Religious paintings have changed considerably through the centuries. Across Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and other faiths, artworks have evolved with historical context, shifts in theology, and artistic innovations. In this short article, we’ll discuss paintings in two religions: Judaism and Buddhism.
Paintings in Judaism
Jewish art has traditionally focused on decorative arts, manuscript illumination, and symbolism. Early artworks include the Dura-Europos synagogue murals, which History of Information notes are “the earliest continuous surviving biblical narrative cycle” (the Dura Europos synagogue also contains possibly the earliest surviving rabbinic texts).
Illuminated manuscripts, such as the Sarajevo Haggadah, combine religious texts with paintings. These artworks are in various styles which reflect the diverse environments in which Jewish communities have lived. The Sarajevo Haggadah is said to have been completed in the 13th or 14th century. A 2015 paper, published in the Jewish Quarterly Review, notes that illuminated books are found “in all the great collections of Europe”, including the British Museum, the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, and in German cities like Frankfurt and Munich.
In the 20th century, modernists like Marc Chagall brought Jewish themes to the modern art world. Paintings such as White Crucifixion showed the suffering of Jews and displayed the Jewish identity of Jesus. MarcChagall.net notes that in White Crucifixion, Jesus’s traditional loincloth was replaced with a prayer shawl, “his crown of thorns with a headcloth, and the mourning angels that customarily surround him with three biblical patriarchs and a matriarch, clad in traditional Jewish garments.”
Modern Jewish paintings include Jerusalem paintings, Kotel paintings, and abstract art. Such paintings, as well as home blessings, Mezuzah cases, Kiddush cups, and jewelry, can be found at the Israeli Center of Judaica.
Buddhist art evolving through time
A prince named Siddhartha gave up his royal pleasures to seek purpose and after several years found enlightenment under a bodhi tree. He was then known as the Buddha, the Enlightened One. The Buddha’s Middle Path forwent luxury and prioritised good thoughts, good intentions, and honorable living. Buddhist art began with symbolic representations such as the lotus and the wheel, before transitioning to depictions of the Buddha around the 1st century CE.
In the 1st century, Buddha was depicted as a human. The Met Museum notes that in Gandhara (an ancient Indo-Aryan region, now present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan), “artistic elements from the Hellenistic world combined with the symbolism needed to express Indian Buddhism to create a unique style.” Youthful Buddhas resembled Roman statues of Apollo, and there were also many artworks depicting the Buddha as his princely self. Meanwhile, artists in Mathura, India depicted the Buddha’s body expanded “by sacred breath (prana)”. The third influential Buddha type evolved in Southern India, where he was depicted in “substantial proportions”.
These different depictions have each influenced modern day Buddhist paintings and other artworks. Buddhist history also includes paintings not directly related to the Buddha: the Sigiriya frescoes, a type of mural painting, in Sri Lanka were once said to include the largest picture in the world. The 200-meter-high rock was painted to resemble Alakamanda, a beautiful city among the clouds in Buddhist mythology. There is speculation that the rocks and caves were used by Buddhist monks from the 3rd century BC.
Religious art
For more about religious art, consider resources such as the “religious art” page at Britannica and the “Art and Religion” page at The National Gallery.
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