Baroque Architecture: Incorrectly Applied It can be argued that although unparalleled artistic works and architecture of grand opulence arose during the Baroque from the large financial investment that the Catholic Church contributed to this movement, the actual intention of baroque architecture directly contradicts the primary complaints presented by Martin Luther in his Ninety-Five Theses, and from its start, failed to support the church in its intended manner. It logically follows that to resolve the present conflict, which largely consisted of issues regarding indulgences and financial abuse; the church should have attempted to resolve the problem at hand. Baroque architecture, although grand and ostentatious, was architecture …show more content…
Although there were more expensive churches built, Sant’ Ivo was dedicated to Saint Ivo of Kermartin, a man renowned to be a generous helper of the poor but one that also contrasts the excesses inherent in baroque architecture. In his life, he dedicated a great deal of time fighting unjust taxation by the king, which finds it’s contradictory equivalent in the Catholic Church promoting and forcing indulgences on its adherents. In the presence of a mass exodus from the church which took place due to opposition toward ecclesiastical misconduct and false doctrines, the Catholic Church chose to reaffirm its authority in a manner that failed to focus on the problematic concepts which caused adherents to seek salvation in the new church orders. Created by priests with the same grievances, these new protestant churches sought to directly address the problematic concepts such as the unethical sale of indulgences and simony which became commonplace within the Catholic Church. In a blatantly apparent act of papal hubris, Pope Julius II in 1506, petitioned nobility and clergy to secure funding with the intended act of demolishing a 1,200 year old church and construct St. Peter’s Basilica which was to become the most lavish in all Christendom (Dandelet 191). Although initially created to support the construction of this specific building, the implementation of this indulgence, in addition to another decreed by his successor Pope Leo X, provided the means for fiscal
The Catholic Church during the early 16th Century was rooted throughout Europe. The Church influenced every country and its respective monarchs through the Church’s wealth and power. The Catholic Church placed a tight hold on the general populace with individuals who went against the Church being branded as heretics and excommunicated. The wealth and power of the Church eventually caused the quality of the clergy to deteriorate. Priests became corrupt and subjected to their physical desires. They frequented taverns, gambled and kept mistresses. The reputation of the clergy were horrid as the general populace was relieved that “their priest [kept] a mistress” because it “[secured] their wives from seduction” The knowledge of the clergy degenerated as well as they were no longer required to learn and teach the Holy Scriptures because the Church dictated their actions. The pinnacle of the Church’s corruption was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence was the “extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment” sold by priests as a temporary relief from sins. The indulgences were then sold to the general populace for money as the monetization of a priest’s services. Johannes Tetzel was a prominent preacher of indulgences who relied on the money from the sales to subsidize the rebuilding of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. The corrupt sales did not go unnoticed as Martin Luther, in an effort to stop the corruption of the Church, posted the 95 Theses on the door of a Castle
Towards the end of the Middle Ages and into the duration of the Renaissance, the Medieval Church’s social and political power dwindled. Centuries prior the Catholic Church gained a surplus of control, largely due to the stability it maintained during the chaotic breakdown of the Western Roman Empire . Yet toward the end of the Middle Ages the Church set in motion factors that would ultimately lead to its downfall as the definitive figure of authority. However, despite political and social controversy surrounding the church, the institutions it established cleared a path for a new way of thinking, shaping society in an enduring way.
The Counter Reformation was a goal that helped “worshippers achieve the emo- tional state of religious ecstasy” (Stockstad & Cothren, p. 725). Pope Sixtus V had then made it his goal was to make proper embellishments for churches and the settings of the churches. The Counter Reformation was also made in response to the Protestant Reformation that was lead by Martin Luther. The Catholic church had then wanted to reestablish Rome and make it the cultural center of the Western world. Later on, Roman popes became patrons of architecture to defends Rome’s domination, that had continued for 100 years, and Rome’s prestige.
13. ‘01 Discuss the political and social consequences of the Protestant Reformation in the first half of the sixteenth century.
