Christianity and the Visual Arts

New York: Grove, 1996. 34 volumes.
Includes the Grove Dictionary of Art. In over 41,000 articles, this mammoth work covers the visual arts from around the world from prehistory to the 1990s. Included are articles on painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic and decorative arts, and photography. In addition, influences on the production of art such as religion, trade, geography, history and politics are fully addressed.
For print version locations of the Grove Dictionary of Art, see the UofT Library Catalogue.

New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959-68. 15 volumes + 2 supplements.
Lengthy articles by subject specialists on "architecture, sculpture, and painting, and every other man-made object that, regardless of its purpose or technique, enters the field of aesthetic judgment because of its form or decoration." The second half of each volume consists of plates illustrating the articles in the first half of the volume.

2nd edition. Washington, DC: Gale, 2003. 15 volumes + supplements.
The major English-language encyclopedia on Catholic topics, this work contains some 17,000 articles, each with a bibliography. There is an article entitled "Art, Articles on" which provides an overview of the encyclopedia's artistic content and identifies several hundred entries relating to the visual arts. Unfortunately many of the articles in the 2003/online edition are reprints from the 1967 edition without any updating.
For print version locations, see the UofT Library Catalogue.

By Gertrud Schiller.
Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1971-1972. 2 volumes.
For print version locations, see the UofT Library Catalogue.
An English-language translation of the first two volumes of the 8 volume German edition. Lengthy articles on representations of events from the life of Christ. Black-and-white illustrations of over 1000 works of art.
The online version is available on the Internet Archive, a trusted source, but one for which it is necessary to create a free account and login.

By Louis Reau.
Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1955. 3 volumes in 6.
For print version locations, see the UofT Library Catalogue.
Volume 1 includes introductory articles about Christian symbolism. The articles in volume 2 (Parts 1 and 2) consider the representation of various biblical stories and characters. The articles in volume 3 (Parts 1, 2, and 3) consider the representation of Christian saints. Each article includes a list of major works of art and a very specific bibliography.
The online version is available on the Internet Archive, a trusted source, but one for which it is necessary to create a free account and login.

Edited by Engelbert Kirschbaum.
Rome: Herder, 1968-1976. 8 volumes.
This work is similar to Reau's Iconographie de l'art Chretien - but it is more a work of reference with longer bibliographies and lists of major works of art. The articles in volumes 1 to 4 consider the representation of particular biblical characters, events, and symbols. The articles in volumes 5 to 8 consider the representation of particular Christian saints, but with very little explanation. Many black-and-white illustrations.
Some volumes are available online on the Internet Archive, a trusted source, but one for which it is necessary to create a free account and login.