Learn how to identify the saints in medieval and renaissance art.
Read the stories that the paintings refer to.
Find out the "why" behind traditional elements in paintings of scriptural events.
Use this search engine....
Example: if you're curious about a picture of a saint shown with a tower, just enter "tower" into the search field (without the quotation marks). You'll learn she is St. Barbara, and you can read about her, view similar images, and follow a link to the medieval legend about her.
.....or learn how artists have portrayed specific saints, topics, or scriptural events by clicking on any one of these links:
A
Aaron Abraham Acisclus and Victoria Adam and Eve St. Agatha St. Agnes St. Ambrose St. Anastasia St. Andrew St. Anne St. Ansanus St. Anthony Abbot St. Anthony of Antioch St. Anthony of Padua St. Apollinaris Appolonia Apostles (as group) St. Augustine
B
St. Babilas St. Barbara St. Bartholomew St. Basil St. Basilissa St. Bavo St. Benedict St. Benno St. Bernard of Clairvaux St. Bernardino of Siena St. Blaise St. Brigid
C
St. Camillus de Lellis St. Caprais St. Casilda St. Catherine of Alexandria St. Catherine of Siena St. Cecilia St. Centola St. Celsus Christ St. Christopher St. Chrysogonus St. Clare St. Clement
St. Cornelius the Centurion Saints Cosmas and Damian St. Cyprian St. Cyricus
D
David St. Dominic St. Dominic de la Calzada St. Dorothy
E
Ecclesia St. Edmund St. Eligius St. Elizabeth of Hungary St. Emerentia St. Eugene St. Eugenia St. Euphemia St. Eustace St. Eulalia St. Eustochium Evangelists (as group)
F
Saints Felicity and Perpetua St. Ferdinand the Fiery Furnace St. Foy St. Frances Xavier Cabrini St. Francis of Assisi
G
St. Gall St. George St. Gertrude SS. Gervase and Protasius St. Giles St. Godelieve St. Gregory
H
Heaven St. Helena St. Hilarian St. Hilary of Poitiers St. Hippolytus
I
St. Ignatius of Antioch Isaiah the Prophet St. Isidore the Laborer
J
Jacob the Patriarch Jael St. James the Greater St. James the Less St. Jerome Jesse Jesus St. Joachim St. Joan of Arc St. Joan of France St. John Nepomuk St. John Eudes St. John Gualbert St. John the Baptist St. John the Evangelist Jonah Joseph the Patriarch St. Joseph St. Jude Thaddeus Judith St. Julian St. Justina
L
The Lamb of God symbol St. Lambert of Ličge St. Lawrence St. Lazarus St. Leonard St. Longinus St. Louis the King St. Lucy St. Luke
M
Pope St. Marcellus St. Marcianilla St. Margaret of Antioch St. Marina St. Mark St. Martha St. Martin of Tours St. Mary Magdalene St. Mary of Egypt Mary, the Virgin St. Matthew St. Matthias St. Maurice St. Maurus Melchizedek St. Michael the Archangel Monica Moses
N
St. Nicholas St. Nicholas Factor St. Nicholas of Tolentino
P
St. Pancras St. Pantaleon St. Patrick St. Paul the Apostle St. Paul the Hermit St. Paula: see St. Eustochium Peacock Symbol St. Pelagius Pentecost Saints Perpetua and Felicity St. Peter Martyr St. Peter the Apostle St. Philip St Philip Neri St. Polycarp St. Praxedes and St. Pudentiana St. Privatus
Q
St. Quentin
R
St. Radegund St. Raphael St. Remigius St. Reparata St. Robert of Molesme St. Roch St. Romuald St. Rosalia of Palermo St. Rose of Lima
S
Sedrac, Misac, and Abdenago St. Salome (Mary Salome) St. Saturninus St. Scholastica St. Sebastian Simeon St. Simon St. Simon Stock St. Stephen St. Susanna
T
St. Teresa of Avila St. Thecla St. Thomas ā Beckett St. Thomas Aquinas St. Thomas the Apostle St. Thyrsus (Tirso) Tobit, Tobiah: see St. Raphael the Trinity the Transfiguration
U
St. Ursula
V
St. Valeria St. Veneranda St. Veronica St. Vincent of Saragossa St. Vincent de Paul St. Vincent Ferrer Virgin Mary Saints Vitalis and Valeria
Z
St. Zenobius
14 Holy Helpers
The Virgin Mary:
Birth, Childhood, Betrothal and Marriage
Annunciation
Visitation
Purification
Throne of Wisdom
Virgin + Child
Dormition
Assumption
Coronation
Enthroned
Portrait Traditions and Miracle Narratives:
Gregory
Thaumaturgus Receives the Confession of Faith
Immaculate Conception
La Candelaria
La Madonna del Divino Amore
La Madonna della Salute
Le Sacerdoce de la Vierge
Magistra Apostolorum
Mater Dolorosa, The Sorrowing Mother
Nuestra Seņora de los Desamparados
Nuestra Seņora del Socorro
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Our Lady of the Rosary
Our Lady of the Snow
Santa Maria de la Antigua
Various Latin American santos
La Virgen de los Angeles
Immaculate Conception
La Candelaria
La Madonna del Divino Amore
La Madonna della Salute
Le Sacerdoce de la Vierge
Magistra Apostolorum
Mater Dolorosa, The Sorrowing Mother
Nuestra Seņora de los Desamparados
Nuestra Seņora del Socorro
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Our Lady of the Rosary
Our Lady of the Snow
Santa Maria de la Antigua
Various Latin American santos
La Virgen de los Angeles
Jesus Christ:
Nativity, Shepherds
Circumcision
Adoration of the Magi
Slaughter of the Innocents
Flight into Egypt
Presentation
Christ Child
The Holy Family
Boy Jesus in Temple
Cana
Baptism
Miracles, Public Life
Traditio Legis / Traditio Clavum
Cleansing of Temple
Palm Sunday
Last Supper
Arrest
Pilate
Scourging, Crown of Thorns, Ecce Homo
Man of Sorrows
Carrying Cross (also see Veronica)
Crucifixion and Death / Reception by the Father
Deposition
Lamentation, Pietā
Entombment
Harrowing of Hell
Resurrection
Emmaus
Ascension
Last Judgment
Deësis
Early Christian Images of Christ
Christ in Majesty
Christ the Door
The Lamb of God symbol
Crosses + Crucifixes
Other useful sites for the study of Christian iconography and art history:
Acta Sanctorum (in Latin -- thousands of saints' lives)
Didron, Christian Iconography (tr. Millington 1851)
Art resources listed by the Labyrinth medieval database
Art-Roman.Net (French Romanesque art, architecture, in French)
Thais: 1200 Years of Italian Sculpture (in Italian)
Our own Santos in Oaxaca's Ancient Churches
Catholic Online Saints and Angels (religious site, exhaustive coverage)
Christopher Witcombe's Art History Resources on the Web
Churches of Rome Wiki
Image at left above: Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), "The Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine," ca. 1516, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest