The Protestant Reformation, which started in 1517 when Martin Luther incited huge debates with his Ninety-Five Theses, challenged the High Renaissance. Specifically, Luther panned the authority of the pope and indulgence about the purgatory, questioning the traditions and doctrines of Catholic practices. This aroused the Protestant movement, where the Protestants rejected to worship in fancily decorated churches that were covered with seemingly exaggerated bodily sculptures and statues of saints, Virgin Mary, the Christ, and God the Father. To counter this, the Catholic Church instigated the Catholic Counter Reformation, which sought to attract people back in the Church and embrace those who were in the Church. The Catholic Counter Reformation …show more content…
Protestant mobs, which were created in stimulus to Luther’s action, destroyed many Catholic Church artworks, negatively affecting many artists’ earnings and living standards not only in the southern Europe, but also in northern Europe. Very few artists were little or unaffected by this catastrophe, such as Albrecht Durer, a German painter and illustrator. Perhaps the reason for Durer’s luck was the fact that he respected Luther and altered his artwork style to less embellished that Luther wanted. Other artists, such as Hans Holbein the Younger who painted mostly Virgin Mary before the Reformation, had to move from Germany to the Low Countries like England to find work and paint something out of his main subject. (Appendix …show more content…
This Revival was a “comprehensive effort composed of four major elements: 1. Ecclesiastical or structural reconfiguration. 2. Religious orders. 3. Spiritual movements. 4. Political dimensions.” (Laberge) One of the most passionate Catholic who took part in Counter Reformation is Gian Lorenzo Bernini, a sculptor, architect and a painter. Bernini’s best stone art work, called Ecstasy of Santa Theresa, (Appendix 2) is a marble sculpture of a Catholic Saint who at the time of the sense was actually in her 50s. However, Bernini portrays her as a young woman in her 20s. Santa Theresa had a vision of the love of God appearing to her as a gorgeous young man, an angel, who pierced her body, with the golden arrow of divine love. She wrote about this vision and responded to it spiritually and physically. It is important to point out that Bernini’s intention was the reference to sexual pleasure as a religious experience. He meant to draw people back in to the Church with such alluring art works.
In Northern Europe, however, Protestant artists created simple images of people, places, and things. Architecture was not disregarded – when many medieval churches in London was burned down in 1666, Sir Christopher Wren, an English artist in the 17th century, was asked by the Protestants to rebuild them. Because he had to build the churches in between crowded commercial sites, he built the churches tall with
With the start of the 16th century, many changes have occurred. One of them being, a turning point in european history and religion, the Reformation. The Reformation was an upheaval where people began to question the authority and piety of the Roman Catholic Church and its traditions. Ignited by Martin Luther, and continued by John Calvin and other protestants this break in religion really shook the established power of the Highest Institution. By the year of 1540, Pope Paul III seen that some kind of change within must happen in order to not lose catholicism to protestantism. He decided to spark a counter-reformation, that reformed and bettered the doctrine and the grip the church had on the monarchies of the european society. The first aim the counter-reformation had
The Protestant Reformation was in the early sixteenth century and was started when 95 theses were nailed to the door of the Roman Catholic Church. Martin Luther was the man behind the 95 statements professing all that is wrong with the church and its members. Each thesis pointed out a part of the corruption that the Catholics had been taking part in. After being persecuted and thrown into jail, Luther started translating the Bible from Latin into German. The church disapproved because they wanted to keep the Bible only accessible to high ranking persons of the church. All of this led to the reformation which set a foothold for advancements in freedom in religion and culture.
Differences between the Italian Renaissance and the Reformation can be seen in art. Renaissance art exhibited a secular spirit. Artists, for the first time since the antiquity, painted secular themes. The human body was portrayed as being beautiful in its nature and glorified humans, rather then God. Art was dynamic and vivacious, often seeming as though it was in movement. This portrayal both was a reaction to the iconographic God worshipping art of the Middle Ages, and caused a reaction in Protestants, resulting in their more conservative style. Nude bodies, often seen in Italian Renaissance paintings and sculptures, are never seen in those of the Protestants. Their religious beliefs and way of life, in many ways countering that of the
Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation when he nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517. It contained a series of 95 complaints that the once monk had with the church. He was steadfast in his efforts to get the church to change. Even refusing to repeal his complaints when threatened with excommunication.
