Due in Part to the Protestant Reformation a Great Deal of Northern Renaissance Art Was Intended for

The Milkmaid (1658-lx)
By Jan Vermeer.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
An illustration of Protestant
virtue and pious living.

EVOLUTION OF VISUAL ART
For details of art movements
and styles, see: History of Art.
For a chronological guide,
run across: History of Art Timeline.

What was the Reformation? How Did It Affect Art?

The Protestant Reformation was a revolt against abuses and other forms of corruption perpetrated by the Papacy and the Church in Rome. The actual spark which ignited the revolt was Pope Leo X's decision to launch a campaign in Germany for the sale of "indulgences" (finer permits allowing sinners to buy their style into heaven), in order to finance the building of the new Saint Peter'south Basilica, in Rome. The Reformation began on Oct 31, 1517, when the German Augustinian monk Martin Luther (1483–1546) nailed his 95-point manifesto on the door of All Saints Church, Wittenberg, Germany, and led to a split in Christianity betwixt Roman Catholics and Protestants. Protestantism (which comprised four basic strands: Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican and Anabaptist), took root in Northern Europe in countries associated with the Northern Renaissance, such as north and westward Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Great britain and Scandinavia. In turn, this led to a new type of Christian art which historic the Protestant religious agenda, and diverged radically from the Loftier Renaissance art of Italy, Spain, Naples and other areas of southern Europe, which remained Roman Catholic. The grade and content of Protestant art - in particular, painting - reflected the plainer, more unvarnished and more personal Christianity of the Reformation motion. Thus large scale works of Biblical art were no longer commissioned by Protestant church bodies. And while Protestant fine art collectors connected to commission religious paintings privately from artists, notably Rembrandt (1606-69), overall at that place was a huge reduction in the corporeality of religious art produced in Protestant countries. This fall in ecclesiastical patronage forced many Old Masters to diversify into secular types of art, such as history painting, portraiture, genre painting and still lifes. But although overt religious fine art was banned or frowned upon by the Reformation - witness the iconclastic "beeldenstorm" of 1556 - a demand grew up for small-calibration works containing a Christian message, or moral lesson. In Kingdom of the netherlands, during the Dutch Baroque era, artists met this need past producing a blazon of still life painting, known as "Vanitas", besides as genre scenes which promoted piety and a devout lifestyle. The difference between Protestant and Cosmic art was further emphasized by the Council of Trent (1545-63), which initiated Cosmic Counter-Reformation fine art, and in the process issued a new fix of aesthetics for a more stringent style of painting and sculpture. (Note: Luther, the leader of the Reformation, was excommunicated by the Pope in 1520, but was given protection and asylum by Frederick the Wise (1463–1525), Elector of Saxony.)

Characteristics of Protestant Reformation Art

The main characteristics of Reformation art sprang from Protestant theology which focused on the individual relationship between the worshipper and God. This emphasis was reflected in the number of common people and ordinary everyday scenes that were portrayed in Protestant art. Besides Protestantism taught that the issue of salvation was reserved exclusively for God: information technology could non occur as a result of earthly intervention past the Vatican or whatever other ecclesiastical potency. Protestant fine art duly reflected this teaching. In addition, a number of important 'mysteries of the faith' were downplayed or ignored past Protestant theologians and artists - including The Immaculate Conception, The Declaration of the Virgin, The Transfiguration of Christ, to name merely 3. Transubstantiation (the transformation of the Communion bread and wine into the torso and blood of Christ) was another key area of disagreement between Luther and Rome. Roman Catholicism believed in a strict interpretation of this doctrine, and therefore tended to use Crucifixion scenes for their altarpieces, while Protestant Churches - at least those who tolerated effigy painting - insisted on a symbolic meaning behind the Eucharist, and so preferred scenes of the Final Supper.

In full general, as far every bit other Biblical themes were concerned, Protestant art tended to avoid: grandiose images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary; big set-piece scenes from the Bible (like the Passion of Christ); images of the Saints; and, in particular, depictions of the Popes and other senior clergy. Instead, Protestant art focused on humble depictions of biblical scenes and moralistic depictions of contemporary everyday life.

See also the architectural paintings of Emanuel de Witte (1615-1692) and Pieter Jansz Saenredam (1597-1665), famous for their whitewashed church interiors.

Not all Protestants had identical views on what Church art was acceptable: Lutherans, for instance, tended to be more tolerant than Calvinists, who banned all figurative altarpiece art and considered nearly religious images to be idolatrous. Some forms of fine art, however, were seen equally more in keeping with a small-scale, personal approach to religion: they included book analogy and various forms of printmaking, such every bit engraving and etching (centered on Antwerp), all of which were used by Protestant authorities to convey their religious ideas to their congregations, and religious pedagogy into the homes of the mutual people. In particular, these minor-scale types of fine art permitted the development of a specifically Protestant iconography, which included Protestant-style images of Christ, the Holy Family, Saints and Apostles, likewise as illustrations of all the people and events in the Bible.

