Thematic Essays

By Category

• Recent Additions
• All Thematic Essays
• Artists
• Rulers
• African Art
• Central Africa
• Eastern Africa
• Southern Africa
• Western Africa
• American Art
• Colonial Art
• Nineteenth Century
• Twentieth Century
• Ancient Near Eastern Art
• Art of the Americas
• Asian Art
• China
• Japan
• Korea
• South & Southeast Asia
• Byzantine Art
• Egyptian Art
• European Art
• Renaissance
• Seventeenth & Eighteenth Centuries
• Nineteenth Century
• Twentieth Century
• Greek and Roman Art
• Islamic Art
• Early Period
• Medieval Period
• Later Period
• Medieval Art
• Modern and Contemporary Art
• Oceanic/Pacific Art
• Prehistory

By Geographical Region & Time Period

• 
  Plaque with the Ascension, ca. 1050
  Western Germany
  Ivory; H. 4 in. (10.2 cm), W. 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm)
  The Cloisters Collection, 1970 (1970.324.2)
  
• 

  Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece), ca. 1427–1432
  Workshop of Robert Campin (South Netherlandish, active by 1406, died 1444)
  South Netherlands (modern Belgium), Tournai
  Oil paint on oak; Central panel 25 1/4 x 24 7/8 in. (64.1 x 63.2 cm); each wing 25 3/8 x 10 3/4 in. (64.5 x 27.3 cm)
  The Cloisters Collection, 1956 (56.70)

  
• 
  Portal from the Church of San Leonardo al Frigido, ca. 1170–1180
  Italian; Made in Tuscany
  White Carrara marble, grayish marble; 13 ft. 2 in. x 76 in. (401.3 x 193 cm)
  The Cloisters Collection, 1962 (62.189)
  
• 
  Plaque with the Journey to Emmaus and the Noli Me Tangere, ca. 1115–1120
  Spanish; Made in León
  Ivory, traces of gilding; 10 5/8 x 5 5/16 in. (27 x 13.5 cm)
  Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.47)
  
• 
  The Temptation of Christ, ca. 1125
  Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga, province of Soria, Spain
  Fresco transferred to canvas; 84 in. x 9 ft. 10 in. (213.4 x 299.7 cm)
  The Cloisters Collection and Gift of E.B. Martindale, 1961 (61.248)
  
• 
  Tabernacle of Cherves, ca. 1220–1230
  French; Made in Limoges
  Gilded copper and champlevé enamel; 30 11/16 x 18 1/8 x 9 13/16 in. (78 x 46 x 25 cm)
  Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.735)
  
• 
  The Last Supper, triptych, 1515–20
  Netherlandish (Antwerp Mannerist) Painter, first quarter of 16th century
  Oil on wood; Overall, with shaped top and engaged frame: central panel 47 x 33 3/4 in. (119.4 x 85.7 cm); left wing 47 x 16 7/8 in. (119.4 x 42.9 cm); right wing 47 1/8 x 17 in. (119.7 x 43.2 cm)
  Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.18a–c)
  
• 
  The Adoration of the Magi, possibly ca. 1320
  Giotto di Bondone (Italian, Florentine, 1266/76–1337)
  Tempera on wood, gold ground; 17 3/4 x 17 1/4 in. (45.1 x 43.8 cm)
  John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1911 (11.126.1)
  
• 
  Panel from an Altar Frontal: The Flagellation, mid-14th century
  Italian; Made in Florence
  Silk and metallic threads on linen; 10 1/2 x 16 in. (26.7 x 40.6 cm)
  Bequest of Charles F. Iklé, 1963 (64.27.18)
  
• 
  The Nativity, ca. 1435–40
  Zanobi Strozzi (Italian, 1412–1468); Fra (Guido di Pietro) Angelico (Italian, ca. 1390–1455)
  Tempera on panel; Overall 7 7/8 x 17 3/8 in. (20 x 44.1 cm), picture surface 7 3/8 x 17 1/8 in. (18.7 x 43.5 cm)
  Gift of May Dougherty King, 1983 (1983.490)
  
• 
  The Visitation, 1444
  Probably Strasbourg; From the Carmelite church at Boppard-am-Rhein
  Pot-metal glass; 43 7/8 x 29 1/4 x 3/8 in. (111.4 x 74.3 x 1 cm)
  Francis T. Leland Fund, 1913 (13.64.3ab)
  
• 
  The Baptism of Christ, ca. 1480–1490
  Pupil of Veit Stoss
  Cracow
  Lindenwood with polychromy and gilding; 47 7/8 x 39 3/16 in. (120.6 x 99.6 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1912 (12.130.1)
  
• 
  The Entombment, ca. 1654
  Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch, 1606–1669)
  Etching printed on Chinese paper; first state of four
  The Sylmaris Collection, Gift of George Coe Graves, 1920 (20.46.17)
  
• 
  Crucifix, early 17th century
  Democratic Republic of Congo; Kongo peoples
  Brass; H. 10 in. (25.4 cm)
  Gift of Ernst Anspach, 1999 (1999.295.4)
  