The Protestant Reformation was a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation in western and central Europe officially began in 1517 with Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. This was a debate over the Christian religion. At the time there was a difference in power. Roman Catholicism stands with the Pope as central and appointed by God. Luther’s arguments referred to a direct relationship with God and using the local vernacular to speak to the people. Luther’s arguments remove the absolute power from the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church in general. The revenue from the taxes paid to the Church would be reduced with Luther’s ideas, in part because of
The development of new ideas and inventions lead to a spread of ideas which resulted in the protestant reformation and in retaliation to this, the Catholic Church initiated the Counter-Reformation. The Protestant Reformation began because of rapidly changing views on how the world works and the introduction of new inventions such as the printing press. As people began to focus more on the world around them they began expand their view of things. Many scientists opposed agreed upon ideas such as the Earth being the center of the universe. The Catholic Church at the time understood this as blasphemy and excommunicated people from the church. This lead to the creation of protestant denominations.
The Protestant Reformation began during the Renaissance time period, it was the attempt to reform the Roman Catholic church. It led to the creation of Protestant churches. This reformation began after multiple church leaders started demanding individuals to supply them with such large quantities of goods, food, and money that individuals did not have much left to provide to their own family. Several believed if they did not contribute and present the church with what they asked, they would be denied entrance to heaven once they passed away. People saw how the church thrived while those who contributed were ravenous and penniless. Martin Luther, a monk, noticed several inaccuracies between what the Roman Catholic Church practiced and the Bible as he studied the Bible. He decided to speak out by creating the 95 Theses, and nailing it on the entrance of a catholic church. Protestants who had similar view as Luther’s began Luther-ism. John Calvin, had very similar views as Luther and was even inspired by him to reform the Catholic Church as well. I most admire Martin Luther because of how he spoke up and protested against the Roman Catholic church when he knew it could put him in danger, but I am most similar to John Calvin because of how he believes in predestination and how faith is revealed by living a righteous life.
A major 16th century movement initially aimed at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformation was begun by a German monk named Martin Luther who challenge the Catholic Church’s doctrine by posting his 95 Theses on a church door. He did this because he was appalled that the church was selling indulgences, which were written letters that assured people’s salvation, in order to build a new Basilica in Rome under Pope Leo X. Martin Luther argued that the Bible, not the pope, was the central means to discern God’s word and was the only thing capable of giving salvation.
In the 16th century intellectual, religious, cultural, and political views divided Catholic Europe and caused the Protestant Reformation. The way things turned out still effect and determine the structures and beliefs to this day. People like John Calvin, Henry VIII, and Martin Luther challenged the Catholic Church on how it delivers Christian views. They disagreed on how the religious and political power was being distributed into the hands of the Bible. The argument began wars, persecutions and a Counter Reformation. Most historians usually believe that the start of the Protestant Reformation was around 1517 when Martin Luther published “95 Theses”. The ending is anywhere from 1555 which would allow the coexistence of Catholicism
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.
With the adoption of Christianity as the official religion, art was able, so to speak, to come above ground in the old pagan city of Rome, and painting, instead of being restricted to the decoration of the walls of the Catacombs or of small chambers and chapels, came into use on a large scale in the new churches that were at once set up. At the same time patronage moved from the hands of the poorer classes to the richer, and artists of outstanding quality came to be employed as well as those of obscurer character, who would work for small fees (www.religion-online.org). To wall painting was added the more luxurious art of mosaic; numerous sculptures were done, and minor objects, often in expensive materials, were in addition produced in the service of the Church, so that art production became at the same time both more extensive and more luxurious (www.religion-online.org ).
The impact of the Protestant Reformation changed the Northern European art in 1517 – 1648. The Protestants depicted narrative imageries from the bible that did not stray
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
The painting The Holy Family with Saints Anne and John the Baptist, 1592 (oil on canvas) was created by Italian painter Sofonisba Anguissola (c.1532-1625). It is currently held at the Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, as a gift from Mrs. Forbes Hawkes and Bridgeman Images. This painting is among the unique pious narrative paintings by Anguissola. “The Holy Family” is the last dated painting by the artist. It was executed when she had just returned to Italy after spending 14 years working for King Philip II at the Spanish court. By this time, she had already married to a Genoese ship captain. Her various visits to court and her personal contacts with great painter at that time largely inspired herself. Through these contacts, she successfully stayed in touch with current developments in art. By closely observing this masterpiece, I argue that the artist perfectly sustain the beauty of counter-reformation arts in her work by use of light and shadow, delicate brushwork and accurate proportions of each subjects.
The renaissance period marked radical changes in many fields, this includes religion. The so-called Protestant Reformation was the split within western Christian Church initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other early Protestants. Calls for reform came form all sectors of the European society and it is this dissatisfaction that explains why the ideas of Martin Luther evoked such extreme responses, there was already a ready audience. Although there had been significant attempts at reform before Luther, the date usually given for the start of the Protestant Reformation is 1517, when Luther published The Ninety-Five Theses. As he developed his ideas, Luther gathered followers, who came to be called Protestants. The word protestant