The Counter Reformation was a response from the Catholic Church in Europe after Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses and the church was losing support and control. Beginning in 1545 with the Council of Trent where the hierarchy of the church discussed ways preserves the Roman Catholic Church again the protestant movement. In protestant churches there was no art work because they believed that there is only one god to worship and worshiping any other such as the saints was against their belief system. So this is where the Catholic Church saw their opportunity to regain support; through art so to impress followers and bring in supporters from groups whom didn’t know how to read. Caravaggio was one of many artists in this time that painted and/or sculpted for the church, so let’s explore the effect the Counter Reformation had on his art work (Counter Reformation).
The first thing I’d like to look at in Caravaggio’s paintings is his choices of color and lighting. In his works he always used a lot of red for example in Salome with the Head of John the Baptist and in The Raising of Lazarus. Also, when taking into notice the placement and meaning of the color, we can see that there is a presence of an affect from the church. Red usually –in this time period- was seen as the devil’s color so in Caravaggio’s work I noticed that either the actors or accessories to the devil’s work are draped in red or if there is an act occurring there is red in the background like in Judith Beheading
The Reformation was a movement in the 16th century that was marked ultimately by rejection or modification of some Roman Catholic doctrine or practice and led to the establishment of the Protestant Churches. Although this was mostly viewed as just a religious movement, there we also many political and social aspects of it. In the beginning Johann Tetzel sold indulgences, a pardon for certain types of sin, the guilt that has been forgiven which was a position very harshly challenged by Martin Luther. Luther was later a German professor, but at this time came to be known as a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation. Anyway, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses which he wrote as a protest against the selling of indulgences. After this he was
The Reformation was a religious movement that divided the church between the Catholics and Protestants. The Counter-Reformation was a reaction movement that followed this originally crusade, and was lead by the Catholics as a response to the wide spread of Protestantism. The purpose of the Counter-Reformation was to spawn internal reforms. This movement was focused on the renewal of the church in the form of the use of images, focus on the church as the house of God, and the veneration of the Virgin Mary and Saints. The Counter-Reformation was responsible for the start of major change in the Catholic Church and with regard to the role of art; the importance of art was heightened and the movement sought out to restore Catholicism and make is more attractive, thus emerged the Baroque style.
During the Reformation, there were a few strong people who saw problems with the way things had always been done. The churches had corrupt leaders who were not teaching in accordance with the Bible. They were making up whatever they wanted, and they had power to get away with this because they were also part of the government. There arose a movement to refute and stop this. Strong opposers took strong stands to point out the errors of what was going on, and to try to reform the religious system in power. This did not go over very well with the religious leaders, but after years of battling and debating, the protestant view of Christianity won the freedom to worship as they wished. In a similar way, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries,
Caravaggio lived through a dark period of time. His behavior, however became more and more violent as he began to challenge the beauty of art. He becomes more and more of a murder and uses more dramatic composition heightening his view of the situation.
Long before the reformation period,people within the church, both clergy and lay were keen for the church to eliminate all corrupt practices and for a reform,which would bring everyone closer to God. Those high up in church authority had ignored the concerns made by these reformers because they were personally gaining from practices like indulgences. However the sixteenth century split of protestant from the Catholic church became obvious and brought about bad publicity towards the church as the loss of members was a large concern, putting them under pressure to reform itself properly. The church responded in a very serious matter which resulted in the church starting
One of the artists, who highly influenced this movement and would later influence Gentileschi, is Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Despite being a great artist, Caravaggio had a terrible temper and quickly grew unsuccessful. Something important to note about Baroque art is that art, as has nearly always been the case, is highly influenced by the events of the world around the artist; such as the Counter Reformation that occurred from approximately 1545 to 1648 (Kumin, Beat). The Counter Reformation, also referred to as the Catholic Reformation, was in response to the Protestant reformation, and had four major elements to the reformation. The first constituent of the reformation was ecclesiastical configurations. Basically, the Catholics wanted to rearrange things in their
The period immediately following the Protestant reformation and the Catholic counter reformation, was full of conflict and war. The entire continent of Europe and all of it's classes of society were affected by the destruction and flaring tempers of the period. In the Netherlands, the Protestants and the Catholics were at eachother’s throats. In France it was the Guise family versus the Bourbons. In Bohemia, the religious and political structures caused total havoc for over thirty years; and in England, the Presbyterians thought that the English Anglican Church too closely resembled the Roman Catholic Church. Religion was the major cause of the widespread
Caravaggio was born in Italy 1571 and died July 1610. Not a lot is known about Caravaggio. Most of his family was wiped out by the bubonic plague along with his father.
