The state of the arts during the Protestant Reformation was, much like today, a mixed bag.
“The Church, seeing the increasingly audacious Catholic variants on Christ’s Resurrection, feared artists were taking the same kind of interpretive liberties as the Protestants. Ultimately, the question arose whether Catholics should sponsor art that seemed to be more a part of the problem than the solution.”
It took The Council of Trent to provide some much needed guidance to artists.
Elizabeth Lev continues her wonderful series exploring the art of the Catholic Counter-reformation.
“So, at the very moment the Protestant reformers were promising a more immediate, personal experience of Christ through Scripture, the Catholic church was drawing on that very Scripture to produce artwork that emphasized the intimate, transformative encounter of the faithful with the Risen Lord.”
Read the article at Aleteia here. (and along the way discover one the most successful female artists of the period.)
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Pontifex University is an online university offering a Master’s Degree in Sacred Arts. For more information visit the website at www.pontifex.university
Lawrence Klimecki is a deacon for the diocese of Sacramento as well as a working artist, he writes on art and faith at www.DeaconLawrence.org
The Journal for Catholic Culture & Arts 