• 
  The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, ca. 1545–50
  Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) (Italian, Venetian, 1518–1594)
  Oil on canvas; 61 x 160 1/2 in. (154.9 x 407.7 cm)
  Francis L. Leland Fund, 1913 (13.75)
  
• 
  Pietà (Vesperbild), ca. 1400
  Bohemian
  Limestone; 15 x 15 3/8 x 5 1/2 in. (38.1 x 39.1 x 14 cm)
  The Cloisters Collection, 2001 (2001.78)
  
• 
  The Flight into Egypt
  Luca Giordano (Italian, Neapolitan, 1634–1705)
  Oil on canvas; 24 1/4 x 19 1/4 in. (61.5 x 48.9 cm)
  Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Morton Landon, 1961 (61.50)
  
• 
  Icon with the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, 1400–1500
  Byzantine
  Wood, painted, with gold ground; 17 1/2 x 16 5/8 in. (44.5 x 42.2 cm)
  Bequest of Lillie P. Bliss, 1931 (31.67.8)
  

The life of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Christian Bible has been a principal subject for art since the late Roman empire. Key details of the accounts of his life and ministry are summarized here to facilitate identification and understanding of Christian imagery.

The name Jesus is a form of Joshua, Hebrew for "savior"; "Christ," as he is known to Christians, is Greek for "anointed," a translation of the Hebrew word for messiah. Accounts of his life and ministry and the miracles ascribed to him are recorded in the four canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. His mother was Mary, the wife of Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth, and a member of the house of the biblical king David. When she was espoused to Joseph, but prior to their marriage, the archangel Gabriel appeared to her to announce that she would be the mother of a child, to be named Jesus (the Annunciation, 56.70). Afterwards, Mary visited her pregnant cousin Elizabeth for a three-month stay (the Visitation, 13.64.3ab). At their meeting, Elizabeth's baby, who would become John the Baptist, leapt in her womb, apparently in joy at Mary's pregnancy. Some months later, Joseph took his wife to crowded Bethlehem for the Roman tax census ordered by the emperor Augustus. Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable (the Nativity, 1983.490), where shepherds, alerted by angels, came to visit him. In accordance with Jewish law, the baby was circumcised on the eighth day and given the name of Jesus. Some time later—in the Middle Ages, it was believed to be twelve days after his birth—three Magi, or wise men, who had been guided by a star, arrived to see Jesus (11.126.1), with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Thirty-three days after Jesus' birth, following Jewish law for a mother's purification after a son's birth, the family went to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer the sacrifice of a pair of birds. There, in the Presentation in the Temple (31.67.8), Simeon and Anna proclaimed Jesus to be the Christ.

Meanwhile, King Herod the Great of Judaea (37–4 B.C.), who had hosted the Magi and had become worried by their search for a newborn supposed to be the king of the Jews, found that they had not returned to him with news of the child as he had requested. He then ordered all children of Bethlehem two years old and younger to be slain—the Massacre of the Innocents. Joseph, warned by a dream, escaped with his family to Egypt (the Flight into Egypt, 61.50), returning to Nazareth a few months after Herod had died.

There is only one account of Jesus' adolescence. When he was twelve, his parents took him to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When it was time to leave, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, unbeknownst to Mary and Joseph, who finally found him a day later in the Temple, discoursing with teachers.

Years later, Jesus began his public ministry by having his cousin, John the Baptist, baptize him in the Jordan River. In this Baptism of Jesus (12.130.1), the Holy Spirit flew down to him as a dove and a heavenly voice proclaimed him to be a beloved son. Going into the wilderness for forty days, Jesus was then enticed by the devil, the Temptation of Christ (61.248), all of whose temptations he withstood. Over the next three years, Jesus gathered twelve close followers, known as the disciples or apostles. The Gospels recount numerous miracles of healing, such as the curing of a man born blind and the raising of his friend Lazarus from the dead, as well as other feats, such as feeding a crowd of 5,000, and another of 4,000, with only a few loaves and fish—the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes (13.75). One of the most notable events ascribed to Jesus' ministry is his Transfiguration on a mountain. Accompanied by three of his followers, Peter, James, and John, Jesus suddenly changed in appearance—his face shone and his clothes became dazzling white. The Jewish leader Moses and the Jewish prophet Elijah appeared and talked with Jesus, and a voice from a bright cloud claimed Jesus as a beloved son and ordered the disciples to listen to him.

The teachings of Jesus during this time, many delivered in parables, focused on a repentance that would redirect a life to God, a life absolutely obedient to the will of God and following the commandment to love one's neighbor expressed in Mark 12:28–31. This repentance was linked to a Last Judgment for mankind and the establishment of a reign of justice and peace—the Kingdom of God.

