The Council of Trent Concluded That the Arts Should Be Directed Toward Which Specific Areas

Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647-52)
By Giovanni Bernini.
Cornaro Chapel,
Santa Maria della Vittoria.

EVOLUTION OF VISUAL ART
For details of fine art movements
and styles, see: History of Art.
For chronological details, see:
History of Art Timeline.

What is Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation Art?

The term "Catholic Counter-Reformation fine art" describes the more stringent, doctrinal manner of Christian fine art which was developed during the menses c.1560-1700, in response to Martin Luther's revolt against Rome (1517) and the Protestant Reformation fine art which followed. This stricter manner of Catholic Biblical art - launched by the Quango of Trent (1545-63) - was designed to highlight the theological differences between Catholicism and Protestantism, past focusing on the mysteries of the faith, every bit well as the roles of the Virgin Mary and the Saints. It was supposed to revitalize Catholic congregations across Europe, thus minimizing the effects of the Protestant revolt. To inject momentum into its campaign, the Roman Church building - aided by the newly-formed Jesuit order, besides as wealthy pious individuals - began commissioning new architecture, works of altarpiece fine art (mostly big-scale oil paintings), inspirational church building fresco paintings, and major pieces of ecclesiastical sculpture and forest carving. Staunch supporters of the Catholic Counter-Reformation and its religious fine art included Italy, Spain and its colonies of Flanders and Naples, likewise as southern Germany. Its leading exponents were therefore Italian Baroque artists similar Caravaggio, Pietro da Cortona, Bernini, and Andrea Pozzo; the schoolhouse of Castilian Painting, such as El Greco, Ribera and Francisco de Zurbaran; and the Flemish primary Peter Paul Rubens.

History: The Reformation; The Reject in Spirituality of Art

Two important factors shaped the fine art of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, during the 16th and 17th centuries. First, a growth in the level of corruption within the Roman Catholic Church, from the Pope down. It was this abuse (specifically the auction of indulgences to finance the renovation of St Peter'due south in Rome), overseen by Pope Leo 10 (1513-21), that caused Luther to launch his Protestant rebellion.

The second factor was artistic though it, too, reflected a similar spiritual refuse. During the 15th century, Early Renaissance painting commissioned by the Church or its Christian followers, gradually became less and less religious. The Tornabuoni Chapel frescoes (1485–ninety), for example, by Domenico Ghirlandaio, seem to be more than focused on the details of bourgeois city life than on their actual subjects, the Life of the Virgin and that of John the Baptist. Likewise, secular priorities began to intrude: the influential Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506), for instance, became increasingly involved with the rich Gonzaga family in Mantua, while fifty-fifty the devout Botticelli (1445-1510) spent fourth dimension painting a number of heathen works for the powerful Medici family in Florence: see, for example, Primavera 1482, and The Birth of Venus 1485, both marked by substantial nudity. The activity of the peppery Dominican preacher Girolamo Savonarola (1452-98) - culminating in his Bonfire of the Vanities in 1497 - was a clear indication of the lack of Christian devotion equally well as the growing decadence of the time. The situation was further exacerbated during the era of High Renaissance painting, as Humanism (characteristically expressed in the male and female nude) became an important feature of Renaissance aesthetics: as demonstrated in the marble statue of David by Michelangelo (1501-4), and the ignudi in the Genesis fresco (1508-12) on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, by the aforementioned creative person. Worse was to follow, as the Loftier Renaissance gave manner to the optical pretensions of Mannerist painting, during the 1520s and 30s: as exemplified by works like the Deposition Altarpiece (1526-8) in the Capponi Chapel, Florence, by Pontormo (1494-1557). This non-traditional arroyo to art did not become down well with either Protestants or the more than conservative factions in Rome. Another contentious work was Wedding Feast at Cana (1563) by Veronese.

