Editing Religious art (section)

{{Short description|Art with religious subjects}}
[[File: Apse mosaic Hagia Sophia Virgin and Child.jpg|thumb|9th century Byzantine mosaic of the [[Hagia Sophia]] showing the image of the Virgin and Child, one of the first [[Byzantine Iconoclasm|post-iconoclastic]] mosaics. It is set against the original golden background of the 6th century]]
'''Religious art''' is a visual representation of religious ideologies and their relationship with humans. Sacred art directly relates to religious art in the sense that its purpose is for [[worship]] and religious practices. According to one set of definitions, [[Work of art|artworks]] that are inspired by [[religion]] but are not considered traditionally [[Sacredness|sacred]] remain under the umbrella term of religious art, but not sacred art.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chute |first=Desmond |title=Sacred, Holy or Religious Art? |date=1955 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43813855 |journal=Blackfriars |volume=36 |issue=418 |pages=570–579 |jstor=43813855 |issn=1754-2014}}</ref>

Other terms often used for art of various religions are [[cult image]], usually for the main image in a [[place of worship]], [[icon]] in its more general sense (not restricted to [[Eastern Orthodox]] images), and "devotional image" usually meaning a smaller image for private prayer or worship. Images can often be divided into "iconic images", just showing one or more figures, and "narrative images" showing moments from an episode or story involving sacred figures.

The use of images has been controversial in many religions. The term for such opposition is [[aniconism]], with [[iconoclasm]] being the deliberate destruction of images by people of the same religion.