The "Picture Bible" by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

Image source: WIKIPEDIA
The painter and draftsman Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794 – 1872) was one of the most creative representatives of the Nazarenes, an art movement of the 19th century that focused on religious subjects and history painting. The term "Nazarenes" refers to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was usually at the centre of these artists' pictorial work. Schnorr joined this circle in Rome, where he lived from 1817 to 1827. Afterwards the Bavarian King Ludwig I. appointed him professor at the Academy in Munich. From 1846 to 1871 Schnorr was an academy professor and at the same time director of the picture gallery in Dresden (Meyers Neues Lexikon, Band 12, Leipzig, 1975).

Between 1852 and 1860 Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld created a "Picture Bible" using woodcut technique (Der Große Brockhaus, Sixteenth Volume, Leipzig, 1933). This work can be downloaded free of charge from the Internet Archive as a digitised PDF version under The "Picture Bible" by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (as PDF) in good quality. As in the original, this copy keeps Schnorr's images and the explanations — authored by Dr. Heinrich Merz — separate.

Compilation of Schnorr's Picture Bible

In the compilation of Schnorr's Picture Bible offered here for download the explanations have been combined with the images so that, in the opened PDF file, the description belonging to each image appears before or beside the image.
The compilation of Schnorr's Picture Bible is approx. 340 MB in size - downloading the file may therefore take a little longer!

When viewing the 240 images in Schnorr's Picture Bible, what impresses above all is the artist's seemingly inexhaustible imagination. Anyone who looks at this work will confirm that.

As examples you can view some of the illustrations Schnorr created for the Bible by clicking on one of the small thumbnails in the following sections. A so-called “lightbox” will open, in which you can navigate using the mouse or the cursor keys. Press ESC to exit the “lightbox” and return to this page. On a smartphone or tablet, navigate by tapping the forward (at the right edge of the image) or back (at the left edge of the image) arrow buttons.

Examples of Schnorr's illustrations for the Old Testament

Illustrations for the Old Testament, Book 1 of Moses: The first day of Creation (Schnorr's Picture No. 1) Illustrations to the Old Testament, 1st Book of Moses: The Fall of Man (Schnorr's Plate No. 8) Illustrations to the Old Testament, 1st Book of Moses: The Expulsion from Paradise (Schnorr's Plate No. 10) Illustrations to the Old Testament, 1st Book of Moses: Exit from Noah's Ark after the Flood (Schnorr's Plate No. 18) Illustrations to the Old Testament, 1st Book of Moses: Abraham receives the promise that he shall be the father of many peoples (Schnorr's Plate No. 22) Illustrations to the Old Testament, 2nd Book of Moses: The Israelites' deliverance and the Egyptians' destruction in the Red Sea (Schnorr's Plate No. 51) Illustrations to the Old Testament, 2nd Book of Moses: Moses receives the tablets of the law (Schnorr's Plate No. 54) Illustrations to the Old Testament, 4th Book of Moses: The scouts of the land of Canaan (Schnorr's Plate No. 58) Illustrations to the Old Testament, Book of Joshua: Jericho is conquered and destroyed (Schnorr's Plate No. 69) Illustrations to the Old Testament, Book of Judges: Samson's revenge and death (Schnorr's Plate No. 82) Illustrations to the Old Testament, 1st Book of Samuel: David defeats Goliath in single combat (Schnorr's Plate No. 92) Illustrations to the Old Testament, 2nd Book of Samuel: David beholds Bathsheba bathing (Schnorr's Plate No. 101) Illustrations to the Old Testament, 1st Book of Kings: Solomon's judgment (Schnorr's Plate No. 109) Illustrations to the Old Testament, 2nd Book of Kings: The destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of the Israelites to Babylon (Schnorr's picture No. 124) Illustrations to the Old Testament, Book of Job: Job's composure under severe trials (Schnorr's picture No. 131) Illustrations to the Old Testament, Book of Daniel: The prophet Daniel (Schnorr's picture No. 143) Illustrations to the Old Testament, Book of Judith: Judith beheads Holofernes (Schnorr's picture No. 144) Illustrations to the Old Testament, History of Susanna and Daniel: Susanna and the two lustful elders (Schnorr's picture No. 158)

Examples of Schnorr's illustrations for the New Testament

Illustrations to the New Testament, Gospel of Luke: The birth of Christ (Schnorr's picture No. 166) Illustrations to the New Testament, Gospel of John: Jesus and the Samaritan woman (Schnorr's picture No. 182) Illustrations to the New Testament, Gospel of Matthew: The Sermon on the Mount of Jesus (Schnorr's picture No. 186) Illustrations to the New Testament, Gospel of Matthew: Jesus holds the sinking Peter above the sea (Schnorr's picture No. 194) Illustrations to the New Testament, Gospel of Luke: Parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus (Schnorr's picture No. 199) Illustrations to the New Testament, Gospel of Matthew: The end of the traitor Judas Iscariot (Schnorr's picture No. 214) Illustrations to the New Testament, Gospel of Matthew: The resurrection of Jesus (Schnorr's picture No. 218)