In unproblematic terms, Protestants removed public art from their churches and urban spaces, preferring instead to champion their religion via modest-scale, humble Biblical images in various printed formats, including illustrated bibles. At the same fourth dimension, Protestant societies embraced a low-central way of fine art which promoted the need for personal piety equally well every bit a respect for the unvarnished beauty of God's creations, including people created in His epitome. In contast, the Catholic Counter-Reformation fully supported inspirational or educational church art - see, for instance, the glorious fresco paintings and other quadratura works in Rome - and continued to champion its ain brand of "sacred art", which illustrated important issues of Catholic dogma, or celebrated Catholic traditions, notably the liturgy, the sacraments and the saints.

History of Protestant Reformation Art

Although the reaction of churchmen, congregations and secular leaders varied considerably from state to country, and from region to region, in full general, the Protestant Reformation triggered a wave of iconoclastic destruction of Christian imagery. Several Protestant leaders, notably John Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli, ordered that churches be stripped of their pictures and statues. If a painting (similar a mural) could not be removed it was whitewashed over; where sculpture was function of the architectural fabric of the building (either a column statue or a relief sculpture), information technology was defaced or smashed, every bit were countless examples of cute stained glass art. Secondary altars were dismantled or physically removed. All reliquaries (containers of relics), gold altar furnishings, and ciboria (containers of items used in the Eucharist) were melted downwardly, while large bonfires were used to burn paintings, sculptures, ecclesastical fixtures and other objects, including: triptychs and larger polyptychs, other console-paintings, most examples of wood carving, including statues, carved choir stalls and confessionals, missals and other illuminated manuscripts, and vestments. This iconoclasm was intensified during the and so-chosen "2d Reformation" of nigh 1560-1619.

There were comparatively few instances of churches actually existence destroyed. To deprive them of their "Catholic" identity, all that was needed was to remove their "Catholic" decorations, and insert a pulpit in a prominent position. New churches were designed more as auditoriums focused more on the pulpit and less on the altar. Ornamentation was more often than not kept to a minimum, although some architects - such equally Christopher Wren (1632-1723) - were more High Church than others. Paradoxically, the removal of "Catholic" architecture and its replacement with less imposing Protestant designs, may have been a factor in the spread of infidel Neoclassical compages ii centuries later.

Political leaders in Protestant countries proved highly supportive of the Reformation, not least because it enabled them to take over the lands and wealth of the Roman Catholic Church and its monastic orders. For example, when the shrine of S. Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral was dismantled, it yielded 24 cartloads of treasure, including numerous exquisite items of medieval goldsmithing, which was promptly melted downwardly for Henry Eight's treasury. The Reformation besides gave secular rulers far greater control over the appointment of bishops and other clergy.

Following considerable turmoil, a caste of reconciliation of Catholics and Protestants was achieved in 1555 with the Religious Peace of Augsburg, which granted freedom of worship to Protestants. This compromise did not apply to art, however, and both painting and sculpture, besides as compages, continued to exist used as propaganda by the 2 rival Churches.

Protestant Fine art of the 16th-Century

Both the German Renaissance and the Netherlandish Renaissance were coming to an end by the time the Reformation gathered momentum. In Germany, most of the leading artists like Martin Schongauer (c.1440-91), Matthias Grunewald (1470-1528), Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Albrecht Altdorfer (1480-1538), Hans Baldung Grien (1484-1545) and others, were either deceased or in their terminal years. The aforementioned could be said of the state of affairs in Holland - whose greatest principal - Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) - had just died, and of 16th-century Flemish Painting, whose stars included Quentin Massys (1465-1530), Jan Provost (1465-1529), Jan Gossaert (1478-1532), Joachim Patenier (1480-1525), and Joos van Cleve (1490-1540).

Hans Holbein the Younger

Born in Augsburg, Federal republic of germany, where he trained under his father Holbein the Elder, Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) was active in Lutheran Basel just mostly in London, where he painted Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell, both of whom were busy establishing the English Reformation and organizing the Dissolution of the Monasteries. His masterpieces include: Portrait of Erasmus (1523, National Gallery, London); Portrait of Sir Thomas More (1527, Frick Drove); Portrait of a Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling (1528, National Gallery, London); The Merchant Georg Gisze (1532, Gemaldegalerie, SMPK, Berlin); Portrait of Thomas Cromwell (1532-4, National Portrait Gallery, London); The Ambassadors (1533, National Gallery, London) and Portrait of Henry Viii (1536, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid).

