Transfiguration of Jesus Art

ART: Many artists have depicted the Transfiguration of Jesus. Below are images of some of those works of art. If you click a picture, you will see a much larger version. For some of the pictures, you can click on the larger version and see an even LARGER version.

The first is a mosaic. It was made in about 565, a little more than 500 years after Jesus was crucified. A mosaic is a picture that is made by putting little pieces of tile together to make the picture. This is in the ceiling of the Monastery of Saint Catherine, at Mount Sinai, in Egypt. It is in a part of the ceiling that is curved, like a dome. The artist represented Jesus as the light of the world:

Here is a second image of that mosaic. You can better see the location of the mosaic in the ceiling:

The next is a painting. It was made sometime in the 1100s, about 900 years ago. It also is in Saint Catherine's Monastery, at Mount Sinai, in Egypt. It appears to be a fresco, painted directly onto a wall:

The next painting was made in about 1300, a little over 700 years ago, by the artist named Duccio. It is about 18 inches by 18 inches -- about a foot-and-a-half square:

The painting is called "The Transfiguration." It is part of the large piece of art called "Maestà." We have looked at other paintings that the artist Duccio made for the Maestà. Together, the paintings told the story of Jesus' life. Last week, we looked at this artist's painting about the Temptation of Christ, when Jesus was in the desert for 40 days and the devil tried to tempt Jesus. Earlier, we looked at this artist's painting that shows when Jesus called Andrew and his brother Simon Peter to be Apostles, to be fishers of men. All three paintings are in the bottom row of paintings on the backside of the Maestà. The painting of the Transfiguration is the 2nd from the right, below:

The Maestà was made to be put on an altar inside a huge church building in Italy. The piece of art had two sides, and it had different paintings on each side. (Side 1.) (Side 2.) The art piece was inside the church for about 450 years. Then, it was cut into pieces, leaving many individual paintings, and the individual paintings are now all over world. The Transfiguration painting is in an art gallery in London, England.

The next art was created in 1403, by the artist Theophanes the Greek. The artist painted on wood. The piece is six-feet high and about four-and-a-half feet wide. It is in an art gallery in Moscow, Russia:

The next painting was made in 1487, by Giovanni Bellini. The artist used oil paint on wood. The painting is in a museum in Naples, Italy. The painting is almost four feet high and five feet wide:

Next is a painting by Raphael. He worked on the painting until he died in 1520, five-hundred years ago. It was his final work. It is painted on wood. It is more than 13 feet high and nine feet wide. It is in an art gallery in the Vatican City. The painting shows the Transfiguration of Jesus at the top. Below that depiction is a depiction of the next episode from the Gospels (Luke 9:37-43) -- a father begging Jesus to heal his son, who is possessed by a demon:

The next painting is by Peter Paul Rubens. It was painted in 1605. It is oil paint on canvas. It is 22 feet wide and over 13 feet high. It is in a museum in France, in the city of Nancy. Like Raphael's painting of the Transfiguration, this painting also has a scene below the scene of the Transfiguration:

The next painting is by James Tissot. He painted this in about 1890. It is watercolor over a pencil drawing on gray paper. It's about nine inches high and about six inches wide. It is at a museum in Brooklyn, New York: