The stories behind the paintings

The stone has split, the guard has fled and left his helmet and sword on the ground, and Christ rises from the dark tomb with his arms lifted towards the light. Two angels kneel on either side, one with hands joined in prayer, the other with a hand pressed to the heart, while white lilies bloom at his feet. The Danish painter Carl Bloch dated this Resurrection of Christ 1875, and it belongs to the famous cycle of the life of Christ he painted for Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark. The picture below is our vintage poster of the painting; the original is shown further down. Vintage art poster by Sapiens Verbum after Carl Bloch, Resurrection of Christ , 1875 (Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød). Available from the Sapiens Verbum print shop. 🖼️ Get the vintage poster → License this image → Quick facts Artist: Carl Heinrich Bloch (1834–1890), Danish painter Title: Resurrection of Christ Date: 1875 Series: The life of Christ for the King...

Christ’s body hangs in strips of linen as his friends strain to carry him up a stone stairway to the tomb. On the right, a large patch of bare panel waits for a figure that was never painted. Michelangelo began this Entombment in Rome in about 1500, at the age of twenty-five, and left it unfinished when he went home to Florence the following year. It is one of perhaps only three panel paintings by him that survive, and it now hangs in the National Gallery in London. The picture below is our vintage poster of the painting; the original is shown further down. Vintage art poster by Sapiens Verbum after Michelangelo, The Entombment , about 1500–01 (National Gallery, London). Available from the Sapiens Verbum print shop. 🖼️ Get the vintage poster → License this image → Quick facts Artist: Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), Italian painter, sculptor and architect Title: The Entombment (or Christ being carried to his Tomb) Date: abo...

A young man stands tied to a broken classical arch, his body pierced by arrows, his eyes turned calmly to the sky. Around him lie fragments of ancient sculpture, a fig tree grows from the ruins, and at the bottom edge two archers turn away as if their work were done. Andrea Mantegna painted this monumental Saint Sebastian in about 1480, and it now hangs in the Musée du Louvre in Paris. The picture below is our vintage poster of the painting; the original is shown further down. Vintage art poster by Sapiens Verbum after Andrea Mantegna, Saint Sebastian , about 1480 (Musée du Louvre, Paris). Available from the Sapiens Verbum print shop. 🖼️ Get the vintage poster → License this image → Quick facts Artist: Andrea Mantegna (about 1431–1506), Italian painter Title: Saint Sebastian Date: about 1480 Medium: Tempera on canvas, 255 × 140 cm Location: Musée du Louvre, Paris (RF 1766), acquired in 1910 Subject: The martyr...

A face looks out at you from a white cloth. It wears a crown of thorns, the lips are slightly parted as if about to speak, and the eyes seem to ask for something. Antonio Allegri, known as Correggio, painted this Head of Christ in about 1525–30 on a small wooden panel, not much larger than a sheet of writing paper, and it is now one of the treasures of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The picture below is our vintage poster of the painting; the original is shown further down. Vintage art poster by Sapiens Verbum after Correggio, Head of Christ , about 1525–30 (J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles). Available from the Sapiens Verbum print shop. 🖼️ Get the vintage poster → License this image → Quick facts Artist: Correggio (Antonio Allegri, about 1489–1534), Italian painter Title: Head of Christ Date: about 1525–30 Medium: Oil on panel, 28.6 × 23.5 cm Location: J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (94.PB.74) Subj...

Three kings have travelled from the ends of the earth. In a grand building that is already falling into ruin, Caspar kneels before the Virgin and offers the Christ Child a golden cup full of gold coins, while Melchior and Balthasar wait their turn with their courtiers. Around them crowd shepherds, an ox and a donkey, two dogs, and a choir of angels looking down through the broken roof. Jan Gossaert painted The Adoration of the Kings in about 1510–15, and it is one of the most spectacular Christmas pictures of the Northern Renaissance. The picture below is our vintage poster of the painting; the original is shown further down. Vintage art poster by Sapiens Verbum after Jan Gossaert, The Adoration of the Kings , 1510–15 (National Gallery, London). Available from the Sapiens Verbum print shop. 🖼️ Get the vintage poster → License this image → Quick facts Artist: Jan Gossaert, also called Jean Gossart or Mabuse (active 1508, died 1532), Net...

It is the middle of the night. A full moon hangs over a still lake and shines back from the water, the Milky Way runs across a sky crowded with stars, and on the edge of a dark wood a small family is travelling in secret: a man with a torch, a woman holding a baby on a donkey. Adam Elsheimer painted The Flight into Egypt in Rome in 1609, on a copper plate not much bigger than a sheet of paper, and it is thought to be the first naturalistic picture of the night sky in European art. The picture below is our vintage poster of the painting; the original is shown further down. Vintage art poster by Sapiens Verbum after Adam Elsheimer, The Flight into Egypt , 1609 (Alte Pinakothek, Munich). Available from the Sapiens Verbum print shop. 🖼️ Get the vintage poster → License this image → Quick facts Artist: Adam Elsheimer (1578–1610), German painter active in Rome Title: The Flight into Egypt Date: 1609 Medium: Oil on copper, 30.6 × 41.5 cm ...

It is late on a winter afternoon in a Flemish village. The sun is a red disc low behind the trees, the ponds are frozen, and a crowd is pushing at the door of an inn where a clerk writes down names and collects money. Among the people arriving, almost nobody notices a woman wrapped in a blue cloak riding a donkey, and a man walking beside her with a large saw over his shoulder. They are Mary and Joseph, and the village is Bethlehem. Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted The Census at Bethlehem in 1566, and it is one of the most original Christmas pictures ever made. The picture below is our vintage poster version of the painting; the original panel is shown further down. Vintage art poster by Sapiens Verbum after Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Census at Bethlehem , 1566 (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels). Available from the Sapiens Verbum print shop. 🖼️ Get the vintage poster → License this image → Quick facts Artist: Pieter Bruegel the E...

A man in a brown habit steps out of his cave and stops. He opens his arms, lifts his face to a light that pours in from the upper left of the picture, and stands still. Around him nothing else seems to notice: a donkey waits in a field, a heron stands by the water, a rabbit peers out of the rocks, a shepherd watches his flock. Giovanni Bellini painted Saint Francis in the Desert in Venice in the late 1470s, and it is one of the great mysteries of the Renaissance: we see the saint, we see the light, but we do not see what he is looking at. The picture below is our vintage poster version of the painting; the original panel is shown further down. Vintage art poster by Sapiens Verbum after Giovanni Bellini, Saint Francis in the Desert , c. 1475–1480 (The Frick Collection, New York). Available from the Sapiens Verbum print shop. 🖼️ Get the vintage poster → License this image → Quick facts Artist: Giovanni Bellini (c. 1435–1516) Title: Sain...

Long before Christmas cards, painters told the Christmas story. An angel kneels before a young woman in a Florentine garden. A child lies on a cloak on the bare ground while angels sing. Shepherds crowd into a stable lit only by a newborn baby. A family rests under a tree on the road to Egypt while an angel plays them music. Here are five paintings, from Leonardo da Vinci to Murillo, that follow that story from the first announcement to a homecoming, and that make beautiful gifts for the season. The picture below is our vintage poster version of the first of them, Leonardo’s Annunciation ; each painting is shown further down. Vintage art poster by Sapiens Verbum after Leonardo da Vinci, The Annunciation , c. 1472–1476 (Uffizi, Florence). Available from the Sapiens Verbum print shop. 🖼️ Get the vintage poster → License this image → The five paintings 1. Leonardo da Vinci, The Annunciation , c. 1472–1476, Uffizi, Florence (poster an...