The Reformation started with the ideas and concepts of Martin Luther, all explained in his Ninety-Five Theses. Luther believed that God’s gift of faith was freely given to the unworthy, and the righteousness is passive and is not active or based on our good works or deeds. These ideas clashed with the Roman Church, which in turn created the “Indulgence Controversy.” To raise money to help rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Pope Leo X issued the offer of indulgences as a penance for parishioners to buy. This penance acted as a way to pay as a remission of temporal punishment due to the sins of the person whose guilt has already been forgiven. Luther caught wind of the issue of indulgences happening within his own church and went ballistic
A long history of corruption caused people to view the Catholic Church as a for-profit organization rather than God’s voice on Earth. By the Renaissance, the Catholic Church had already lost much of its power over secular rulers but still held leverage over the masses. This authority naturally paved the way for corruption. The most outrageous form of corruption practiced by the Church was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence is the remission of temporal punishment still due for a sin that has been sacramentally absolved. One of the ways the Church would generate income was by selling them. The notion started off innocently enough; it stemmed from the idea that punishment for crimes could be converted to payments of money, in essence, a fine (Simon 35). However, it soon spiraled out of control as the Church used indulgences simply to gain money, as when Pope Leo X needed money for the construction of St. Peter’s basilica (Duiker and Spielvogel 429). People began to view salvation as something that could be bought; they could go out and sin on Saturday night, then simply pay for it monetarily Sunday morning. To encourage people to buy more indulgences, the Church even claimed that indulgences could be bought on behalf of those already dead and in purgatory (Sporre 378). This blatant victimization was what spurred Martin Luther to write his Ninety-Five Theses,
The era known as the Baroque period includes the seventeenth and most of the eighteenth centuries in Europe. The Baroque style was a style in which the art and artists of the time focused upon details and intricate designs. Their art often appeals to the mind by way of the heart. During this time the portraits began to portray modern life, and artists turned their backs on classical tradition. Much of the art shows great energy and feeling, and a dramatic use of light, scale, and balance (Preble 302). Buildings were more elaborate and ornately decorated. These works of art created history and altered the progress of Western Civilization. Architecture such as the palace of Versailles, and artists like
part of the 16th century and continued to be used well into the 18th century.
The scientific revolution is traditionally considered to be framed between 1543—the year of On the revolutions of the heavenly spheres by Nicolaus
Pope Leo X had allowed indulgences to raise cash for the remaking of St. Diminish 's Basilica in Rome. These indulgences sold by Johann Tetzel not a long way from Wittenberg, where Luther was an educator of religious philosophy. Luther was gravely worried about the way the Church was interfacing access to paradise with a monetary exchange, however the offer of indulgences was not Luther 's lone conflict with the Church.
The corruptive side of this was that some of these same clergy started charging members of the congregation money to go see and visit these relics and sites. The church was also not so noble in its way of raising money for itself. This took place through simony; the selling of church items to the highest bidder, with no regard for their religious background. Another practice of raising money was through the selling of indulgences. At first, an indulgence was understood as a certificate given to a person by the Pope whose sins had been forgiven.
The Baroque era's name Baroque, meaning "exaggerated", "abnormal", or even "bizarre", cultivated some of the most revolutionary music and ideas in the timeline of composition itself. It's image, ranging from destitution and lavishness as shown through the period's art and political and economic being, has set this era apart in time through evolution and exploration. The culture and politics surrounding this era and the techniques and methods created are keys to understanding the baroque era and its success in progressing music to where it is today.
The Baroque Period (1600-1750) was mainly a period of newly discovered ideas. From major new innovations in science, to vivid changes in geography, people were exploring more of the world around them. The music of the baroque period was just as extreme as the new changes. Newly recognized composers such as Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, and Monteverdi were writing entirely new musical ideas and giving a chance for new voices to be heard that were normally not thought of sounds. Their musical legacy is still recognized today, and is a treasured discovery of outstanding compositions being reiterated with every performance of them.
To understand the characteristics of Baroque style is to truly understand artistic measures of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. Baroque, a single word describing an entire period of art, can be broken down into more than one actual form of art. The new European age birthed this developing style of architecture, coming from ideas on religion and politics. Set apart in three different countries, visitors of St. Peter’s Basilica, Versailles, and Hampton Court Palace, engulf themselves in historic Baroque styles and beauty. The international style “was reinterpreted in different regions so that three distinct manifestations of the style emerged” (Matthews 392). The florid, classical, and restrained baroque design of the three different buildings gives us a historic lesson on the reasoning behind its purpose.
In 1600 a new style of music began to evolve, this form of music was