Bible paintings

Author: Sun Jiaji, Qi Fengge, Xing Aiguang (editors)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-08-01
Features: The Bible has had a profound influence on Western artistic creation. It can be said without exaggeration that without familiarity with the content of the Bible, it is difficult to understand Western paintings, sculptures, and even architectural works. Because biblical stories and ancient Greek and Roman myths are the two main sources of themes for Western artists. The reason why their works draw on biblical stories is closely related to the religious beliefs of the time (Christianity was the dominant religion in European countries since the Middle Ages), and many works were commissioned by the church and believers, and the creators were almost all Christians. However, it must not be ignored that the content of the biblical stories provided a rich source of imagination and creative inspiration for artists. These works with biblical stories as themes undoubtedly contain a religious nature, but they are not simple illustrations explaining religious stories. Instead, they have rich and profound humanistic content. Artists of different periods consciously or unconsciously used the people and events they were familiar with as models and materials to depict biblical figures and stories. At the same time, their understanding and interpretation of the Bible and religious figures and stories were inevitably stamped with the imprint of their time, consciously or unconsciously endowing them with the thoughts and emotions of their own era. Therefore, many religious-themed artworks reflect secular ideals. For example, we see many images of the Virgin Mary from the Renaissance onwards as tranquil, elegant, wise, and kind; many images of Jesus Christ as benevolent, compassionate, and steadfast, willing to go through fire and water and even sacrifice themselves to practice their ideals; and many images of apostles as advocating justice and fairness for society and the public. The spirit of benevolence that was originally inherent in the Bible is vividly and vividly embodied in the works of many outstanding artists. If all the paintings depicting biblical stories are collected together, they will form a vast and profound art encyclopedia, and both in terms of content and expressive language, it can be seen in this way. This will be very beneficial to us in drawing on and studying Western history, including art history. Of course, this is even more valuable for art-loving readers and artists in terms of reference, learning, and collection.