The Council of Trent

To rebuild confidence in the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, afterward the twin shocks of the Protestant Reformation (1517) and the Sack of Rome (1527), a campaign of reform was necessary. The impetus for such reform emanated from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), founded past S. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), and from the 19th Ecumenical Council (the Council of Trent), initiated by Pope Paul III (1534–1549), which held 25 sessions between 1545 and 1563. Reformers believed strongly in the educational and inspirational power of visual art, and promoted a number of guidelines to exist followed in the production of religious paintings and sculpture. These formed the ground for what became known every bit Catholic Counter-Reformation Art.

Characteristics of Catholic Counter-Reformation Art

Reformers first stressed the need to distinguish the i true Church building from the breakaway group of Protestant churches. Artists should therefore focus on the distinctive aspects of Catholic dogma, including: The Immaculate Conception, The Annunciation of the Virgin, The Transfiguration of Christ, and others. Besides, any explicit portrayal of Christ'south suffering and desperation on the Cross was accounted to be specially uplifting, and also served to illustrate the singular Catholic version of Transubstantiation in the Eucharist. The roles of the Virgin Mary, the Saints and the Sacraments were too a distinctive feature of Catholicism and were to be illustrated accordingly. 2d, reformers stipulated that Biblical painting should be straight and compelling in its narrative presentation, and should be rendered in a clear, accurate fashion,without unnecessary or imaginary embellishments. Third, reformers - in particular, pious individuals such as Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Francis de Sales and Philip Neri - insisted that Cosmic art should encourage piety: thus artists should paint and sculpt scenes of advisable spiritual intensity. Fourth, as to how paintings and statues were to be executed, reformers stressed the importance of making them as understandable and every bit relevant to ordinary people, as possible. Using these techniques, Cosmic art was to combat the spread of Protestantism throughout Europe, especially in areas like French republic, southern Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Bohemia and Hungary. For an instance of a 16th century Mannerist painter who changed his way of painting to comply with the Council of Trent, see: Federico Barocci (1526-1612).

Notation: After, major religious works like The Last Judgment fresco (1536-61) past Michelangelo, and The Concluding Supper (renamed Feast in the Business firm of Levi (1573) past Paolo Veronese, were censured by the Cosmic regime: the former for its nudity, for depicting Christ without a beard, and for including the heathen figure of Charon; the latter for its inclusion of drunken Germans, midgets and other inappropriate figures, also as over-extravagant costumes.

The Baroque Art Movement

Post-obit the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church - along with its new religious orders, such equally the Barnabites, Capuchins, Discalced Carmelites, Jesuits, Theatines, and Ursulines - increased its patronage of the arts across much of Europe. Out of this campaign of Counter-Reformation fine art emerged the anti-Mannerist Bolognese School (1590-1630) - led by Annibale Carracci along with brother Agostino Carracci (1557-1602) and cousin Ludovico Carracci (1555-1619) - and then the international motility we know as Baroque art, a style which lasted until 1700 or afterwards. A typically powerful and dramatic mode, it influenced all the arts, giving rising to Bizarre compages, every bit well as Baroque painting and sculpure: indeed, projects often involved a combination of all these disciplines.

Catholic Art in Italian republic

Baroque architects in Italy produced numerous textbook examples of Catholic compages, notably the Basilica and surroundings of Saint Peter'south Basilica (c.1506-1667), and the Church of the Gesu (1568-84), in Rome; while Counter-Reformation painters became noted for their classical approach, equally exemplified in the works of Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) and in late 16th century Venetian Altarpieces, notably those past Titian (c.1485/viii-1576) and Tintoretto (1518-94). The textbook case of Counter-Reformation Baroque sculpture was The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647-52) by Bernini (1598-1680), in the Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. Later on Bernini, Rome'southward greatest Cosmic artist was Carlo Maratta (1625-1713).

The most 'real' Catholic art, still, was created by the wayward genius Caravaggio (1571-1610), whose religious figure painting was then natural and lifelike - and thus instantly understandable by ordinary churchgoers - that information technology served as the quintessential example of Catholic Counter-Reformation painting. (See, for instance, Supper at Emmaus 1601-ii, National Gallery, London.) In fact, Caravaggio's employ of street people every bit models for his sacred figures, led to such realism that he was criticised past conservatives for showing insufficient respect to the Virgin Mary.