The account of Jesus' suffering and death—the Passion—begins with his Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem and his Entry into Jerusalem (62.189). There, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and shared a Seder with them. This final meal with his followers is known as the Last Supper (17.190.18a–c). Afterwards, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane and wrestled with his doubts—the Agony in the Garden. The betrayal by his disciple Judas ended in the Arrest of Jesus by soldiers. After Jewish and Roman authorities briefly questioned him, with Peter outside denying that he knew him (the Denial of Peter), Jesus was beaten (the Flagellation, 64.27.18) and forced to wear a crown of thorns. Jesus himself, or the passerby Simon of Cyrene, carried the cross from which Jesus would be hung to the Place of the Skull, or Golgotha (Calvary, in Latin). There, Jesus underwent his Crucifixion (1999.295.4) and death on Good Friday; he was thirty-three years of age.

The events following Jesus' death that are often depicted in art include: Jesus' Descent from the Cross, or Deposition (17.190.735); the Lamentation over his body (2001.78)—a scene not found in the Bible; his Entombment (20.46.17), hastily done since the Sabbath was about to begin; and his Descent into Limbo or Hell to free the souls there—an event also not found in the Bible. Immediately after the Sabbath, Jesus' Resurrection was revealed to women coming to his tomb with spices to complete his embalming, the Women at the Tomb. In one account, Mary Magdalene is met by Jesus in the garden behind the tomb, where he asked her not to touch him—the Noli me Tangere scene (17.190.47). Jesus then appeared at least ten times to his followers over the next forty days, including accompanying two of them in their Journey to Emmaus (17.190.47). The period ended forty days later with his Ascension, when Jesus rose to heaven with the apostles as witnesses (1970.324.2). As recounted in the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus' followers gathered ten days after his ascension, for the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot ("the feast of weeks"), and were empowered by the Holy Spirit (65.105) to continue his ministry.

Citation Norris, Michael. "Life of Jesus of Nazareth". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jesu/hd_jesu.htm (June 2008) Further Reading Achtemeier, Paul J., gen. ed., with the Society of Biblical Literature HarperCollins Bible Dictionary. Rev. ed.. San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996. Metzger, Bruce M., and Michael D. Coogan, eds. The New Oxford Annotated Bible, New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Metzger, Bruce M., and Michael D. Coogan, eds. The Oxford Companion to the Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Smith, William The New Smith's Bible Dictionary. Completely revised by Reuel G. Lemmons in association with Virtus Gideon, Robert F. Gribble, and J. W. Roberts.. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966. Related exhibitions and online features Special Exhibitions (including upcoming, current, and past exhibitions)

These related Museum Bulletin or Journal articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship. Blass-Simmen, Brigit "Studi dal vivo e dal non più vivo: Carpaccio's Passion Paintings with Saint Job." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 41 (2006). JSTOR | PDF Wixom, William D., and Margaret Lawson "Picturing the Apocalypse: Illustrated Leaves from a Medieval Spanish Manuscript." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 59, no. 3 (Winter, 2002). JSTOR | PDF Blum, Shirley Neilsen "Hans Memling’s Annunciation with Angelic Attendants." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 27 (1992). JSTOR | PDF Van Miegroet, Hans J. "The Sign of the Rose: A Fifteenth-Century Flemish Passion Scene." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 27 (1992). JSTOR | PDF Walker, Stefanie "A Pax by Guglielmo della Porta." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 26 (1991). JSTOR | PDF Vechnyak, Irina Barskova "El Greco's Miracle of Christ Healing the Blind: Chronology Reconsidered." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 26 (1991). JSTOR | PDF Zucker, Mark J. "Fine Manner vs. Broad Manner in Two Fifteenth-Century Florentine Engravings." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 25 (1990). JSTOR | PDF Bauman, Guy C. "A Rosary Picture with a View of the Park of the Ducal Palace in Brussels, Possibly by Goswijn van der Weyden." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 24 (1989). JSTOR | PDF Theuerkauff, Christian "Addenda to the Small-Scale Sculpture of Matthieu van Beveren of Antwerp." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 23 (1988). JSTOR | PDF Mayor, A. Hyatt "Rembrandt and the Bible." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 36, no. 3 (Winter, 1978–1979). JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs "Director’s Note" PDF "Rembrandt and the Bible" PDF Duschesne-Guillemin, Jacques "On the Cityscape of the Mérode Altarpiece." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 11 (1976). JSTOR | PDF Schub, Judith E. "Prints by Martin Schongauer." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 29, no. 9 (May, 1971). JSTOR | PDF Haskell, Francis "The Benjamin Altman Bequest." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 3 (1970). JSTOR | PDF McKendry, John J. "Four Fifteenth-Century Crucifixions." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 25, no. 1, part 1 (Summer, 1966). JSTOR | PDF Gómez-Moreno, Carmen "The Doorway of San Leonardo al Frigido and the Problem of a Master Biduino." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 23, no. 10 (June, 1965). JSTOR | PDF Freeman, Margaret B. "The Iconography of the Merode Altarpiece." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 16, no. 4 (December, 1957). JSTOR | PDF Rousseau, Theodore "The Merode Altarpiece." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 16, no. 4 (December, 1957). JSTOR | PDF Suhr, William "The Restoration of the Merode Altarpiece." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 16, no. 4 (December, 1957). JSTOR | PDF Ostoia, Vera K. "A Palmesel at the Cloisters." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 14, no. 7 (March, 1956). JSTOR | PDF