So near and yet so far: Visions and thresholds | The Audacity of Christian Art | National Gallery

Part of the challenge of depicting Christ lies in showing his ‘visibility’ as a man who lived on earth, while also indicating the ‘invisibility’ of God eternal. This episode looks at ‘The Virgin and Child with Two Angels’ by Andrea del Verrocchio and Lorenzo di Credi (around 1476–8) and ‘The Vision of the Blessed Gabrielle’ by Carlo Crivelli (probably about 1489), and considers the pictorial device of the ‘threshold’ as a visual response to the simultaneous proximity of divine presence and the utter transcendence of God. ‘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. Subscribe to be the first to know about new episodes: Like the National Gallery on Facebook: Follow the National Gallery on Twitter: Follow the National Gallery on Instagram: Help keep the museum accessible for everyone by supporting us here: The National Gallery houses the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The museum is free of charge and open 361 days per year, daily between am - pm and on Fridays between am - pm. Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5DN