Justus Sustermans, portrait of Galileo Galilei, date unknown, oil on canvas.
In a private collectionThe extent of Christianity during the period of the Crusades.
From F. W. Putzger,Paul’s missionary travels in the eastern Mediterranean.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Geographical distribution of the religions of the world in the early 1980s.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Christ as Ruler, with the Apostles and Evangelists (represented by the beasts). The female figures are believed to be either Santa Pudenziana and Santa Práxedes or symbols of the Jewish and Gentile churches. Mosaic in the apse of Santa Pudenziana basilica, Rome, ad 401–417.
De AntonisMoses expounding the law, illuminated manuscript page from the Bury Bible, about 1130. In Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
Courtesy of the Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, CambridgeGreek Bible. Page from The Gospel According to Matthew, 6th century ad.
The Granger Collection, New YorkStatue of Diocletian’s tetrarchy, red porphyry, c. ad 300, brought to Venice in 1258.
Alinari/Art Resource, New YorkMarble colossal head of Constantine the Great, part of the remains of a giant statue from the Basilica of Constantine, in the Roman Forum, c. ad 313.
Hirmer Fotoarchiv, MunichApse of the church of St. Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna, Italy, second half of the 6th century.
SCALA/Art Resource, New YorkWorld distribution of Christianity, c. 2000.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Communion of the Apostles, panel by Justus of Ghent, c. 1473–74; in the Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, Italy.
SCALA/Art Resource, New YorkSt. Augustine, fresco by Sandro Botticelli, 1480; in the Church of the Ognissanti, Florence.
Scala/Art Resource, New YorkSt. Thomas Aquinas Enthroned Between the Doctors of the Old and New Testaments, with Personifications of the Virtues, Sciences, and Liberal Arts, fresco by Andrea da Firenze, c. 1365; in the Spanish Chapel of the church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence.
SCALA/Art Resource, New YorkStained glass window depicting God the Father and angels.
© CorbisSatan leaves the presence of God to test God’s faithful servant Job. Engraving by William Blake, 1825, for an illustration of The Book of Job.
Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum; photograph, J.R. Freeman & Co. Ltd.Transfiguration of Christ, mosaic icon, early 13th century; in the Louvre, Paris.
Giraudon/Art Resource, New YorkThe so-called “Beautiful Window”; stained glass depicting the Virgin Mary on her throne, 12th–13th century; Chartres Cathedral, France.
© 1997; AISA, Archivo Iconográfico, Barcelona, EspañaThe Trinity represented by Christ as a man, the Holy Spirit as a dove, and God as a hand; Armenian miniature of the baptism of Jesus, 1273; in the Topkapi Museum, Istanbul.
Ara Guler, IstanbulSt. Athanasius, detail of a 12th-century mosaic; in the Palatine Chapel, Palermo, Italy.
Anderson—Alinari/Art Resource, New YorkUniversal Man, manuscript illumination from Scivias (1141–52) by Hildegard of Bingen.
© Gianni Dagli Orti/CorbisSt. Peter’s Basilica on St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City.
W. Buss/DeA Picture LibraryThe Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Mass., Dec. 22, 1620, lithograph by Currier & Ives, c. 1876.
Library of Congress, Washington D.C.First page of Genesis from one of the 46 extant copies of the Gutenberg Bible, printed in Mainz, Germany, between 1450 and 1456.
The Granger Collection, New YorkThe Temptation of Saint Anthony, oil painting by Hiëronymus Bosch, in the Städtisches Museum Simeonstift Trier, Germany.
© Archivo Iconografico, S.A./CorbisThe Annunciation, tempera on wood by Simone Martini, 1333 (saints on either side of the central panel by Lippo Memmi); in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
SCALA/Art Resource-EB IncThe Last Judgment, fresco by Michelangelo; 1533–41, in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome.
SCALA/Art Resource, New YorkEmanuel Swedenborg, painting by Per Krafft the Elder, 1766; in Gripsholm Castle, Sweden.
Courtesy of Svenska Portrattarkivet, StockholmSt. Thomas Aquinas, fresco by Fra Angelico, 1447–51.
The Granger Collection, New YorkSt. Anselm (centre), terra-cotta altarpiece by Luca Della Robbia (1399/1400–82); in the Museo Diocesano, Empoli, Italy.
Alinari/Art Resource, New YorkHildegard of Bingen, from the Wiesbaden Codex, 12th century.
The Granger Collection, New YorkThe Adoration of the Magi, oil painting by Albrecht Dürer, 1504; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
SCALA/Art Resource, New YorkDetail of The Deeds of the Antichrist, fresco by Luca Signorelli, c. 1505; in the Duomo, Orvieto, Italy.
Sandro Vannini/CorbisBartolomé de Las Casas, Spanish line engraving, 1791.
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