For several centuries, the Academic tradition of representational art achieved the seemingly contradictory goals of both the imitation of nature and the perfection of forms. “Sacred Visions,” which opened Friday at the Museum of Biblical Art, brings together over 30 works by Gustave Doré, Jean-Léon Gérôme and their contemporaries, from The Dahesh Museum of Art and will go far to rekindle the public’s interest in, and understanding of, their achievements in the 19th and early 20th century.

The Bible stories were primary subject matter in the formal academies such as the École des Beaux-Art in Paris and, combined with the Academic study and mastery of human anatomy, made for powerful and expressive works. “The Death of Moses,” 1851, by Alexander Cabanel, is a monumental scene of Moses’ passing at the end of Deuteronomy in Moab, after leading his people to the land God had promised them. Born up by angels with opalescent wings, one dressed in pink, another in green, as a third angel in vermillion orange readies a white cloth to enshroud him, Moses acknowledges God with outstretched arms, confident and peaceful in his faith as the cool, dim shadows of the day’s ending touch the ground and hills around him.

“Bathsheba,” ca. 1895, by Jean-Léon Gérôme, is a plaster sculpture of the future wife of King David, caught in a private moment of bathing, all delicacy and feminine grace. “Jacob Wrestling the Angel,” 1876, by Léon Bonnat, is a highly finished charcoal drawing of the Genesis story. The tension in the torso of the angel as he pushes against Jacob, the strength exerted in the upward thrust of his right shoulder, his left foot bracing against Joseph’s calf, are suggested with very subtle shading and graceful contours that bring out the full anatomical forms.

An entirely different effect is created in “The Last Judgement,” a very large charcoal drawing on blue-gray paper by Paul Chenavard, commissioned for a mural that was never completed. This preparatory drawing shows Christ in majesty surrounded by choruses of angels, as all of humanity stands on or clings to outcrops and precipices, and a twisted, serpentine form rises from the central lower depths to curl around the figures of the damned. The charcoal is handled firmly, with forms being rendered in simple outlines while shadows and detail are kept to a minimum.

“The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Elizabeth,” 1823, by François-Joseph Navez, is an open architectural setting infused with clear light and color. The infant Jesus, in a white mantle edged in delicate gold brocade and holding a simple cross fashioned from palm sticks, gazes at us while the infant John the Baptist kneels before his Lord on a luxurious chair cushion of leaf green and sky blue. The four have elliptical halos while Jesus has an aureole. A landscape of atmospheric blues, olive greens, and ochres is seen in the distance as a sense of purity and calm pervades everything.

In “Abel’s Offer,” 1908, a very large painting by Hans Andersen Brendekilde, we watch Abel offer a burning sacrifice to the Lord upon a stone altar, a dense grove of trees open behind him, as he faces sheep and rams who seem to gather as a congregation. A sweeping, sun-filled valley unrolls to distant hills and mountains in this beautiful example of monumental landscape painting.

Franck Kirchbach’s “Christ and the Children,” 1894, is a complex composition with an expressive and physical style that one does not immediately associate with the Academic tradition. As Jesus gathers children to him by a well, others make their way toward him to hear his words, his apostles standing close behind him. A rutted road takes us back along the left of the picture plane, to a short distance where the full sun drenches the hills and buildings, and provides a wonderful effect with broken, fluid brushstrokes of dappled sunlight and shadow.

Jean-Jules-Antoine du Nouÿ painted his small “Judith” in 1875. A beautiful example of the Academie’s fascination with the Orient and costume, du Nouÿ presents his subject in the elaborate, traditional clothing of the Jewish women he saw while visiting Morocco. Embroidered in black, blue, and yellow on red with fringe, coins from her wedding dowry are sewn to her headdress as a display of wealth. Subtle, tiny brushstrokes depict the richness of all the various surface qualities along with the delicate contours of her classical features.

The Academic tradition championed a clear representational style with a thorough understanding of anatomy, reigning until the challenges of 20th century movements came to the fore. In “Sacred Visions,” we get to see some of the best that this period of Western art achieved.

“Sacred Visions” is on view through February 16, 2014 at the Museum of Biblical Arts, 1865 Broadway at 61st Street, New York, NY. 212-408-1500. It features work from the collections of the Dahesh Musuem of Art.

More information about Robert Edward Bullock’s work can be found at bullockonline.com.