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Baroque and the Council of Trent

Religious affiliations and organizations have always been a great influence on the lives of many people and civilizations. In this accord, the religious affiliations in many countries affect and change the view of the world among the people who practice it. Religion also contributes to a great extent the formation of culture based on morality derived from these religious organizations’ teachings. The Catholic church is part of the Christian religion which has had a lot of impact and effect on society in various historical times. It has influenced so much of the world that the world’s history cannot exist outside Catholicism because it was a major role player in the formation of the government, educational, and faith-based structures. It is also a source of the rich literature of the brilliant minds of the old and good quality art of people like Michelangelo, known to be some of the best artists who existed in the world whom even up to today still is comparable few artists. (Watson, 166)

With the church and generally religious affiliations comes the artwork. The Catholic Church especially has a rich culture of art whereby they refer to or portray the different saints and the different great people in the church. Therefore the Catholic Church serves as one of the best sources of artwork. However, even though the Catholic Church has had its success stories, it has always been accompanied by issues and controversies, which are almost unending. The church in the olden days existed as the supreme authority, and it was above kingdoms and other forms of governments. However, with its rule, there came challenges, especially within the church, and this was mainly the challenges of some of the doctrines stated in the teaching of the church.

These doctrines, which everyone did not fully accept, brought a lot of harm to the church. The first thing was that there was a need for reformation in the Catholic Church. Due to the inability to reform without issues, Martin Luther decided to drift away from the church so that a reformation could take place (Brecht, 1528). Through his efforts, many changes came to be in the Catholic Church, and these challenges that existed before were mostly rectified over an extended period even though it was a very tough decision for the Catholic Church to accept its mistakes. One of the major responses and which I am concentrating on is the church’s response to the reformation call out through the council of Trent. This council is considered one of the major councils, which made it possible for the Catholic Church leaders to respond to the issues raised by the reformation of Martin Luther.

In this council, there were very many changes in the manner the church operated, and it was stated very clearly in this council the stand of the church when it came to matters of religion and what Martin Luther termed as his 92 theses. These were scrutinized, and even though the church accepted that some were valid and had to be looked into, it still held positions that fifty-two of his writings were heresies and could not be tolerated. The council met between December 1545 to December 1563. The council was presided by three different popes who came to power in the different times it existed (Monson, 20). Some of the significant changes were the vulgar being made the church’s official document as the bible along with the clarification and the determination for a new standard version to be composed. The definition of heresies was also determined and how to deal with them. Other important aspects discussed included; sacred tradition, salvation, justification, biblical canon, mass, original sin, and saints’ veneration. Therefore this council was a great step towards the reformation of the catholic church. From this council, the church has continued to grow, and one beautiful aspect of the church is an art that can be used for visual analysis.

Italy is the place where Catholicism is considered most strong because of Vatican City, the catholic church’s headquarters. It has many types of art and artefacts of great importance to today’s world. The Catholic Church history has contributed a great deal towards this state of Italy. The other country with a considerably rich culture of art and a slightly different religious background can be said to be the Netherlands. Even though the county has a Catholic Church presence to a great degree, the level of practice is not as much as it is in Italy. The two countries have religious forms of art, which are very important in identifying what it means for society. Baroque art was one of the most powerful and the best type of art as considered at that time.

Baroque art began its popularity around the 17th century towards the 1740s, and it was of great significance in the lives of the people of that time. It not only spread in Europe but also spread in places like Spain. In Italy, which hosts Vatican City, I will discuss Caravaggio’s artwork, who was one of the greatest artists at this time, and he helped paint the painting of David with the head of the goliath. This is a clear depiction of the biblical account that David killed goliath when he was very young. In the Spain part, I will discuss Christ’s Disrobing by El Greco. El Greco was one of the artists who were mainly involved in counter-reformation, and he was a very good artist who displayed his work in a which was always and even up to today remain relevant in the world generally but specifically to the world of the Catholics.

These two countries are very related in that their religion is almost similar. Italy could have been called the heart of the reformation, while the reformation brain was Spain. Therefore the two countries practice Catholicism, and they are almost of the same degree. However, Christianity in Italy is brought by Vatican city’s presence as the headquarters of the catholic church, while in Spain, it is due from 1939 to 1979 when it was a mandated nation religion. In this period, it was made mandatory for everyone to attend a catholic church. It was, therefore, at this time, that reformation came and therefore, in the desire to have a counter-reformation, many artists, including El Greco, came up and used art to retain the place of the church and protect its name.

The work of Caravaggio is about David holding the head of the goliath in his hands. (Polinedrio, 30) The work has been dated to be of 1609 to 1610. In this work, we see how David and goliath relate emotionally. This can be seen through the composition of the artwork. It is unique in its way since its colour plays an important role in showing how David hates the goliath and how blood flows from the head of the goliath, meaning it was a fresh fight whereby David had cut the head of goliath freshly after killing him. The blood acts as the perspective of Caravaggio.

On the other hand, Christ’s disrobing by El Greco was a Spanish painting that is of great significance in the anti-reformation campaign. Colour is mainly used to express the ideas and beliefs of Greco in this painting. Jesus is displayed as in a red garment, which might be assumed to mean his kingship and royalty. There are servants and other people around him as he is centred in the painting. The crowd around him threatens, but he keeps on looking up in heaven. This can depict human life, and a lesson that a person should always depend on God, even something unexpected or one which is not good happens (Turner, 310). A man dressed in green tries to pull the scarlet robe of Christ in red. This happens when two others are arguing on whom should have his clothes. The calmness of Christ in this picture is a contrast to the work of the executioners who are trying their level best to harm Christ. Light in the painting helps us admire and see it, thus getting the full concept.

In conclusion, we can say that it is true that these paintings and forms of art are of great importance, especially during the time of counter-reformation whereby the Protestants were in a great conflict with the Catholics over doctrinal issues and which martin Luther addressed in his 92 theses. This is a crucial time for us to consider as it might have been hurting the church and the people who were practising their religions or paganism. These two discussed above are some of the best artists in the countries indicated, and their role in the counter-reformation is of very significant importance.

Works cited

Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther: Shaping and Defining the Reformation, 1521-1532. Vol. 2. Fortress Press, 2009.

Monson, Craig A. “The Council of Trent Revisited.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 55.1 (2002): 1-37.

Polinedrio, Veronica. “Caravaggio and the Head of Goliath.” Kaleidoscope 10.1 (2012): 30.

Turner, Nicholas. “A Proposal for El Greco as a Draftsman.” Master Drawings (2007): 291-324.

Watson, Christine. “Touching the land: towards an aesthetic of Balgo contemporary painting/Christine.” (1999): 163-172.