Herbert’s art is simple and direct. He takes Bible stories and tries to make them meaningful for a modern audience. There is wildness in his use of paint and an apparent naivety in his symbolism but these works also have great subtlety and depth. Sister Wendy Beckett, who has written extensively about Herbert’s paintings and etchings, has called him “a religious painter of genius, his biblical images thrusting their way onto canvas or paper almost against his volition.”