Glorifying and Transcending the Grandeur of the Church
Council of Trent, Counter Reformation, and Baroque Art
To overcome the challenges of the Protestant Reformation, Pope Paul III convened a church council: the Council of Trent. This council confirmed or restated correct Church doctrine on several matters, and acknowledged some Protestant criticisms by prohibiting the sale of indulgences. Additionally, the Council of Trent provided specific guidelines in regards to religious art; it asked for a "greater clarity, realism, emotional drama, dogmatic instruction, and the avoidance of genital nudity" (Baldwin 1). As well, biblical characters were intended to express total loyalty to the Bible and to Christian history; the avoidance of mythical saints and experiences fabricated in the medieval times was also a primary guideline of the council.
The Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reform was the Catholic reaction to the Protestant Reformation; it arouse in the decades following the Council of Trent (1564). During the Counter-Reformation, "Catholicism renewed its spiritual rigor and doubled-down on its theology" (Buckley 33); the spirit of the Counter-Reformation was a spirit of passion, eagerness, and devotion for the spiritual faith, of recognition of the abuses within the Church, and of the incessant commitment to the reformation of the Church. The Counter-Reformation "tried to undermine some Protestant trends by enacting and internal Catholic reform (..) it also responded directly to the Protestant attack on core Catholic values by reasserting them in a far more aggressive manner infused with a more combative and triumphal spirituality" (Baldwin 3). Furthermore, the Catholic Church reacted against the Protestant Reformation by "developing a more militant piety" (Baldwin 3); it expanded and magnified the rebirth of triumphal imagery of the High Renaissance period, with the main purpose of "expressing the absolute, all-conquering power of the papacy, the Roman Church, the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, the Virgin as Queen of Heaven, the saints, the "True Faith", and the cross, redefined as a standard of victory" (Baldwin 3).
Besides, the emphasis given to correct Catholic doctrine and religious joy during the Counter- Reformation generated specific religious and artistic values that reacted against the Mannerist style of art, primarily characterized by an obsession with artificial conventions, social manners, sophistication, elegance, and virtuosity. Counter-Reformation art was founded on the ideals of simple compositions which told stories and provoked or stimulated particular religious emotions, "not just aesthetic admiration or dogmatic belief" (Baldwin 2). At the same time, the spiritual basis of the Counter-Reformation enhanced the depiction of artistic figures and subjects "tied to religious calling, miracles, conversion, teaching and missionary work, martyrdom and ecstasy, divine providence and world history, religious authority and hierarchy, and church triumph over false belief" (Baldwin 2)
The artistic response to the opposed values of the Protestant Reformation during the Counter-Reformation was known as the Baroque Art. Precisely, Baroque Art uniquely expressed the victory of the Catholic Church throughout the incorporation of "triumphal imagery" (Baldwin 3-5), which truly embodied the ideology of the Catholic Reform. For instance, Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), in Triumph of the Church (1570's) and Ecclesia, portrays the exaltation of the triumphant and victorious Catholic Church.
The Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reform was the Catholic reaction to the Protestant Reformation; it arouse in the decades following the Council of Trent (1564). During the Counter-Reformation, "Catholicism renewed its spiritual rigor and doubled-down on its theology" (Buckley 33); the spirit of the Counter-Reformation was a spirit of passion, eagerness, and devotion for the spiritual faith, of recognition of the abuses within the Church, and of the incessant commitment to the reformation of the Church. The Counter-Reformation "tried to undermine some Protestant trends by enacting and internal Catholic reform (..) it also responded directly to the Protestant attack on core Catholic values by reasserting them in a far more aggressive manner infused with a more combative and triumphal spirituality" (Baldwin 3). Furthermore, the Catholic Church reacted against the Protestant Reformation by "developing a more militant piety" (Baldwin 3); it expanded and magnified the rebirth of triumphal imagery of the High Renaissance period, with the main purpose of "expressing the absolute, all-conquering power of the papacy, the Roman Church, the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, the Virgin as Queen of Heaven, the saints, the "True Faith", and the cross, redefined as a standard of victory" (Baldwin 3).
