The Birmingham Museum of Art traces depictions of Jesus through art history

The Birmingham Museum of Art is presenting an exhibition that considers the wide-ranging representation of one of art history’s most pervasive subjects, Jesus. Drawn largely from the Museum’s permanent collection, ​Embodying Faith: Imagining Jesus through the Ages showcases 30 works that span more than six centuries and feature varying depictions of Jesus by artists working across the globe: from Ethiopia to Italy, France to Fayette County, Alabama. The exhibition traces how artists imagined Jesus and includes work in a range of media including prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, quilts, flags, and books. For centuries, artistic production in Europe, and elsewhere, was dominated by Christian themes. This religious art served many purposes, from embellishing altars and aiding in private devotion, to educating the faithful and acting as propaganda either for or against the church during the Protestant Reformation. A