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

But the corking Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525-1569) was around to put his postage stamp on Protestant-style painting in the Low Countries, with a series of peachy genre paintings (including tavern scenes), and to laissez passer on his skills to pupils like Frans Snyders (1579-1657). Bruegel's all-time genre works include: Netherlandish Proverbs (1559, Gemaldegalerie, SMPK, Berlin); Hunters in the Snowfall (1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna); and Peasant Wedding ceremony Feast (1568, KM, Vienna). His best religious works - all set in commonplace landscapes or situations include: Tower of Babel (1563, KM, Vienna); Massacre of the Innocents (1565-67, KM, Vienna); and Parable of the Bullheaded (1568, Capodimonte Museum, Naples).

In fact, Flanders was (by and large) a Roman Catholic country, which was dominated by a minor number of affluent (if failing) commercial centres including Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, and Ypres. During the mid-16th century, a Protestant lawyer fled Antwerp for Frg, in order to escape religious persecution. In Germany, he fathered a son who duly returned to Antwerp to become the greatest ever exponent of Cosmic Counter-Reformation fine art - his name was Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640).

Protestant Art of the 17th-Century

Dutch Baroque art of the 17th century exemplified the new forms of Protestant painting. It illustrated the down-to-earth, everyday context for Biblical subjects, required by the Protestant authorities; it gave birth to many of the best genre painters of the 17th century - whose works offered clear moral guidance on how to live a pious life - and to several of the best notwithstanding-life painters nosotros accept ever seen.

Protestant Biblical Painting

This is exemplified by the piece of work of Rembrandt (1606-69), whose religious paintings always emphasized the human individuals involved, rather than any grandiose doctrinal issues. Examples include: Bathsheba Belongings King David's Alphabetic character (1654, Louvre, Paris); The Jewish Helpmate (c.1665-eight, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam); and Return of the Prodigal Son (1666-69, Hermitage Museum).

Protestant Genre Painting

Dutch Realist Genre Painting - mostly pocket-sized-calibration oil paintings of everyday scenes, containing a covert Christian or moral message - involved some of Kingdom of the netherlands's greatest Old Masters. Tavern scene painters included Adriaen Brouwer (1605-38), Adriaen van Ostade (1610-85) and January Steen (1626-79); domestic scene painters included Gerrit van Honthorst (1592-1656), David Teniers the Younger (1610-90), Gerard Terborch (1617-81), Gabriel Metsu (1629-67) and Pieter de Hooch (1629-83). See, for example, moralistic pictures like The Concert (1625, Borghese Gallery, Rome) by Gerrit van Honthorst, Couple Flirting Outdoors (c.1650, Stedelijk Museum, Leiden) by Jan Steen, and Female parent Lacing Her Bodice Beside a Cradle (1662, SMPK, Berlin) past Pieter de Hooch.

The greatest genre-painter notwithstanding was the Delft painter January Vermeer (1632-1675), whose masterpieces include: The Little Street (1657-58, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam); The Milkmaid (1658-60, Rijksmuseum); Adult female Holding a Balance (1662-63, National Gallery, Washington DC); Immature Woman with a Water Jug (1662, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY); Woman with a Pearl Necklace (1663, Gemaldegalerie, SMPK, Berlin); and The Lacemaker (1669-lxx, Louvre, Paris).

Protestant Still Life Painting

Protestant still lifes were basically symbolic pictures, containing a covert religious narrative. A detail instance is the "Vanitas notwithstanding life painting" - derived from Ecclesiastes 12:8 "Vanity of vanities saith the preacher, all is vanity" - which typically contains symbolic images (including skulls, snuffed candles, hourglasses with the sand running out, watches, butterflies etc.,) to remind the observer of the transience of mortal life, compared to the permanence of truthful Christian values.

Specialist notwithstanding life artists included: Frans Snyders (1579-1657), who is noted for still lifes of dead game and meat, crammed with religious allusions and moral pointers; Harmen van Steenwyck (1612-56), the leading vanitas painter; Willem Claesz Heda (1594-1681), an exponent of monochrome banketje; Pieter Claesz (1597-1660), a specialist in ontbijtjes (breakfast even so lifes); Jan Davidsz de Heem (1606-83) and Willem Kalf (1619-93), who specialized in decorative notwithstanding lifes; Samuel Van Hoogstraten (1627-78), whose speciality was interiors with deep linear perspective; and Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), arguably the greatest ever female flower painter.

Among the greatest Protestant withal-lifes are: The Vanities of Human Life (1645) by Harmen Steenwyck; A Vanitas Still Life (1645) past Pieter Claesz; Breakfast of Crab (1648, Hermitage, St Petersburg) by Willem Claesz Heda; Still Life with Chinese Porcelain Jar (1662, SMPK, Berlin) by Willem Kalf; The Slippers (1654) past Samuel Hoogstraten; Decorative Still Life in front of Compages (A Dessert) (1640, Louvre, Paris) by Jan Davidsz de Heem.

Protestant Reformation art tin exist seen in some of the all-time art museums around the world.

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Source: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/protestant.htm

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