August 10th

Miracles of St. Ignatius of Loyola-Ruebens

Lamentation of Christ-Crayer

Portrait of a Couple-Sanfvoort

A Merry Company- Palamedesz

Today we toured the Kunsthistoriche Museum with Dr.O. It was a very expansive museum with great pieces of artwork that in one day, would be impossible to see. It was interesting to find out that Rudolf II was a prominent art collector and his efforts were responsible for the great collection there. There are great examples of Catholic art that hang in the Kunsthistoriche Museum. For example, Gaspar De Crayer’s Lamination of Christ is a strong emotionally charged piece that depicts the body of Christ being taken down from the cross and held by his mother, the Virgin Mary. The expression on Mary’s face is one of utter sadness and the presence of angels and saints only emphasizes the sorrow that follows the death of Christ. This is what is referred to as a pieta, and this clearly emphasized the central tenets of the catholic counter-reformation. This work was meant to emphasize the personal relationship each and every catholic has with the Son of God. His suffering is meant to increase the belief that the Protestants were heretics who were bound for eternal damnation and only through belief in the Holy Catholic Church; eternal salvation would be insured for all those who prescribed to the catholic tradition. Another piece of Catholic artwork is best illustrated in Peter Paul Rueben’s work entitled Miracles of St. Ignatius of Loyola. This work depicts the founder of the Jesuit order who had the divine powers to heal the mentally ill from their sicknesses. Yet again we have another emotionally charged painting with St. Ignatius healing the mentally ill with a wave of his hand. These two works of Catholic artwork puts emphasis on the Catholic Church’s desire to pay a pretty penny to artists who were willing to paint in the style that the Catholic Church wanted. These works were intended to give deep spiritual meaning to those who looked upon them. This was all about emphasizing the close bond that the Catholic Church had with god, unlike the Protestants who were in open rebellion against the church, as Catholics saw them. Unlike Catholic artwork, Protestant artwork did not put much emphasis on scenes from the bible or had intensely religious symbolism. Anthony Palamedesz painted A Merry Company in 1634. It is a group of Protestants gathered in a household enjoying each other’s company, listening to some music being played. One thing that characterized protestant artists was their desire to sell their paintings to patrons who could afford them. This in turn created an art market where supply and demand formulated their success, rather than relying on a central church to pay them to paint a certain way. They had the freedom to express themselves when compared to painters who were patronized by the Catholic Church who wanted a deliberate scene portrayed. The second work that illustrated the differences between catholic and protestant artwork was Dirck Sanfvoort’s 1639 portrait of a couple.  They were painted in a very puritan style with conservative black ensembles. This was painted for this couple who most likely put this in their home. Humility rather than power and spirituality, seemed to be the major difference between Catholic and Protestant artwork.