religious imagery
Holy visual representations
Religious imagery encompasses visual representations, symbols, and figurative language associated with spiritual traditions—crucifixes, menorahs, lotus flowers, depictions of saints or deities.
In literature and art, religious imagery draws on these symbols for emotional or thematic effect: The poem is dense with religious imagery of sacrifice and redemption.
The term often appears in discussions of whether such symbols belong in public spaces.
- statueThree-dimensional sculpted likeness
- crucifixCross with Christ figure
- crown of thornsBraided barbed headpiece
- doveGentle cooing bird
- haloLuminous ring overhead
censer · altar · mandala · stained glass · cross · triptych · prayer rug · pietà · lamb · burning bush · nativity scene · lotus · third eye · icon · altarpieces · baptismal font · holy water · menorah
- illuminationillumination, illuminated manuscripts, illuminators, historiated initials, miniature
- literary devicesmetaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, alliteration
- imageryvisual imagery, metaphor, symbolism, allegory, sensory detail
- Outsider Artnaive art, primitive art, self-taught artists, emotional honesty, religious visions
- Byzantine artByzantine style, Hagia Sophia, Ravenna, Byzantine icons, mosaic tiles
- Byzantine coinssolidus, hexagram, gold coins, silver coins, bronze coins
religious imageryabstract art
Visual work avoiding depiction
landscape art · nature imagery · scientific illustration · still life · geometric patterns