I’ve created a photo album like that for myself right here. In compiling this series I’ve posted nearly 2,000 images, and having done the work I’d like to keep my favorites for future review. I went back through all 53 threads to collect them. These 43 images jumped out at me. It’s sort of a “Greatest Hits” compilation, and you’re welcome along for the ride.
I know very little about “art,” other than knowing what I like. Intuitively, I like all of these; but I thought it might be fun to try to articulate my feelings into words—so I briefly annotated all 43 with my thoughts. If you want to argue with me, that’s fine, but I hope you’ll actually try to educate me instead.
Perhaps you also have a favorite or several you’d like to share—it’s an open thread, so have at it! Let me know if you need help posting an image. There’s really nothing to it—even I can do it!
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by KERRY MONTOYA
How did God appear to Adam and Eve? At the very least, overwhelming, which Montoya represents. Also: beautiful, multifaceted, nonthreatening….
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by JAMES TISSOT
Those are some BIG angels! Their unequivocal message is: SCRAM, AND DON’T COME BACK! Tissot portrays banishment vividly. Adam and Eve got the message, although Eve appears incredulous at these unfeeling angels.
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by JAMES TISSOT
Cain is older, much stronger, armed and murderously angry. Abel is young, undeveloped, innocent, and all-too-used to being dominated. It’s clear he has no inkling of what is coming, nor if he did that he could do anything at all to prevent it. Imminent inevitability is what Tissot shows us.
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by JAMES EDWIN McCONNELL
I have lived 71 years and am fast becoming an old man. By this point Noah had labored faithfully for an inconceivable 120 YEARS building his boat. Such a man would have rolled up plans in his hand, for he planned his work meticulously, and a far-away look in his eye, which he had long-ago developed and earned, and a resolute visage—for nothing but such steadfastness could have carried him to this climactic moment of completion. But it is not a time for celebrating, for Noah knows the grim carnage the onrushing storm forbodes, having preached about it for a century. McConnell’s magnificent painting fully illustrates why God grouped Noah with Job and Daniel as the three most righteous men (Ezekiel 14:14).
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by JAMES TISSOT
“The Sodomites”
Imagine having an entire city of degenerates terrorizing you, threatening abusive assault. What would that look like? Tissot shows us: intimidating, frightening, hopeless. Or is it?
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So, you’re Isaac and your dad just scared the living daylights out of you, and now he’s holding you and a ram lies where you were moments ago. So, you’re Abraham and you trusted God and He actually came through for you and you’re deeply, profoundly grateful and relieved and stunned.
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by BENJAMIN WEST
“Isaac's Servant Tying the Bracelet on Rebecca’s Arm”
Don’t know whether to laugh or cry. The composition, color, and execution are magnificent. But….First, did your camel’s mother mate with a lion? Never mind. Supposedly, beautiful, virginal Rebecca—she appears to be both—just finished watering Isaac’s servant’s camels. In a billowing silk dress with preposterously puffy sleeves, having come straight from the hair salon. C’mon, Benjamin! You got everything right except—well—everything.
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“Jacob’s Ladder Angels”—Bath Abbey, West Face, Somerset, England
The very idea of putting Jacob’s Ladder up the side of a church, with angels ascending and descending, is so hilarious and inventive and original and iconoclastic to me that all I can do is bow and scrape to the architect and bishop. Masterful!
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by GUSTAV DORÉ
“Jacob's Dream”
The light! The light! No wonder Jacob saw this dream. And the divine light at the top of the ladder—oh, to be an angel. Yet someday we will judge them. Doré’s works as we have them are dark, but this is the brilliant, shining exception.
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by JIM CAMPBELL and BENJAMIN BERGERY
“Jacob’s Dream” —Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, California
Nothing says “ladder” like this incredible edifice within a stained glass cathedral. The contrast between its clean, stark simplicity and its surroundings highlights what is already a bright beacon. No one visiting can be unaffected by it.
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by JOSEPH-FLORENTINE BONNAT
“Jacob Wrestling with the Angel”
Bonnat’s angel dwarfs Jacob and easily holds him off without injuring him. But we see plainly Jacob’s struggle, which is the whole point; indeed, now he's lifted that enormous angel completely off the ground. Israel won’t surrender—and that remains the Jews’ sad stumbling block right down to this very day.
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by SUZANNE TORNQUIST
“Joseph And His Coat Of Many Colors”
I like bright colors! An artist painting a “coat of many colors” should go all-out, and Suzanne did. A treat for my eye.
