a visit with jesus

 Bible Art

Virgin of the Rocks
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
 1483-86    Painting

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This painting presents the Madonna, with infant versions of Christ and John the Baptist, and the archangel Gabriel. Like other Renaissance artists, Leonardo was interested in presenting proverbial religious narratives in a more naturalistic way. Here Leonardo's animate quartet sits amidst a mystical landscape that demonstrates his mathematical approach to picture perspective. Complementing the intimate group in the foreground, the scenery of desolate rocks and still water lends the narrative a dreamlike quality, infusing the scene at once with a sense of the heavenly and the human (a blurring, in other words, of the spiritual with the material). 

This work is oil on wood transferred to canvas. It is housed in the  Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.

Virgin of the Rosary
Artist: Murillo
 c. 1650    Painting

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Also known as The Virgin of the Escorial, this is arguably Murillo's finest Virgin and Child. A relatively early painting, it incorporates the strong chiaroscuro inspired by Caravaggio that endured in Spanish art well into the 17th century.   It is an oil on canvas and is in The Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.