The audacity of Christian art: the problem with Christ | National Gallery

#AntiqueMasterpieces "How do you paint a figure who is fully human and fully divine? This episode sets the scene for exploring the problem and considers the inherent audacity of what Christian art attempts to do.

Beginning with Cima da Conegliano’s ‘The Incredulity of Saint Thomas’ (about 1502–4), Chloë Reddaway suggests thatsome artists invite viewers to ponder the mystery of the Incarnation by creating and playing with strange and paradoxical elements in their paintings.

‘The audacity of Christian art: The problem of painting Christ’ is a seven-part series in which Dr Chloë Reddaway, Howard and Roberta Ahmanson Curator in Art and Religion at the National Gallery, explores the theological and artistic challenges involved in painting Christ as fully human and fully divine, and reveals some of the ingenious and surprising ways in which Renaissance artists responded."