<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian art</span>

Christian art

<p><b>Christian art</b> is <a href="/en/Sacred_art" title="Sacred art" class="mw-redirect wl">sacred art</a> which uses subjects, themes, and imagery from <a href="/en/Christianity" title="Christianity" class="wl">Christianity</a>. Most Christian groups use or have used art to some extent, including <a href="/en/Early_Christian_art_and_architecture" title="Early Christian art and architecture" class="wl">early Christian art and architecture</a> and <a href="/en/Christian_media" title="Christian media" class="wl">Christian media</a>.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Art with subjects from Christianity</div>
<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Daphni.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Daphni.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Daphni.jpg/220px-Daphni.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="589" data-file-height="480" data-file-type="bitmap" height="179" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Daphni.jpg/330px-Daphni.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Daphni.jpg/440px-Daphni.jpg 2x" alt="Daphni.jpg"></a><figcaption>A mosaic from <a href="/en/Daphni_Monastery" title="Daphni Monastery" class="wl">Daphni Monastery</a> in <a href="/en/Greece" title="Greece" class="wl">Greece</a> (c. 1100), showing the midwives bathing the new-born Christ.</figcaption></figure>
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.sidebar{width:100%!important;clear:both;float:none!important;margin-left:0!important;margin-right:0!important}}</style><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-pretitle notheme" style="background:lavender;">Part of <a href="/en/Category:Christian_culture" title="Category:Christian culture" class="wl">a series</a> on</td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-title-with-pretitle notheme" style="background:lavender;"><a href="/en/Christian_culture" title="Christian culture" class="wl">Christian culture</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-image"><span><a href="/en/File:Collage-Christian-culture.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" title="Christian culture" data-hash="File:Collage-Christian-culture.jpg"><img loading="lazy"alt="Christian culture" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Collage-Christian-culture.jpg/250px-Collage-Christian-culture.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="1123" data-file-height="1193" 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<p>Images of <a href="/en/Jesus" title="Jesus" class="wl">Jesus</a> and narrative scenes from the <a href="/en/Life_of_Christ_in_art" title="Life of Christ in art" class="wl">Life of Christ</a> are the most common subjects, and scenes from the <a href="/en/Old_Testament" title="Old Testament" class="wl">Old Testament</a> play a part in the art of most denominations. Images of the <a href="/en/Mary_(mother_of_Jesus)" title="Mary (mother of Jesus)" class="mw-redirect wl">Virgin Mary</a> and saints are much rarer in Protestant art than that of <a href="/en/Catholic_Church" title="Catholic Church" class="wl">Roman Catholicism</a> and <a href="/en/Eastern_Orthodoxy" title="Eastern Orthodoxy" class="wl">Eastern Orthodoxy</a>.</p>

<p>Christianity makes far wider use of images than related religions, in which figurative representations are forbidden, such as <a href="/en/Aniconism_in_Islam" title="Aniconism in Islam" class="wl">Islam</a> and <a href="/en/Aniconism_in_Judaism" title="Aniconism in Judaism" class="wl">Judaism</a>. However, there are some that have promoted <a href="/en/Aniconism_in_Christianity" title="Aniconism in Christianity" class="wl">aniconism in Christianity</a>, and there have been periods of <a href="/en/Iconoclasm" title="Iconoclasm" class="wl">iconoclasm</a> within Christianity, though this is not a common interpretation of <a href="/en/Christian_theology" title="Christian theology" class="wl">Christian theology</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-The_David_Collection_1-0"><a href="#cite_note-The_David_Collection-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span></p>



Christian art is sacred art which uses subjects, themes, and imagery from Christianity. Most Christian groups use or have used art to some extent, including early Christian art and architecture and Christian media. Images of Jesus and narrative scenes from the Life of Christ are the most common subjects, and scenes from the Old Testament play a part in the art of most denominations. Images of the Virgin Mary and saints are much rarer in Protestant art than that of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Christianity makes far wider use of images than related religions, in which figurative representations are forbidden, such as Islam and Judaism. However, there are some that have promoted aniconism in Christianity, and there have been periods of iconoclasm within Christianity, though this is not a common interpretation of Christian theology. 