The Bible has been a rich source of inspiration for western art since the Middle Ages, with the Old Testament as the focus of attention of painters and sculptors in Italy and in Europe. This series of 12 documentaries covers the Pentateuch, the Historical Books, the Poetic Books and the Prophetic Books, exploring how artists have interpreted them in the course of time. Through the work of painters, sculptors, engravers, goldsmiths and weavers, the stories of the Old Testament are brought to life, as if on a movie screen. Paintings, frescoes, sculptures in wood, marble and bronze, pottery and precious fabrics have been chosen to narrate significant episodes of the Bible. Travelling along western art, the documentaries track its development from the Twelfth to the Twentieth Century.
Each documentary follows the fortunes of the Bible’s stories across time, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and the Counter-Reformation until the present. Each documentary is accompanied by a commentary illustrating Christian history, with direct quotations from the Sacred Texts.
