Christian Imagery During The Renaissance

With the start of the Renaissance came an intellectual awakening. Even though the majority of the artistic works of the time featured some form of Christian imagery, elements of the scientific discoveries of the time can be seen subtly in the paintings and architecture of the era. As the Renaissance was a time where human intellect expanded and morphed in drastic ways, it was also an extremely controversial time of diminishing religion and changing ideas. One of the most controversial discoveries of the Renaissance was the discovery of the universe and the fact that the sun does not revolve around the Earth, shattering the commonly held belief by the Christian population that humans were the center of the universe because that's how God designed them, as humans are said to be made in God's image and His most
favored creation.
One painting that displays this conflict well is the Assumption of the Virgin by Lodovico Cigoli, where the Virgin Mary can be seen standing on the moon, surrounded by stars. This compilation of science and religion was a phenomenon commonly seen in Renaissance art as a way of displaying the internal struggle between Christianity and the increasing presence of scientific discovery.
Part of the reason that so much of science can be seen through the artistic works of the time is due to the fact that most artists were also scientists utilizing art to marvel at their discoveries and display it in a way that showed the world a new side of science, what was then a rarely known side of human intellect. Even outside of literal art, architects became mathematicians as they discovered new and more efficient ways to construct new styles of building. With the passing of the Renaissance came popularity of the Baroque and Rococo styles of art and architecture in Western Europe. The Baroque style is believed to have come from the Catholic church and was utilized with the primary purpose of increasing awareness of the Catholic religion. This newfound artistic interest in the Catholic religion started as a response by the Catholic church to Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation. As the Catholic church became more flustered over Martin Luther's outspoken ways, they began their own reformation to bring about awareness to what they perceived to be a misguided people
through a medium that the church knew would reach most of the general public. One well-noted sculpture that displays the Baroque style is Giovanni Bernini's sculpture of David, rearing back in preparation to kill Goliath. Finally, the Rococo style was highlighted by the work of Peter Paul Rubens, an artist that painted so that he could spread the culture of art to those he visited in court in Spain, Italy, England, France, and the Netherlands. Though Peter Paul Rubens was an artist that surpassed all in vivacity, his art was typical of the Rococo, highlighting the high-class leisure of the time as the artistic center of culture shifted from Paris to Rome. Another highly esteemed artist of the Rococo period was Fragonard, who painted The Swing as a way of displaying a shift from religious interest to a more loose and fun-loving time. Coming from a time of heavy religious influence, it seems only natural that the people of the Rococo era needed a change to something more frivolous in nature.