It was known that the Catholic Church responded to the Protestant Reformation in a variety of different ways. However, the way in which the church responded could be broken down into two parts. Some of these ways in which the church responded were initiatives in order to gain wider acceptance by other individuals and in an attempt to reinforce the power and authority of the Pope by supporting papal authority anywhere the members of the church travelled. However, some people from the Catholic Church decided to take a more repressive approach.
Most forms of Catholic Baroque art are assertive and, as intended, assault ones senses. The evolution of religious art from the uniform composition characteristic of the Italian Renaissance through the evolving Mannerism in to the bold and striking Baroque was striking to say the least. The stylistic changes from Da Vinci's The Last Supper to Tintoretto's version in the 1590's bear a perfect example of this transition. The point of view in Da Vinci's was central and allowed for a
Michaelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s “Beheading of Saint John the Baptist” is one painting that attempts to capture the moment of John’s murder. Caravaggio, an Italian painter, made this piece in 1608, following the Renaissance, and it is now located in St. John's Co-Cathedral in La Valletta, Malta. Caravaggio’s beheading of John the Baptist dramatizes the story, emphasizing the emotion and elaborating on the theme of Earthly
Michelangelo de Caravaggio is one of the most renowned and popular artists of the Baroque Period. In fact, many paintings from this period, as well as after have been described as “Caravagesque.” Caravaggio’s works are some of the most popular in Italy, as well as around the world, and have been put into there own stylistic group. In his painting, the Martyrdom of St. Matthew, there contains certain characteristics that make the painting easily recognizable to a connoisseur of fine paintings. This paper will discuss some background of this artist’s life, the content of the work, some ideas that it portrays and contains, and a visual description of the painting.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's style of painting is a well-known flair that's as emphasize on the field of artistic nature and realism. Caravaggio became one of most popular Baroque artists in the Italian county in the 17th century. Caravaggio had many techniques that brought up revolution about the painting, so this includes chiaroscuro and tenebrism. His new techniques of painting of tenebrism and chiaroscuro took the center stage in the middle and north Italian country for being the best and quality content. However, its popularity of painting was adopted by using various and random people off the street. His art styles became popular and controversial, and his artwork heavily relied on realism.
As we began this course, we explored at least two distinct models of civilization. The first focused on Europe and its evolution from a Medieval society to its emergence as a world power. Another focused on the Far East, including China and Japan, and a third offered the Islamic world as a model. The implication of this posturing is that at least three models contended for world dominance beginning in the 15th century. From that time, only one, the European model emerged victorious. Let's assume that last statement is correct. Your job in this question is to consider one of the other options. Why did they fail as an opponent of the West? What advantages did they have going into this contest (undeclared though it may be) and what disadvantages did they have? What were the turning points that led to their failure to keep pace with or even overtake the Europeans?
The light of the picture is relatively dark comparing to the portrait’s face. In his paintings, Rembrandt exhibited knowledge of classical iconography, where he adapted his skill to fit his own experience’ requirements; besides all the things we can feel just from our eyes, there is deeper artistic value under the pictures. Many artists connect Baroque art with it. When it comes to Baroque art, which was the type of art that comprised of painting, sculpture and architecture. Baroque art was known to reflect more on the religious tension of the time. Most of the artists reflected more on the desires of the Catholic Church in Rome, where the Roman Catholic was trying to affirm itself in the wake of the Protestants reformation. Most of the Baroque paintings were aimed at exhorting the divine majesty of the church, but the primary purpose of most of these paintings was to strengthen kingdoms’ reign under the religious influence like Spain and France. The Catholic Church dominated these two nations. Most of the paintings which were created that time period tried to compare both Catholic and the Protestants religions. The primary aim was to show how Protestants had less religious content when compared to the Catholic religion. Most the Baroque paintings were intended to persuade people not to be an apostate. However, most of the Baroque paintings were designed to affect the public. Catholic inspired a Baroque art that was done on a large scale. Most of the places where these paintings were found were churches and palaces. Artists of Baroque art were known to portray a sense of movement by their work, by the means of swirling spirals and upward diagonals. They made good use of extravagant color schemes, and this was aimed at dazzling as they surprised the targeted audience. As time went on, there were some people who started criticizing Baroque art