What Impact did the Protestant Reformation have on Visual Arts - Essay Example

What impact did the Protestant Reformation have on visual arts of the time? Introduction The protestant movement started long time ago when a conflict came up in the Catholic Church. The conflict was due to the disagreement on the use of church imagery that was practiced in the Catholic Church. The protestant movement led by Martin Luther that was against the Catholic doctrine caused a lot of changes in Western Europe. Amongst these changes were the social, geopolitical and artistic differences that came as a result of the conflict in Europe. During the middle ages, the church used images and art as a way of speaking and teaching its followers. The art that was put in the church altars and windows had particular religious content. The church reformation started only as a religious movement led by Martin Luther and other religious activists together with Huldreich Zwingli and John Calvin. This movement later led to the differences that resulted to separation of the Church. In the sixteenth century, the division in the Catholic Church caused changes, in the church, and the country at large. This was due to the strong belief that most catholic followers had in their doctrine. Despite the unity of the Catholic believers, the reformers group led by Luther differed and caused the division. This was referred to as reformation. Because of this division there was a disconnection amongst the people. The north region was occupied by the Protestants while in the South were the Catholic believers. The main conflict was because of the designing and use of the image of Jesus Christ. According to the laws which were ideally against Gods commandments of making another image of worship. However, the disagreement on the use of these images to worship differed from one person to another. This is because some completely opposed the use of the images in the church. On the other hand, some opposed using these images, while others tolerated used them in the Church so long as they were not worshipped. That is they were kept in the church as figures of remembrance for instance the images of Peter repenting. The doctrinal difference continually caused a serious separation in Europe with the evidence of religious pluralism (Unwin, 1996). The conflict between the Roman Catholic and the protestant movement The reformation group chiefly started after Martin Luther his thoughts on the Catholic doctrine and the way of worship. He felt that the Church should focus on liberal worship rather than the traditional Roman Catholic way of worship. The grievances by Martin Luther were called the Ninety-five theses. He posted them on the entrance of the church so as to be noticed and read by the Clergy and all people. His main interest was to reach the Pope who was the head of the Roman faith (Unwin, 1996). After the pope had gone through the thoughts of Martin Luther, he realized that they were not in agreement. The pope later disagreed on some of the writings of Martin Luther. Later on the pope highlighted his opinion on the posting of the protestant (Unwin, 1996). What followed were replies between the two which were not in agreement. Martin Luther stood on his stand and was supported by other people who agreed with him this climaxed with the beginning of the reformation period. One of the main sources of the disagreement amongst the two distinct beliefs was the art work that was used in the Churches. That is in the fifteenth century, most catholic churches used imagery in worship. “Most of the artistic impressions and the paintings were meant to remind people on the miracles that Jesus performed during His years of ministry” (Unwin, 1996). While the Catholics were strict to follow their imagery and pictures, the protestant did not support the same. Art and imagery became the basis of the conflict between the protestant and catholic. In the end, the art from the South was different from the one from the north. The art done “by the protestant sent a different message compared to the painting that was done by the Catholics. The images of The Protestant reflected that people could approach the Throne of Grace with confidence” for instance the image of the cross of Jesus. This was because of the blood that was shed by Christs. It gave people the freedom to worship in truth and in spirit with understanding. On the other hand, the Catholics used the images as contact point between God and man. In addition, the Protestants recognized that the difference between sacred and worldly art (Randall, 2007). On the other hand, the Catholics maintained their traditional ways of worship. These two world views disagreed in the “Reformation and the Counter-Reformation”, creating art that focused on different themes in those days until date (McCulloch, 2004). Both Martin Luther and John Calvin strongly rejected the use of the images in the church services. They had different opinions on the use of these images in the church. This was because they believed that God was everywhere. Hence, no person required to have any image to use as a point of contact. Thus their understanding of worshipping God changed from the use of the images and art impressions to verbal worship only. Nonetheless, this was not the end of the separation of the church. Later on, the protestant movement led to the iconoclastic movement. This was led by Huldreich Zwingli and John Calvin (McCulloch, 2004). The effect of reformation on the use of imagery in Church Martin Luther held on the thought that the images gave an impression that was not worth of worship before God. According to Martin Luther these “images portrayed idolatry while others were the source of cultic practices”, that changed people from the true worship. The other activists had their own take on the same subject of use of images and utterly abandoned the artistic paintings and the images in Church. This was the Iconoclastic movement. The protestant church divided into four: the Lutheran, Anabaptist, Calvinist, and the Anglican (McCulloch, 2004). Each Church chose their own leader and had its own doctrine that differed from one another. While “in some churches the reformation led to the removal of the images in other churches the opposition to using the images as a prayer contact decreased” (Nostro, 2010). The opposition to the use of imagery in worship made the Protestants redirects their worship so that they differentiate themselves from those of the Catholics. However, the idea on the use of imagery in church gradually began to change amongst the believers in the Catholic churches. That is as time went by the Catholics become more hesitant with the use of the images as a point of contact in church. Hence, most of the images in the Church were just taken as mere portraits and paintings, but were not worshipped. It came to the realization of many of the Catholics that the paintings and “images that were used and placed in the church did not have religious meanings”. Most images were taken as an artist impression of the person in the painting or image. This was especially in north Europe where the church stopped to use these images in the church. For instance in Italy the pictures that were used in the Church had to checked and changed (Nostro, 2010). The imagery that was advocated by the Protestants movement was one had clear demonstration of God. The reformers also made sure that the images that were painted and used in the church had no secular implications on the doctrine that was taught in the church (Nostro, 2010). That is they also banned the images that portrayed fake doctrine and had poor religious content in them. The images chosen were then strictly religious. The chosen images were to have the theme that glorified God. This included all the images that were used even in the sacraments. After the reformation, the most major happenings in the Churches in Europe were the variety in the art work. The painting and art in the North were utterly different from the one from the Churches in the South. The Northern Churches that were mainly reformers paying attention on their art and the scenes that were explained in the bible. Occasionally they did paintings that were of common people. On the other hand, the “Catholics in the South based their art work on the images of Virgin Mary and Jesus” (Nostro, 2010). Their paintings portrayed the “martyrdom of the saints”. Most of these paintings gave the true impression of the Catholic trends and tradition. Another factor that arose from the use of these images and art were the themes of sacred and secular impressions. While the Catholics in the South stuck in their traditional mode of art, the believers in the “North drifted away” in to their mode of worship that gave a lot of freedom. In this regard, the northern Worshippers expanded their view of appreciating God to even glorifying Him through the creation, and the “people whom He made in His own likeness” (Nostro, 2010). Conclusion In conclusion, the reformation period resulted in the separation of the early church. The early Catholic Church had a lot of focus in the images which they used in worship. However, once reformation began, some of the followers of the Catholic faith changed and joined the reformers. As a result, worship in the protestant movement did not focus much on imagery and art, while others completely rejected the use of images in the Church. As a result, some churches have no paintings, images, or art impressions. While the Catholic supporters still use the “image of Virgin Mary, Jesus and the cross in the church service”. References MacCulloch, D. (2004). The Reformation: A History. London: Viking Adult. Nosotro, R. (2010). “Art of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation.” Hyper history. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/comp/cw20reformationart.htm Randall, R. (2007). The reformation and the visual arts. London: Nelson Thornes. Unwin , R. (1996). The making of the United Kingdom. London: Nelson Thornes. Read More