in her hands. Usually in the picture you can see a white lily - a symbol of purity, purity. In the hands of the angel is a paradise branch, and the canvas is crossed by a ray of light - the symbol of the Holy Spirit.

A less common plot among artists is the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth, who at that moment was preparing for the birth of John the Baptist. Another meeting of the Mother of God and the Archangel Gabriel, which inspired painters to create paintings, is the Assumption, when Mary receives news of her imminent death.

The legend of Salome says that this Jewish princess made such an impression on King Herod with her dance that he agreed to fulfill any of her wishes. Salome wished the execution of John the Baptist, who denounced the fornication of her mother, and his head was presented to the girl on a platter. Of course, such a plot opened up endless prospects for painters, and therefore enjoyed immense popularity.

They depicted scenes from the childhood of Christ, and the experiments of the artists sometimes led to real scandals. Thus, the picture of the Pre-Raphaelite Millet "Christ in the parental home", which showed an overly realistic life and the appearance of Christ and his family far from canonical, aroused indignation in Protestant England. That is why the name was changed to not related to sacred texts - "Carpenter's Workshop".

In a curious way, they embodied on canvas the plot of the saturation of five thousand people - the only New Testament miracle, except for the Resurrection, which is mentioned in all four canonical Gospels. On that day, Christ fed five loaves of bread and two fish to a huge crowd of those who followed him - five thousand people, not counting women and children.

The parables of Christ also became a rich source of inspiration for painters, among them the one that prompted Rembrandt to create a brilliant work - "The Return of the Prodigal Son." One of the best in the work of a brilliant artist, this picture demonstrates many of the techniques used by the master. The main thing is highlighted with light - the figure of the father, the kneeling son, shaved as if he were a convict, and the eldest son, standing on the right. The composition also includes other characters - they are in the shadows and do not interfere with the perception of the main idea, complementing the picture and at the same time throwing a riddle to the attentive viewer: after all, who these people are - is not mentioned in the Bible, and the viewer is left to speculate.

And here is another plot from the life of Christ, filled with different symbols and deserving the attention of many painters: "Do not touch me!".