The Role of Visual Imagery during the Reformation
In addition to doctrinal differences, Catholics and Protestants took divergent stances on the role of visual imagery in religion.
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.
The difference between Catholic and Protestant uses of art can be demonstrated by comparing two German artworks, one (by Matthias Grünewald) pre-Reformation and one (by Albrecht Dürer) produced in the years after the Reformation began.
Albrecht Dürer
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| Four Apostles |
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| Knight, Death, and the Devil |
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Self Portrait ca. 1500
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Matthias Grünewald
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| Isenheim Altarpiece (opened) |
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| Isenheim Altarpiece (closed) |
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 show the
Crucifixion and emphasize Christ's pain and suffering.
Hans Holbein the Younger
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| The French Ambassadors |
Hans Holbein the Younger's meticulously painted double portrait of the French humanist ambassadors to England, Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve (
The French Ambassadors), shows the two men standing at each end of a side table covered with an oriental rug and a collection of objects reflective of their worldliness and interest in learning and the arts. A skull represented anamorphically appears as a diagonal shape across the picture plane in the lower part of the painting.
For a view of the skull from an angle that reveals its true form, look at this:
Anagram Skull
For a detailed view of this work (courtesy of National Gallery, London):
Pan and zoom the Ambassadors
Albrecht Altdorfer
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Battle of Issus
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