Art of the Bible: Through the Eyes of the Great Masters

(ARTH 228)

How profoundly has the Bible influenced art history? Since Constantine brought Judeo- Christian art out from the catacombs and made it acceptable, Western art has drawn on biblical texts again and again. Whether commissioned by churches and clergy or devout individuals, or inspired by personal devotion, great masters visually recreated the Bible in their idiosyncratic interpretations. In this course we will survey major artists who illustrated biblical texts and their most important narratives. Masters to be discussed range from Early Christian artists to Giotto, da Vinci, Botticelli, Mantegna, Raphael, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Rubens, Rembrandt, and many others.

Along the way, we will read the major biblical texts illustrated by these artists and learn to visually identify all major literary narratives from the Old and New Testaments. We will also see how Apocryphal biblical personae such as Judith, Tobit, and Susannah were needed to fill in narrative gaps. Most of all, we will be delightfully astonished by how the rich imaginations of the great masters responded to the important literature of the Bible.

Patrick Hunt, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution

Patrick Hunt is the Director of the Stanford Alpine Archaeology Project. He received a PhD from the University of London’s Institute of Archaeology, UCL. His articles have appeared widely in publications including the Journal of Roman Archaeology XI, World Archaeology, and Studia Phoenicia. He is the author of several books including Caravaggio, Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History, Rembrandt: His Life in Art, and Renaissance Visions: Myth and Art. Hunt is also the former director of the National Geographic Society Hannibal Expedition (2007–2008).