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by GUSTAV DORÉ
“Joseph Interpreting the Pharaoh's Dream”
An overwhelmingly immense and intimidating throne room, filled with Pharaoh and his men. But the room and the ruminators and the ruler are all still as death. The only dynamic is little Joseph, fresh from prison, absolutely dominating that scene because only he has the answer they need. Doré knows, “Knowledge is Power.”
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by JAMES TISSOT
“Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dream”
Unlike Doré, Tissot contrasts Joseph not with the setting but against Pharaoh’s sycophantic priests. Universally head-shaven, fat, emasculated and worthless, they can only sit mutely disinterested while prison-skinny Joseph conveys God’s answer. The contrast is starkly effective.
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by ADOLPHE ROGERS
“Jacob Refusing To Let Benjamin Go to Egypt”
The older brothers plead their case in the background, but Rogers leaves us no choice but to consider Jacob’s sore spot: his beloved Joseph is gone, and he’ll be damned if he’ll let them have his little brother, too. It is just so wonderful to know the whole story behind a work like this.
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by HE QI
“Baby Moses” – silk tapestry
So Moses was Oriental—who knew? Qi unabashedly claims Moses for his own, and I expect Jesus right along with him. Some black people claim Jesus was black, too. And they should: Jesus came precisely to become us. Immanuel!
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Brilliant color and composition set this apart. That bush is burning! This is one of those windows with no painting; every shape is separately cut (I expect windowmakers have a term for that). God is visible in the bush—although the text doesn’t insist on it.
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“Moses and the Burning Bush”
No one can actually paint what God looked like to Moses, but this artist certainly tried: multifaceted and complex and ordered and bright and beautiful. Moses and God are naked and open before one another—makes me even more eager for heaven.
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EEEEEEEEK!!!! Just for laughs, of course—yet it illustrates very well the personal terror those plagues caused. They were truly no laughing matter.
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That is one angry Pharaoh! Teeth bared, red-faced—I wouldn’t want to be in range of him. Look at those locusts. And they come after seven other plagues. What’s next?
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Little boys always stand around and gawk—it’s what they do. But this fellow’s unique actions have attracted a group of kibitzers, wondering about the meaning of his extraordinary doings. Putting BLOOD on your door?! Nonbelievers fundamentally just do not and cannot understand Christ, Christianity and Christians; first, they must be born again.
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by JAMES TISSOT
"The Jews' Passover"
Tissot often exercised his exceptional imagination and produced scores of wonderful works excelling every other artist’s rendition of the same story. But Tissot also could read! Unlike many of these artists, he paid careful attention to the Scripture he was illustrating. This is a perfect example, requiring little imagination, but James aptly included everything in the text.
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“The Pillar of Cloud”……….....………… “The Pillar of Fire”
North Wilkesboro Presbyterian Church, North Carolina
These windows are a significant fraction of the height of the real cloud and pillar they portray. O, to sit in front of these spectacular images and meditate on what they represent: God’s wise guidance and reassuring protection.
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by RICHARD MCBEE
"Exodus"
There were TWO MILLION Israelis and friends crossing the Red Sea, and McBee showed that. But he added something that no other artist did: organization. He shows the Israelites marching in clearly-defined groups, because that’s exactly how they did everything: in their twelve tribes.
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Every eye, without exception, is riveted upon God’s pyrotechnic display and therefore, by extension, upon God Himself. That includes our eyes—this artist places us amidst the vast crowd. What will God do next?
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by VIDA KHADEM“The Golden Calf”
Do modern people still worship Golden Calves? Absolutely! “All have sinned….” Khadem refuses to let us wallow in the conceit that we would never do such a thing.
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by REMBRANDT VAN RIJN
“Moses Smashing the Tablets of the Law”
Many artists portrayed Moses smashing the tablets, but none succeeded quite so well as Rembrandt. He has Moses absolutely dominating the frame, so that this single act is all that is in contemplation. But it is Moses’ despairing look that rivets: it conjures by itself the sorry culmination of forty days above. The light features his face and arms: Moses despairs, Moses smashes.
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by PHILLIP PRESCOTT PARHAM
“Moses in the Cleft of the Rock”
You REALLY want to see My glory? Here’s a tiny, tiny glimpse, all you can handle. Parham beautifully suggests God’s overwhelming magnificence.
