In 1545 the Catholic Church established the Council of Trent to set new decrees and continue their work in preventing the spread of Protestantism within Europe. Although there were many ways in which the Church aimed to do so, one particularly interesting facet of the Catholic Counter-Reformation is its use of culture, particularly art, to promote Catholic ideals to a wider audience.
Baroque artworks and operas were enthusiastically supported by the Catholic Church, which saw its extravagant, dramatic and emotional aesthetics as the perfect counter to the more reserved forms of Protestant art. The Church decided that art would take the role of ‘books for the illiterate [and] poor’ and as such should educate the audience in the views of the Catholic Church. In 1600 the Vatican sponsored several operas and hired sculptors, painters and architects to furnish the Vatican in this new style.
Carracci’s ‘The Coronation of the Virgin’
Baroque works commissioned by the Church were intended to depict various aspects of Catholic dogma, such as Carracci’s portrayal of the Virgin Mary, see above, which reinforced the belief that Mary was the Queen of Heaven. Such artworks were controversial amongst protestants, who saw the paintings as a display of the unnecessary extravagance of the Catholic Church. The paintings frequently depicted themes or topics which the Protestants did not agree with, leading to further friction between the groups. Additionally, some Protestant sects, such as the followers of Calvin, saw all artistic portrayals of God as idolatry and their response was to desecrate several churches, both of the Catholics and other Protestant groups such as Lutheran churches.
Carracci’s ‘Saint John the Baptist bearing witness’.
This work depicts John 1.29: ‘The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’. The painting itself utilises the open form style, wherein the viewer feels involved in the painting; in this example, it’s clear that the viewer is intended to be the person whom John is showing Jesus to.
Carravaggio’s ‘The Entombment of Christ’
Carravaggio painted several works for Cardinals and other Catholic officials in Rome. His works are much darker in tone and utilise dramatic contrast to direct the viewers’ attention to the figures depicted. Often these works were of key moments within the life of Christ of other religious figures.
The new Baroque style rapidly spread across Europe, as wealthy Catholic believers commissioned grand new paintings and altarpieces for their private residences. The spread of the Baroque style into predominantly Protestant areas such as the Low Countries, an area roughly equivalent to modern day Netherlands & Belgium, shows that even protestant artists began to take on such commissions, seeing the potential income from these jobs as of greater importance than painting only for Protestant causes.
‘The Annunciation of the Death of the Virgin’, Samuel van Hoogstraten.
Hoogstraten was a devout Protestant from the Low Countries who had no qualms about painting works across the religious spectrum.
Below, ‘Adoration of the Shepherds’, Georges de la Tour.
The use of more than one source of lighting was a common feature in Baroque artworks. La Tour’s depiction of Christ’s birth utilises most of the Baroque features- ‘chiaroscuro’, or dramatic light & dark- to highlight the significance of the event being depicted.
(see right) Peter Paul Rubens, ‘The Elevation of the Cross’.
Many of these works were copied so that devoted Catholics may have their own versions. Catholic Royals across Europe were keen commissioners and purchasers of Baroque art, as well as consumers of Baroque operas- such as 'L'Orfeo' by Claudio Monteverdi which retold the Greek tragedy of Orpheus.
Alongside this, early modern Baroque architecture was integrated alongside existing Renaissance buildings and the grandeur of the new style gained popularity with the European aristocracy. Many examples of Baroque buildings still exist today such as the Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza in Rome.
The Catholic Church used the Baroque style to develop highly emotive depictions of key religious events; this enabled them to glorify the reforms made within the Catholic church as a result of the Reformation exposing such issues. Baroque art directly contributed to the Church's efforts to combat the spread of Protestantism within Europe in the Early Modern period by creating a large output of Catholic inspired works that countered the interpretations of Protestant artworks.
~Sophie Bourne
Studies the periods the rest hate
References & further reading:
Met Museum Online:
Other sources:
Tobin Nellhaus, Theatre Histories, (Routledge: London, 2016).
John Gash, “Counter-Reformation Countenances: Catholic Art and Attitude from Caravaggio to Rubens” Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review 104, no 416, (Winter 2015/2016).
Merry E Wiesner-Hanks, Early Modern Europe 1450-1789 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006
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