Reformation and Counter Reformation: Catholic and Protestant Art

Reformation and Counter Reformation:Catholic and Protestant Art Durer, AlbrechtSelf-Portrait at 281500 Oil on panelAlte Pinakothek, Munich

Reformation vs. Counter-Reformation High Renaissance in Northern Europe: Grunewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece Catholicism vs Protestantism Albrecht Durer Pieter Breughel The Counter Reformation St. Peter’s Cathedral Caravaggio El Greco

The High Renaissance in Northern Europe: Visualizing Sickness and Salvation: The complex Isenheim Altarpiece consists of a wooden shrine with gilded and polychromed statues and two pairs of movable wings that open at the center, on which Matthias Grünewald painted eight scenes (four on each pair) dealing with the themes of dire illness and miraculous healing. Emphasis is given to Saint Anthony. The exterior panels of the closed altarpiece shows the Crucifixion and emphasizes Christ's pain and suffering.

MATTHIAS GRÜNEWALD, Isenheim Altarpiece , ca. 1510-1515

MATTHIAS GRÜNEWALD, Detail Isenheim Altarpiece , ca. 1510-1515

Replacing Church Practices With Personal Faith The Protestant Reformation grew out of dissatisfaction with Church leadership and the perception that popes and upper-level clergy were too concerned with temporal power and material wealth. Because of inadequate support and leadership, movements such as the Modern Devotion, comprised of the lay religious order the Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life, placed new emphasis on personal religious rituals and encouraged a more direct spiritual communion with God.

Ninety-five Theses and Lutheranism Dissatisfaction with the Church led to Martin Luther issuing his Ninety-Five Theses, in which he listed objections to Church practices. Luther argued that the ecclesiastical structure of the Catholic Church had no basis in the Bible. He maintained that salvation was not earned by people but was attained through God's bestowal of his grace. Only faith in Christ, guided by Scripture, could ensure salvation. Luther advocated the Bible as the sole foundation for Christianity and the source of all religious truth.

Calvinism, Anabaptism, and the Anglican Church Because the Scriptures were open to different interpretations, differences arose among the various Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin. The followers of these reformers became known as Lutherans, Zwinglians, and Calvinists. Other groups emerged, such as the Anabaptists, descendants of which include the Mennonites and the Amish. The Catholic Counter-Reformation was intended to counteract the popularity of Protestantism.

Holy Roman Empire (Including Germany) Divergent Views on Religious Imagery Catholics and Protestants differed on the role of visual imagery in religion. Catholics embraced church decoration as an aid to communicating with God; whereas Protestants believed such imagery could lead to idolatry and distracted viewers from communicating directly with God. Because of this, Protestant churches were relatively bare. However, Protestants did use art, and especially prints, as a teaching tool.

Catholicism vs. Protestantism: Lucas Cranach's Allegory of Law and Grace is a small woodcut print produced after the Reformation began. It shows the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism. LUCAS CRANACH THE ELDER, The Law and the Gospel, ca. 1530. Woodcut, 10 5/8" x 12 3/4". British Museum, London.

From Lucas Cranach the Elder. "Passional Christi und Antichristi." Woodcut. 1521.

This 1512 work by Albrecht Dürer shows peasants at market. Peasants often had to sell produce that they may well have needed themselves in order to pay the rents and fees they owed to their lords. German peasants usually lived in thatch houses with dirt floors. Wooden chimneys covered with clay kept them warm without burning down their humble homes. Often, any animals a peasant family owned slept in the house with them. (Mosaic) From Albrecht Dürer. "Market Peasants." 1512.

ALBRECHT DÜRER, Last Supper, 1523. Woodcut, 8 3/8" x 11 13/16". British Museum, London. Supporting the Lutheran Cause: Dürer's simple and straightforward woodcut of the Last Supper alludes to Lutheran doctrine that the sacrament of Communion was a commemorative event.

Emphasizing the Bible: Dürer conveyed Lutheran ideas in his painting Four Apostles by giving prominence to John the Evangelist and by showing Peter and John both reading from the Bible. Dürer also included quotations from each of the Four Apostles' books in the German of Luther's translation of the New Testament on the frames of each panel. ALBRECHT DÜRER, Four Apostles, 1526. Oil on panel, each panel 7' 1" x 2' 6". Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

A Protestant Portrait of Intellect: Dürer's Lutheran sympathies are also apparent in his engraved portrait of the Protestant scholar Philipp Melanchthon ALBRECHT DÜRER, Philipp Melanchthon, 1526. Engraving, 6 7/8" x 5 1/16". British Museum, London.

Holbein's The Ambassadors(1834)

Elevating the Art of Engraving: Dürer's finely detailed engraving Knight, Death, and the Devil is both idealized and naturalistic. ALBRECHT DÜRER, Knight, Death, and the Devil, 1513. Engraving, 95/8" x 73/8". Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Knight, Death, and the Devil

Classical Ideas in the North: Dürer's interest in classical ideas, as transmitted through Italian Renaissance artists, is seen in his engraving The Fall of Man (Adam and Eve), for which he studied the Vitruvian theory of human proportions. Adam and Eve are idealized figures who otherwise stand in a carefully observed landscape with detailed foliage and animals. The animals are believed to be symbolic references to the four humors. ALBRECHT DÜRER, The Fall of Man (Adam and Eve), 1504. Engraving, approx. 10" x 71/2".

Durer, AlbrechtSelf-Portrait at 281500Oil on panel67 x 49 cmAlte Pinakothek, Munich

A Painting of Botanical Accuracy: Dürer's precise watercolor study of a piece of turf is scientifically accurate. ALBRECHT DÜRER, The Great Piece of Turf, 1503. Watercolor, approx. 16" x 121/2". Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna. Turf

Breugel’s Religious Paintings: A Materialist View of Human Nature The Adoration of the Kings. 1564. Oil on panel. National Gallery, London, UK. More

Detail The Adoration of the Kings. 1564. Oil on panel. National Gallery, London, UK.

Religious War 'Dulle Griet' (Mad Meg). Detail. c. 1562. Oil on panel. Musée Mayer van der Bergh, Antwerp, Belgium.

Bruegel, Pieter Dulle Griet (Mad Meg) c. 1562Oil on panel 117.4 x 162 cm Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp

Pieter Bruegel the Elder.The Massacre of the Innocents. 1565-7. Oil on panel. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

Bruegel, Pieter The Procession to Calvary 1564 Oil on canvas 124 x 170 cmKunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna

Pieter Bruegel the Elder.The Parable of the Blind. 1568. Oil on canvas. Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy

Pieter Bruegel: Observer of Peasant Village Life Kermis / The Peasant Dance, ca. 1568

Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Head of the Old Peasant Woman. c. 1568. Oil on wood. Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany.

Bruegel, Pieter Peasant wedding c. 1568 Oil on wood 114 x 164 cm (45 x 64 1/2 in.) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Hunters in the Snow, 1565 Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Reformation and Counter Reformation: Catholic and Protestant Art