Religious imagery was severely restricted after the reign of Henry VIII and particular during Calvinist influence. Churches were embellished with plaques of the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments but pictures were banned for their suspected role in leading to idolatry. Catholic countries, such as the Southern Low Countries (now Belgium) France, and Italy were rich with images of the saints, miracles, and stories from the Bible. Secretly, English Catholics acquired such works. Stonyhurst, then the country seat of the Catholic Shirburn family, had a chapel. Its 1713 inventory listed 2 "large black and white" images flanking the altar. These were presumably prints that would have been transported rolled up and undetected.

The only paintings in the Shirburn Chapel were of small dimension (12 x 10 inches) to enable their clandestine import. These oil paintings on copper relate to late 17th century art forms of the Southern Low Countries, possibly Antwerp. They show the influence of Van Dyck and Italian Schools of narrative painting. The subjects depict the Life of Christ, including the Adoration of the Shepherds, Circumcision, Flight into Egypt with the Holy Family Resting, Finding of the Boy Jesus in the Temple, Christ saying Goodbye to his Mother, Christ Taken Down from the Cross, and Christ greeting Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection (Noli me Tangere).

Included also are images of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin and Our Lady of Sorrows with seven swords piercing her breast, corresponding to the tradition of the Seven Sorrows. Pious tradition encouraged believers to try to empathize with the Virgin's human emotions when she participated in the Presentation in the Temple, Flight into Egypt, and Finding the Boy Jesus in the Temple, and witnessed Christ Carrying the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Descent from the Cross, and the Ascension when Christ finally leaves her. Above the suffering Virgin is Veronica's veil with the bloodied face of Christ carried by angels.

Christ also appears as the Man of Sorrows. The saints' representations include two images of St. Jerome, and the Martyrdom of Thomas Becket, the feast removed from public devotion by Henry VIII, as demonstrated in the printed Books of Hours included in this exhibition. Many of the images seem to correspond to Jesuit traditions of spirituality. The importance of the Circumcision, the ritual at which Jewish males were given their names, relates to the veneration of the Name of Jesus by the Society of Jesus).

Towneley Hall, Lancashire, home of an important recusant family, imported a copy of Rubens's Decent from the Cross, 1612-14, Antwerp Cathedral.