Christian art is sacred art produced in an attempt to illustrate, supplement and portray in tangible form the principles of Christianity, though other definitions are possible. Most Christian groups use or have used art to some extent, although some have had strong objections to some forms of religious image, and there have been major periods of iconoclasm within Christianity. Images of Jesus and narrative scenes from the Life of Christ are the most common subjects, and scenes from the Old Testament play a part in the art of most denominations. Images of the Virgin Mary and saints are much rarer in Protestant art than that of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

Of the three related religions Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, Christianity makes far wider use of images, which are forbidden or discouraged by Islam and Judaism. However there is also a considerable history of aniconism in Christianity from various periods.

Norman Adams (born 1933) was a commercial artist, Illustrator. His life was any artist's dream come true when, as a young graduate from art school, he was offered jobs at three of the most successful and lucrative illustration agencies in NY.

Born in Walla Walla, Washington in 1933 he grew up to draw and paint obsessively from the earliest ages. He collected pictures from every type of magazine and book he could find and then found ways of improving them. He was especially captivated by the trompe l'oeil realism of artists like : William Harnett, John F. Peto and John Haberle. He would use everything every artist had to offer so he could then go further.

He studied art at the Los Angeles Art Center School in the early 1950s. While he was in LA he spent many many months painting a portfolio in which he used his “trompe l'oeil” realism to convince the managers of the largest illustration agencies in NY that he could do what no other artist/illustrator could. He succeeded because while thousands of perfectly good illustrators and artists were begging for work the managers of the three most successful illustration agencies in NY offered him a job. He chose to work for the legendary Charles E Cooper Studio where he became the most versatile if not most productive artist of the group. When he first arrived in NY he quickly impressed established Illustrators, like “the illustrator's illustrator,” Robert Fawcett, to become a sort of Babe Ruth of Illustrators. Just like baseball players had to admit that (Babe Ruth) had something that separated him from other players, illustrators like Fawcett who saw Norman's painting's at Society of Illustrators exhibitions had to admit that even as a rookie Norman Adams had a gift that separated him from his competition.