Martin Luther's Baroque And The Counter-Reformation

Baroque and the Counter-Reformation On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the doors of Wittenberg Cathedral. Exposing the corruption of the Church and its abuse of power, Martin Luther sent a shock wave through all of Europe. Threatened with the growing rise of Protestantism, and the crises it revealed, the Catholic Church launched the Counter-Reformation. The Council of Trent (1545 - 1563), was a central feature of the Counter-Reformation. Aimed at addressing the abuses of the Church, and reaffirming the Catholic doctrine, the Council of Trent launched several reforms, including a number of guidelines on religious art. Understanding the power of art, and its ability to teach, the Catholic Reformation, embraced the
Canonized for her spiritual visions, Teresa of Ávila was a nun who was visited by God in the form of an angel pricking her heart with an arrow. Reimagining the scene, Berni sculpted beautifully fluid marble statues of both St. Teresa and the angel. Artists according the Catholic Counter-Reformation should focus on the distinctive aspects of the Catholic dogma, thus by choosing to reimagine the scene of St.Teresa (a newly canonized saint of the Counter-Reformation), Bernini supported the Counter-Reformation and its new artistic requirements. In his sculpture, Teresa lays limply on a heavenly cloud, an expression of organismic content fluttering across her face, as the angel plunges the arrow into her chest filling her with the vision of God. Although the scene may appear to be pure fantasy, the superior sculpting technique, realistic expression/portrayal of the human form, and the use of sunlight as the rays of Heaven, all compel the viewer into believing this fantastical vision of God. Overall, Bernini successfully transforms the scene of the Ecstasy of St. Teresa. His direct and compelling nature of the sculpture, leads one to believe that if they are as pious as St. Teresa, they too may be filled with the joyous vision of
In his painting, The Raising of the Cross, Rubens paints a emotional dramatic and chaotic scene unlike any other paintings of crucifixions. Rather than painting Jesus already crucified, the viewer is set with the disturbing image of the elevation of Christ. Using a diagonal composition, all attention is focused on Christ’s contorted body, and the look of agony on his face. Further down the diagonal, shirtless men’s muscles ripple as they struggle to lift the weight of the burden of Christ's’ cross, their arms and bodies stretching past the canvas and bursting into the viewer's space. Although many triptych altarpieces often involve three separate scenes as seen in the Mérode Triptych, Rubens The Raising of the Cross, has a unified narrative across all three panels. By making the scene (i.e. the raising of the cross) unified across all three panels, Rubens adheres to the clarity and intelligibility mandates of the