Pietro Lorenzetti (Siena, c. 1280/85 – c. 1348), Last Supper, 1310-20, fresco, Lower Church of San Francesco in Assisi

The scene, built around a table, takes place inside a magnificent hexagonal loggia (which is very much reminiscent of the structure of the pulpit of the Cathedral of Siena by Nicola Pisano). There, we can see the elements of tradition: the table is fitted out and the bread and the glass of wine are placed on it; the twelve are around Jesus – who is at the centre of the composition, dominating it – placed in a perfect arch, six on the left half and the other six on the right half; John has placed his head on the chest of the Master, whereas Judas is the only one without an aureole, thus testifying that the devil has already put in his heart the idea of treason (cf. Jn 13:2). Among the apostles there seems to be a slight movement, perhaps because they are caught at the moment when they are wondering who and how it will be possible for one of them to betray Jesus.

Raphael, Raffaello Sanzio (Urbino, 1483 - Rome, 1520), The Transfiguration, 1518-20, oily tempera on wood, cm 405 x 278, Vatican City, Vatican Museums

This impressive work - perhaps the last of the great painter from Marche region – presents, for the first time together, two distinct episodes of the Gospel of Matthew, which are narrated in succession in the first part of chapter 17. They are the transfiguration (17:1-8) and the healing of the possessed child (17:14-18).

El Greco, Dominikos Theotokopoulos (Candia, 1541 – Toledo, 1614), Healing of the blind man, around 1570, oil on poplar wood, cm 65.5 x 84, Dresden, Gemäldegalerie

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people” (Matthew 4:23).

Gerard David (Ouwater, 1450-60  – Bruges, 1523), The wedding at Cana 1523, oleum on wood, cm 100 x 128, Paris, Musée du Louvre

The work of the Flemish painter is very rich from the iconographic point of view. Full of figures, beyond the accurate reproduction of the Gospel (cf. John 2, 1-11), the scene shows different levels.

Piero della Francesca (Borgo San Sepolcro, c. 1420 – 1492), The Baptism of Christ, c. 1445, tempera on panel, 167 cm x 116 cm, National Gallery, London

The representation of this evangelical scene is very peculiar: it doesn’t intend to tell the event in its actual reality, but rather through its multiple meanings.

Doménikos Theotokópoulos, known as El Greco, (Heraklion, around 1541 – Toledo, 1614), The Holy trinity, 1577-79, oil on canvas, 300 x 170 cm, Madrid, Museo del Prado

The great painting by the Spanish painter is almost entirely occupied by the figures represented. There is no landscape, only the golden light on top, where the dove of the Holy Spirit is hovering around, and the low clouds on which the characters stand. In fact, the scene is entirely divine, it represents the Trinity.

Giovanni Bellini (Venice, c. 1433 – 1513), Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, c. 1460, tempera on panel, 82 cm x 106 cm, Venice, Fondazione Querini Stampalia

The panel presents a crowd of people in a small space behind a marble balustrade. The picture is probably rich in meaning for the artist if, as it seems, the young man portrayed on the right is Giovanni Bellini himself, while the woman on the opposite side should be his wife Ginevra.

Albrecht Dürer (Nuremberg 1471 –1528), Christ among the Doctors, 1506, oil on poplar panel, 65 cm x 80 cm, Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

This intense and peculiar representation of the well-known evangelical episode was made by Dürer in just 5 days during his second stay in Venice (in addition to the artist’s monogram, we can read Opus Quinque Dierum, meaning “made in five days”, on the slip of paper sticking out of the tome in the lower left corner).

Antonio Allegri, known as Correggio (Correggio, Italy 1489 – 1534), Nativity, 1522-1530, oil on poplar wood, cm 256.5 x 188, Dresden, Gemäldegalerie

This large table that Correggio painted for the chapel of the Pratoneri family in the church of San Prospero in Reggio Emilia, Italy, represents an unusual scene. It is night, the special night in which Mary gave birth to Jesus. We know that something special happened that night for there is a warm, very intense light emanating from the child. It is a light that illuminates directly Mary, and then hits the other protagonists of the painting: the woman, the shepherds, the angels and even Joseph, who’s on the background.

Jacopo Carucci, known as Pontormo (Pontorme, 1494  – Florence, 1557), Visitation, around 1528-30, oil on board, cm 202 x 156, Carmignano, Italy, Prepositure of Saints Michael and Francis

Pontormo has set the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth in a dark city street, where some bare, off-scale buildings are visible. The darkness of the scene is pierced by the light that is reflected on the figures in the foreground, on the faces and especially on the drapery.

Lorenzo Lotto (Venice, c. 1480 – Loreto, 1556), Recanati Annunciation, 1527, oil on canvas, 166 cm x 114 cm, Recanati, Civic Museum

The environment in which the scene described by Luke (1: 26-38) takes place is a small room, with a few everyday objects used by Mary, the young woman living in it. On the right side of the painting there’s the mighty and real (we can actually see his shadow on the floor) figure of the angel Gabriel, who almost seems to have glided through the beautiful arched entrance. Above, in the clouds, the figure of God, the one who chose Mary to make her become the Mother of the Lord, His Son Jesus, and the one who sent the angel.