Besides, the emphasis given to correct Catholic doctrine and religious joy during the Counter- Reformation generated specific religious and artistic values that reacted against the Mannerist style of art, primarily characterized by an obsession with artificial conventions, social manners, sophistication, elegance, and virtuosity. Counter-Reformation art was founded on the ideals of simple compositions which told stories and provoked or stimulated particular religious emotions, "not just aesthetic admiration or dogmatic belief" (Baldwin 2). At the same time, the spiritual basis of the Counter-Reformation enhanced the depiction of artistic figures and subjects "tied to religious calling, miracles, conversion, teaching and missionary work, martyrdom and ecstasy, divine providence and world history, religious authority and hierarchy, and church triumph over false belief" (Baldwin 2)
The artistic response to the opposed values of the Protestant Reformation during the Counter-Reformation was known as the Baroque Art. Precisely, Baroque Art uniquely expressed the victory of the Catholic Church throughout the incorporation of "triumphal imagery" (Baldwin 3-5), which truly embodied the ideology of the Catholic Reform. For instance, Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), in Triumph of the Church (1570's) and Ecclesia, portrays the exaltation of the triumphant and victorious Catholic Church.
The triumphant Catholic Church portrayed by Baroque Art during the Counter-Reformation was also accompanied by strengthened political ties among European nations. Henceforth, Baroque Art also depicted an absolutist and politically powerful Church, elevated to high levels of grandeur, transcendence, and dominance. John Case's Sphaera Civitatis (1588) reflects the political ties between the Church and the different nations, as well as the imperial power of the ecclesia.
Moreover, Baroque Art portrayed the beauty and power of Catholic spirituality; during the Counter-Reformation, visual piety was redefined (Baldwin 8-10). To react against the ideals of the Protestant Reformation, "the Catholic Church developed a new visual rhetoric which
was grand, powerful, heroic, dramatic, emotionally affective, and ornate. This
piety of the senses, and especially vision, transformed the full spectrum of
visual media including architecture and the visual arts (painting, sculpture,
tapestry, stained glass, and prints), liturgical costumes and sacramental
practices, church ceremonies, religious festivals, processions, and theater,
and triumphal entries for church officials and rulers" (Baldwin 8). Barque Art expressed Catholic piety throughout the incorporation of narratives of conversion, miraculous visions, revelations, martyrdom, "exemplary images of the true faith triumphing over anti-Catholic persecution, and an increasingly theatrical representation of religious conversion and ecstasy" (Baldwin 9).
In addition, Baroque Art expressed a unique "visionary naturalism" (Baldwin 11); it offered a visual spectacle to the viewer and allowed for a marvelous depiction of Catholic piety through realistic elements, as well as movement and liveliness. Likewise, it incorporated the fundamental elements of emotion, ecstasy, mystical marriage, martyrdom, torment, and affective, sacramental, Eucharistic, and penitential piety (Baldwin 11-23), in order to authentically portray the triumph, perfection, and power of the Catholic Church as the dogmatic and spiritual generator of a transcendent religion of piety and glory.
Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini was one of the most influential artists of the Baroque Art. Through his "genius" and great artistic ability, he was able to communicate several values of the Counter-Reformation, in order to conserve, reinforce, and strengthen the triumphant imagery of the Church, through movement, emotion, realism, naturalism, "vibrant liveliness", and a unique embodiment of the inner spirit (carnal and mystical).
Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini was one of the most influential artists of the Baroque Art. Through his "genius" and great artistic ability, he was able to communicate several values of the Counter-Reformation, in order to conserve, reinforce, and strengthen the triumphant imagery of the Church, through movement, emotion, realism, naturalism, "vibrant liveliness", and a unique embodiment of the inner spirit (carnal and mystical).
“The Baroque was a religion of transcendence […] The Baroque was confident and self-assured” (Buckley 35)
“As a style, the Baroque was not rude an irregular, like the Gothic; nor was it refined and simple, like the High Renaissance Palladian; nor had it the Rococo’s affectation and irony. Like the Gothic it communicated a sense of awe, but with an exuberance entirely foreign to the Gothic. Like the Palladian it adhered to classical forms, but with a transcendent vision the Palladian lacked. It shaded into the eighteenth century Rococo, but had a symmetry and grandeur the Rococo mocked” (Buckley 33-34)