See as well: Classicism and Naturalism in Italian 17th Century Painting.

The masters of spiritual inspiration were the artists who produced the awesome illusionist landscape paintings - known every bit quadratura - on the walls and ceilings of Baroque churches. The finest of these trompe l'oeil paintings include: Assumption of the Virgin (Parma Cathedral) (1526-xxx) past Correggio - see the Parma School of painting; The Triumph of the Name of Jesus (1584, Church of the Gesu) by Giovanni Battista Gaulli; Apologue of Divine Providence (1633-nine, Palazzo Barberini) by Pietro da Cortona; and The Apotheosis of St Ignatius (1691-iv, San Ignazio, Rome) by Andrea Pozzo. Compare these inspirational works with the muted, fifty-fifty austere, church interiors created by Protestant artists like Pieter Saenredam (1597-1665) and Emanuel de Witte (1615-92).

Catholic Art in Spain and Naples

If Italy was the brain of the Cosmic Counter-Reformation, its heart was Spain, the most pious land in Europe. Under the ultra-devout Rex Philip II (1527-98), painters and sculptors of the Spanish Baroque produced some of the most spiritually intense illustrations of Catholic doctrine. The greatest of them was El Greco (1541-1614), whose masterpieces include The Disrobing of Christ (1577, Toledo Cathedral); The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1586, Church building of San Tome, Toledo); Christ driving the Traders from the Temple (1600, National Gallery, London); The Ascension of the Virgin Mary (1607-13, Southward Cruz Museum, Toledo); and The Adoration of the Shepherds (1613, Prado, Madrid). Other Spanish Baroque artists included: Velazquez (1599-1660) - if only for his masterpiece Christ on the Cross (c.1632, Prado) - Zurbaran (1598-1664); Bartolome Esteban Murillo (1618-1682) and Juan de Valdes Leal (1622-1690).

In the Spanish colony of Naples, the Catholic Neapolitan Schoolhouse of Painting (1600-56) was led by a serial of devout artists such as: Battistello Caracciolo (1578-1635), Jusepe Ribera (1591-1652), Guido Reni (1575-1642) and Lanfranco (1582-1647). After the plague of 1654-55, the Neapolitan Baroque was represented by masters similar Mattia Preti (1613-99) and Luca Giordano (1634-1705); both had studied Caravaggio in Naples and both had absorbed the legacy of Venetian painting from the cinquecento, notably the work of Paolo Veronese (1528-88).

Spanish sculptors who contributed to the Catholic Counter-Reformation included: Juan de Juni (1506-77); Jeronimo Hernandez (1540-86); Pablo de Rojas (1549-1611); Andres de Ocampo (1555-1623); Juan Martinez Montanes (1568-1649); Gregorio Fernandez (1576-1636); Alonso Cano (1601-67); and Pedro Roldan (1624-99).

Catholic Art in Flemish region

Unlike their Dutch rivals to the north, the Cosmic Flemish painters of the Spanish Netherlands (Flanders was a Spanish colony) connected to paint large-calibration religious canvases, for ecclesiastical clients. Flemish painting of the belatedly 16th and 17th centuries was dominated past Rubens (1577-1640) and his leading pupil Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641). Among Rubens' many masterpieces of Catholic fine art are: Samson and Delilah (1610, National Gallery, London); Massacre of the Innocents (1611, Private Collection); Descent from the Cross (Rubens) (1612-14, Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp); Christ Risen (1616, Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina, Florence); Christ on the Cross (1620, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp); and The Supposition of the Virgin (1626, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC).

Counter-Reformation fine art spread throughout Catholic Europe and then into the overseas Castilian Catholic colonies of Asia and the Americas. Championed by the Jesuits and Franciscans, it inspired overseas groups such every bit the Cuzco Schoolhouse, the Quito School, and Chilote School of Catholic imagery.

Catholic Counter-Reformation paintings and sculpture can be seen in some of the best art museums in the world.

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Source: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/catholic.htm