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Religion paintings |
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Religious paintings
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Art and religion have gone hand-in-hand for thousands of years. Almost every religious sect makes use of it. It glorifies, protests, idealizes, and tells the stories of religion. During some periods of out history art existed for the sake of religion. Artists of our time are generally free to create and comment on whatever they choose. People, colors, nature, dreams or shopping carts might be just as interesting to an artist as the appearance of a crucifixion or an Indian fertility god. Religion dominated art--it commissioned it and used it as propaganda. Religion or its ideas were presented in paintings, drawings, sculpture, architecture-- you name it. Religion and art share common features: their origins are uncertain, and it is hard to define exactly their criteria. So much of religion and so much of art belong to the participants--the worshippers, collectors, patrons, and those whom religion and art have left confused.
It seems that nearly all early art has its roots in religion. The Christians used it. The Taoists used it. The Buddhists, the Hindu, the Muslims, the Jewish-- all used decoration, painting, sculpture, or architecture to express their beliefs in a higher place or power. Art was a way of rearranging the mundane to make it seem celestial. Art applied human creativity and ability to the ordinary to make it extraordinary. It pointed to another place, where everything was ready-made perfect. Art was a reminder of good, evil, life and death.
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Rubens, Peter Paul |
| Adoration of the Mages, 1624 |
| Koninklijk Museum, Anvers |
| Oil on canvas, 346x448 cm |
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Rubens, Peter Paul |
| Christ After the Punishment, 1620 |
| Alte Pinakothek, Munich |
| Oil on canvas, 147x130 cm |
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Leonardo da Vinci |
| The Virgin and Child with St Anne, c.1510 |
| Musee du Louvre, Paris |
| Charcoal with white chalk heightening on paper, 66.14 x 51.18 inches [168 x 130 cm] |
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Rubens, Peter Paul |
| Le Couronnement de la Vierge, 1620 |
| Alte Pinakothek, Munich |
| Oil on canvas, 185x210 cm |
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Hunt, William Holman |
| Shadow of Death, 1870-1873 |
| Manchester City Art Galleries, Manchester |
| Oil on canvas, 36.5 x 28.74 inches [92.7 x 73 cm] |
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Bouguereau, William |
| Pieta, 1876 |
| Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas |
| Oil on canvas, 90.55 x 58.27 inches [230 x 148 cm] |
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Bouguereau, William |
| Regina Angelorum, 1900 |
| Musee d' Orsay, Paris |
| Oil on canvas, 112.2 x 72.83 inches [285 x 185 cm] |
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Rubens, Peter Paul |
| The Crucified Christ |
| Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp |
| Oil on canvas, 86 1/8 x 48 inches (219 x 122 cm) |
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Rubens, Peter Paul |
| Adoration of the Shepherds, c.1608 |
| St. Pauluskerk, Antwerp |
| Oil on canvas |
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Rubens, Peter Paul |
| The Education of the Virgin, 1625-1626 |
| Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp |
| Oil on canvas, 75 7/8 x 55 inches (193 x 140 cm) |
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Vouet, Simon |
| The Last Supper, 1615-20 |
| Palazzo Apostolico, Loreto |
| Oil on canvas |
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Rembrandt, Harmensz van Rijn |
| Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee, 1863 |
| Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum , Boston |
| Oil on canvas, 160x128 cm |
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