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by TED LARSON
“Show Me Your Glory”
When Moses’ interview with God was complete, he glowed, per the text—and Larson accurately records that. So, when I have an encounter with God, do I hide like Adam and Eve, or do I glow like Moses?
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by GRAHAM COOPER
Someone suggested to me that this painting belongs in a comic book. Perhaps, but I see Cooper’s powerful evocation of God’s protection of Moses and, of course, of me.
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If I didn’t have my wife and granddaughter on my computer's desktop, this would be. Balanced, vibrant, lively, with Jesus resting and caring for His lamb: I could not possibly ask for more.
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by EMILE LEVY
“Abraham Washing the Feet of the Three Angels”
See, Emile, Abraham said, “Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet….” Gen.18:4 No wonder no other artists painted the scene you did! But hey, perhaps you’re correct after all: Abraham was certainly acting obsequiously, and he may have changed his mind after all. It’s such a lovely thought, washing Jesus’ feet.
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by LUTHER TERRY
“Jacob's Dream”
Do all angels have wings? Someone had better tell the middle one! Lovely scene: pretty colors, well composed, with action: Shhhhhh! One angel apparently is supervising, and the androgynous recent arrivals down the ladder need instructing: God wants this dream dreamt, so Shhhhh. Well done, Mr. Terry.
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“Infant Moses on the Nile”
Appears to be a night scene, but Moses’ mother NEVER would have set him afloat anywhere near dark. Nicely done moonlit waves, but lots o’ artists can do that. What makes this painting are its angels. God surely did send them to watch over Moses on his journey, just as He surely watches us protectively at every single moment.
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by LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA
“The Finding of Moses”
Lawrence got every single element right. The princess would have been honored by being carried and fanned. Her carriers would have been head-shaven, bare-chested and, Tintoretto notwithstanding, Egyptian-looking. Her maids would have been attentive and helpful. Now I’m led to feel I’m viewing the actual scene.
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by WILLIAM WEST
“The Israelites passing through the Wilderness,
preceded by the Pillar of Light”
The cliffs are a thousand feet tall. God’s pillar is taller still. God’s people appear sooooo tiny. But West makes the point emphatically that no matter how small we feel and how huge our problems seem, God’s got this.
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Jesus’ blood fulfills the Law. Period.
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How easy and fun it is to focus on Process and ignore Essence.
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Manna fell everywhere, and most artists don’t show that. Of course they created a footpath through it. Most importantly, this artist shows the vastness of the camp, nearly to the horizon. This is what it looked like!
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by SANDRO BOTTICELLI
“The Punishment of Korah and the Stoning of Moses and Aaron”
Mary-Lou absolutely nailed it. Without her explanation it doesn’t get included here, but with it I cannot omit it.
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by Henry Ossawa Tanner
“Christ And Nicodemus On A Rooftop”
Night, blue, simple; a hushed talk befitting the setting. But there was nothing quiet about what Jesus said: it still reverberates.
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by ALADAR KACZIANY
“Jesus and Nicodemus”
Jesus is relaxed and unthreatened as Nicodemus agonizes. Jesus also emulates the cross, which was central to his revelation to Nico.
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by LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY
“Nicodemus Came to Him by Night”
Tiffany beautifully shows Nicodemus carrying a lamp to inquire of the Light of the World, who reaches down to connect with him.
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I'm sensing viewer-fatigue,
so a short break is in order
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241 wood engravings for
La Grande Bible de Tours
180 paintings depicting Bible scenes
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so here is a fascinating and enjoyable link to assist in following along:
BIBLE TIMELINE
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to FReeper left that other site,
who allowed God to make her His conduit
for incomparable enthusiasm, encouragement,
education, advice and technical assistance!
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NOTES ON MY SUBJECTIVE SELECTION CRITERIA
Quality
The Bible is my focus, not the art. So, works need not be masterpieces to qualify for inclusion here—they don’t need to be housed at the Louvre nor auctioned by Sotheby’s. They only need to successfully illustrate some aspect of the Biblical text or, frankly, just tickle my fancy, which I'm asking the Holy Spirit to guide. So, with such forgiving filters, it means that you're seeing practically everything I'm finding.
Pacing
The pace may seem glacial to those eager to see their favorite events. My commission is to search for art on each Bible passage in sequence; if I find enough, then it becomes the next installment, even if undramatic. The Bible is a thick book, as you know; but we'll get there eventually, Lord willing. Always remember:
love, joy, peace, patience kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control is a fruit of the Spirit!
Thank you for your understanding.
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They hardly need swords.