The
Life of Christ as a narrative cycle in
Christian art comprises a number of different subjects, which were often grouped in series or cycles of works in a variety of media, narrating the life of
Jesus on earth, as distinguished from the many other subjects in art showing the eternal life of Christ, such as
Christ in Majesty, and also many types of portrait or devotional subjects without a narrative element. Most of the subjects forming the narrative cycles have also been the subjects of individual works, though with greatly varying frequency. By around 1000, the choice of scenes for the remainder of the
Middle Ages became largely settled in the Western and Eastern churches, and was mainly based on the major feasts celebrated in the church calendars.