A collection of Early Christian stories that did not receive canonical acceptance as they were not included in the original Hebrew Bible. Only recently has the Apocrypha been incorporated into the Catholic Bible, yet Protestants and Jews reject it. The Apocrypha became one of the sources for religious stories used by artists. Depictions of Judith and Holofernes, Susanna and the elders, and Daniel in the lion's den, for example, rely on this text.
Historical dictionary of Renaissance art. Lilian H. Zirpolo. 2008.