Graham Sutherland's Crucifixion, unveiled in 1963, was the third he had created for a church and the first and only commission that he received from a Roman Catholic Church, despite being a Catholic himself. It taps another theme found within the revival of sacred art, a focus on the horror of crucifixion. For Sutherland this derives from reflection on the terror inherent in both Grünewald’s Isenheim altarpiece and the reality of the Holocaust.

Mark Cazalet was commissioned to create a painting on 35 oak panels depicting the Tree of Life. Mark, speaking about the installation, said that the inspiration behind the piece was the music and choral tradition of the Cathedral and that he very much wanted his mural to reflect this, with the swirling motion in the painting representing the musical traditions. Mark wanted the symmetrical design of the tree to represent opposing ideas with the tree bursting into life on one side and dying back on the other.

Who are we and where do we come from? These are the questions we are born asking, and they prompt answers we go on questioning. There we stand, hearing the sound of our own questions and the sound of our own answers, yet never satisfied, never finished with the task … there we stand, pondering the sound we make, longing for silence …

One of very few traditional frescoes done in contemporary times. The application of paint to wet plaster extended the artist's work to a three-year period.

Born in 1959 the Russian artist Sergie Fyodorov is an important contemporary painter of icons and frescoes.  Having studied art in Moscow, Fyodorov was first exposed to icons in a public gallery rather than a church. Inspired and moved by the works of master icon painters such as Andrei Rubliov, he tried to make an icon for himself by studying from a book. This was a dangerous and subversive act in Soviet Russia, where the creation of religious icons was against the law.

The Chagall windows at Tudeley were commissioned by Sir Henry and Lady d'Avigdor-Goldsmid in memory of Sarah d'Avigdor-Goldsmid, their daughter who died in 1963 at the tragically early age of 21, in a sailing accident off Rye. Sarah d'Avigdor-Goldsmid and her mother had visited the 1961 Louvre exhibition of Chagall's work.

A highly detailed yet monochrome window depicting billowing clouds. This work was joint winner, along with James Hugonin's window for the same church, of the 2011 ACE award for art in a religious context.

In response to the invitation by the Westminster Cathedral Art and Architecture Committee to Giacomo Manzu that he should produce a low relief bronze wall panel showing St Thérèse of Lisieux for the Cathedral, Manzu submitted a sketch in 1956. This was immediately approved and the commission awarded. Manzu then proceeded to design and produce the bronze in Italy with casting taking place in Milan.

Paula Rego’s pastel depicts St Margaret of Scotland with her son, David. Born in Hungary, exiled from England to Scotland under William the Conqueror, Margaret then married King Malcolm III of Scotland, abandoning a plan to become a nun.

Stephen Cox was the joint winner of the ACE Award for Art in a Religious Context in 2007/8 for this altar which was commissioned by the people of Aosta in Italy from where the piece of marble was excavated. St Anselm is buried in the chapel having been born in Aosta.

A triptych of modern stained-glass windows hanging in Gloucestershire Cathedral's South Ambulatory Chapel, the central one recalls the story of doubting Thomas, while those either side are abstract articulations of Psalm 148 which praises God's creation.

Mural covering the walls of St Benet’s Chaplaincy, Queen Mary, University of London.

Adam Kossowski (1905-1986, Polish) was a Polish refugee who quickly made a career in public works of figurative art in Britain.

"Scintilla is a visual orchestration of life, made to echo inside the tall paleness of Christ Church Spitalfields. An evocation of landscape and elements that wants to summon the potent majesty of natures shifting energy to the core of Hawkesmoor’s  poised linear order."

Nominated by Brian Catling

The altar that stands solidly as the ‘centre-point’ in the Resurrection Chapel around which the Community of the Resurrection and its guests gather on most days for the celebration of the Eucharist was designed and sculpted by Nicholas Mynheer.

This striking sculpture gives a dynamic focus to the church which takes a simple tent-like form. Behind the austere altar table the outstretched arms of the reflected figure invoke a well-proportioned ellipsis on the east wall. 

The main features of the sanctuary are the Reredos and the stained glass windows... The Seven Angels Reredos was designed and worked by Susan Riley. Commissioned in 2000 it took two years to complete and was inspired by the angels of the seven churches to whom letters are addressed in the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation.

Window based on the theme of Psalm 150

In 1970 the church of St Anselm's Kennington planned to redecorate its interior and invited Norman Adams to paint murals for the two side walls. After some deliberation between Adams and the Vicar at the time, Pilgrim's Progress was settled on as a theme and Adams undertook an abstract series working from dark to light in a modern yet expressionist manner.

All Saints Newland, known as the Cathedral of the Forest (of Dean), is also in the Wye Valley. Thus Beryl Dean used imagery of foliage, fish, water weed and snails for this Festal Set. The detail and design are both meticulous, charming and compliment the architecture of this rural church.

This speaks of unity of sound and glory. It is a universally accessible symbol, as was specified in the artist’s brief. They themselves echo the Grassin case design which features a fish (or Ickthus) motif on the front of the closed case. The four fish – two on the left and two on the right are Christian symbols which, in turn, enfold the circle within.

Contemporary window chronicling the North Sea Oil industry, with links to Aberdeen and in memory of all those who lost their lives in the industry. The window won a Saltire Award for Arts in Architecture.