Collection
Religion & Mythology in Renaissance & Baroque painting
86 paintings exploring the theme of religion & mythology, from artists including Andrea Sacchi, Anna Maria Carew, Annibale Carracci, Anonymous, 17th century and across institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago.
The Holy Family with young John the Baptist and Saint Elizabeth, two angels above, after Reni
Anonymous, 17th century
The Virgin holding the infant Christ, an oval composition, after Reni
Anonymous, 17th century
The Virgin holding the infant Christ, a circular composition, after Reni
Anonymous, 17th century
The Virgin holding the infant Christ, a circular composition, after Reni
Anonymous, 17th century
Christ on the cross, Saint John the Baptist at right, Mary Magdelene and the Virgin at left, after Reni
Gian Battista Bolognini
Madonna and Child with Saints Francis and Dominic and Angels
Giulio Cesare Procaccini
Saint Jerome kneeling on a rock in front of a cross and an open book facing left
Guido Reni
Anna van Bergen (1492–1541) and Her Son Hendrik (born 1519) as the Virgin and Child
Jan Gossart
Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
Orsola Maddalena Caccia
![Various Sketches of the Madonna and Child (recto); Architectural Studies (verso) [partially visible on recto]](https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1939.670/1939.670_web.jpg)
Various Sketches of the Madonna and Child (recto); Architectural Studies (verso) [partially visible on recto]
Paolo Veronese
Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist, Saint Cecilia, and Angels
Piero di Cosimo
Saint Remigius Replenishing the Barrel of Wine; (interior) Saint Remigius and the Burning Wheat
Swiss Painter
Saint Anthony Appearing to a Sick Man
Follower of Domenico Robusti, called Tintoretto Italian
Apollo Granting Phaeton Permission to Drive the Chariot of the Sun
Johann Michael Rottmayr
Virgin and Child in Glory with Saints Sebastian, John the Evangelist, and Roch
Pasquale Ottino Italian
Godard van Reede (1588-1648), Lord of Nederhorst. Delegate of the Province of Utrecht at the Peace Conference at Münster (1646-48)
Gerard ter Borch
Adolf and Catharina Croeser, Known as ‘The Burgomaster of Delft and his Daughter’
Jan Steen
Why religion & mythology dominated Renaissance and Baroque art
The theme of religion & mythology returns again and again across two centuries of European painting. Renaissance and Baroque artists were working inside a culture where this subject carried specific weight: religious, civic, moral, erotic, political. The paintings collected here are not a random group — they are a record of how that subject was handled, contested, and reinvented by the painters who shaped Western art.
Each painting page on Paintale opens with the story of the work, then drills into the symbols a contemporary viewer would have read, the techniques the painter used to make those symbols feel inevitable, and the provenance trail that brought the painting from its first patron to its current museum wall.