Before an artist sits down to paint a picture, they have to consider two things: firstly, the subject to paint, and secondly, the methods they are going to apply to produce an impression of the subject on the canvas. These points are of greater importance when faced with the challenge of painting God, since the methods used must compare to the Divine; so to answer this question fully, it is important to consider if it really is impossible to portray God adequately, if at all. God is a metaphysical concept, rather than a physical being, so arguably anyone might create a representation of God and say it is correct in their eyes. The very fact that many artists have depicted God in their paintings shows that it is not impossible to set out to portray Him, it is just a case of whether or not they have done so in such a way that the Christian community feels that it is adequate enough.

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The light entering the room from the open door creates a cross-shape[9], thus combing two common symbols that earlier painters used to represent the Divine- light and the cross. This presents a subtle difference between contemporary and previous artists, in the way that they choose to represent God: current painters encourage the viewer to think more about the painting to see the image of God, whereas older artists explicitly show God in some form. In The Supper at Emmaus[9], Richards has positioned Christ in line with the open doorway to make it look as though he is on the cross, with the disciples looking at Him. The yellow and blue colours that are used echo the gold and lapis lazuli that were employed in The Wilton Diptych[2] and other older works, showing that although the content and symbolism of contemporary Christian art has changed, the process and message that the artists are trying to get across have remained as they