Images of Saint Christopher

Images of Saint Christopher Through Time
Painters and Sculptors of Saint Christopher
Saint Christopher by the Masters — on the YouTube channel Sulle spalle di san Cristoforo

On this page you will find the evolution of Saint Christopher’s iconography across the centuries — a kind of art history seen through the lens of Saint Christopher.

Images of Saint Christopher Through Time

Between the 8th and 13th Centuries: Before the Golden Legend

Before becoming a ferryman, Saint Christopher was a martyr, a soldier, a king. And above all — he carries no Child!

San Cristoforo coronato, senza Bambino, con lungo mantello e veste, XII secolo, Settimo Vittone (TO) — *Saint Christopher – Guglielmo d’Orta – Pieve di San Lorenzo, Settimo Vittone (TO)*– ph. Laurom

Saint Christopher before the Golden Legend

The Golden Legend

The Legenda Aurea, written by Jacopo da Varagine at the end of the 13th century, is the primary source on which all subsequent iconography drew. It most likely developed the ferryman narrative to show how Saint Christopher is, in the truest sense, a bearer of Christ — from the name, to the legend.

The Golden Legend (in Latin)
The Golden Legend (in Italian)

After the Golden Legend: 13th–16th Centuries

Saint Christopher’s moment of great triumph. Everyone wants him, everyone prays to him, everyone depicts him. For public and private devotion alike, representations of the saint multiply — protector of pilgrims, keeper of terrible afflictions at bay (from sudden death to the plague), and patron of a vast array of people and professions.

San Cristoforo con Bambino — San Cristoforo- Chiesa di San Bernardo – Monte Carasso- Bellinzona (Svizzera) – XIV sec.

Saint Christopher between the Reformation and the Council of Trent

The 16th century is Saint Christopher’s terrible century. His cult is challenged first by the Humanists, then by Luther and the Protestants, and finally by the Catholic Counter-Reformation.

*Titian – Saint Christopher, 1523 – Palazzo Ducale, Venice*

After the Council of Trent to the Present Day: 17th–21st Centuries

And yet the saint, no longer beloved by the Church, survives. Sometimes hidden, sometimes still publicly invoked — he lives on in the hearts of the faithful.

San Cristoforo gigantesco in ginocchio senza Bambino — Claudio Ridolfi, Crocifisso con santi Giacomo e Cristoforo – Chiesa di san Sebastiano – Castelplanio (AN) – 1615

A New Fortune in the 20th Century

Patron of telegraph operators, he enjoyed a surge of popularity in the 1930s; in 1976 he officially became patron of motorists, though he had already been riding dashboards and dangling from keyrings for some forty years.

Delisi junior, San Cristoforo – Palazzo delle Poste – Palermo Di Stendhal55

Painters and Sculptors of Saint Christopher

Saint Christopher by the Masters — on the YouTube channel Sulle spalle di san Cristoforo

In the history of art, Saint Christopher is a recurring subject, at times interpreted in a highly personal way. Let’s explore some of these artists’ own takes on the saint.

LUCAS CRANACH (1509)
TITIAN (1523)
LORENZO LOTTO (1531–1535)
JACOPO BASSANO (1556)
ADAM ELSHEIMER (1578)
OTTO DIX (1937–1944)