The Origins of Christianity
The first four paintings depict the birth of Christ, Christ’s giving the keys to St. Peter, the conversion of St. Paul, & the first ecumenic council at Nicaea.
Adoration of the Shepherds (1620), by Dutchman Gerard van Honthorst, in the Uffizi, a painting it is very difficult to get good images of, because it was very badly damaged in the 1993 mafia bombing in Via Georgofili.
The Delivery of The Keys (1482), by Perugino, in the Sistine Chapel
Conversion on the Way to Damascus (1601), Caravaggio, in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome
The First Council of Nicaea, icon at Grand Meteora monastery. The Emperor Constantine in the center, whereas the kneeling figure, bent over, is Arius.
The Medieval Transformation of The Church
The next three deal with the Crusades & the mission to serve the poor
Peter the Hermit Riding a White Mule with a Crucifix in His Hand, Circulating Through the Cities & Villages Preaching the Crusade (1827-9), by the Venetian Francesco Hayez, in a private collection
Stigmata of St. Francis (c.1420), Gentile da Fabriano, Fondazione Magnani Rocca, Parma
St. Thomas of Villanova Distributing Alms (c.1660), by Mateo Cerezo, Louvre
The Counter-Reformation
The final two paintings deal with the arrival of modernity, Renaissance architecture & the religious wars.
Michelangelo Presents Pope Paul IV with his model of St Peter's (1619), Passignano, Casa Buonarotti, Florence
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572-84), the only known work of François Dubois, a Huguenot painter who fled France for Switzerland after the massacre, in the Cantonal Museum in Lausanne. Center right, the corpse hanging from the window is the great Constable de Coligny, a Huguenot—as well as on the ground, decapitated, with the leader of the Holy League, the Duke de Guise standing over him. Center left, the lady in black inspecting corpses is the queen dowager Catherine de Medici, by her palace, the Louvre.
These paintings came to my attention because I watched the Paolo Sorrentino HBO miniseries The Young Pope, starring Jude Law as a reactionary American pope, Pius XIII. I’ll be publishing a podcast series on it soon with my Italian friend Sebastian Edoardo di Giovanni. The paintings feature in its title sequence, which also includes an arrangement of a Jimi Hendrix cover of a Bob Dylan song, All along the watchtower:
I look forward to the podcast series!