Article
Collection Publications: Reflections of the Passion (y1976-9)
The Catholic Counter Reformation, which lasted from about the mid-sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century, was mounted to strengthen Catholic dogma. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) reaffirmed the belief in transubstantiation and stressed the glory of the Eucharist. Art of the Counter Reformation sought to further reinforce this central belief.
Religious art was considered at the last session of the Council of Trent and further discussed by theologians in the last third of the sixteenth century. According to the new canon , religious imagery was to embrace accuracy, simplicity, and clarity. The impact of these tenets can be observed in Francken's Road to Calvary, a calm, easily read composition focused on Christ's encounter with Saint Veronica, who will wipe his face with her veil. A painting of the same subject by Herri met de Bles from ca. 1535 [y1950-1] is replete with the sort of narrative detail many later artists learned to forgo.
Religious art was considered at the last session of the Council of Trent and further discussed by theologians in the last third of the sixteenth century. According to the new canon , religious imagery was to embrace accuracy, simplicity, and clarity. The impact of these tenets can be observed in Francken's Road to Calvary, a calm, easily read composition focused on Christ's encounter with Saint Veronica, who will wipe his face with her veil. A painting of the same subject by Herri met de Bles from ca. 1535 [y1950-1] is replete with the sort of narrative detail many later artists learned to forgo.
