Lutheran art
Lutheran art consists of all
Reformation era
Martin Luther encouraged the display of some religious imagery in churches, seeing the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a continuation of the "ancient, apostolic church".[1] He defended the use of "importance of images as tools for instruction and aids to devotion",[2] stating that "If it is not a sin but good to have the image of Christ in my heart, why should it be a sin to have it in my eyes?"[3]
His attitude towards images became more positive after his dispute with Andreas Karlstadt began in 1521. Luther had left Karlstadt in effective charge of his church in Wittenberg when he went into retreat in the Wartburg, but Karlstadt introduced a considerably more Radical Reformation than Luther approved, which included the removal of all religious images from churches. As with the later Calvinist programmes of complete destruction of images, this aroused more popular opposition than other aspects of the radical innovations, and Luther's support for images was in part an attempt to distinguish his positions from more radical ones, as well as an attempt to avoid stirring up opposition over an issue he did not see as central.
Luther also understood the value of
In the beginning of Lutheranism's spread to German territories in the 1520s and 1530s, local ordinances set out a variety of treatments of existing imagery in churches. Where, as was sometimes the case, nothing was said, it is presumed that it was intended that many images could be retained. In the Lutheran churches of Nuremberg, for example, "side altars, sacrament houses and saints' shrines provided (and continue to provide) the visual backdrop for evangelical worship".[6] Elsewhere, depending on the views of the ruler or council, all images were to be removed, as in Hesse in 1526, although Martin Luther objected to this decision, apparently ineffectively.[7] Some ordinances specified that only "images near and before which particular worship and idolatry and special honour with candles and lights have been practiced" should be removed but also emphasized that "we may not be iconoclasts", in the words of a Hamburg ordinance of 1529.[8] In Brandenburg, an injunction was pronounced to retain 'altars...images and paintings' and in Württemberg, images that were neglected or damaged were restored or replaced.[9] The Augsburg Interim and Leipzig Interim settled the issue, both pronouncing that sacred art would be preserved in the Lutheran Churches, though they would not be the focal point of worship, thus making the Lutheran position a via media between what Lutheran theologians perceived as 'Roman Catholic idolatry' and 'Calvinist iconoclasm'.[10]
A few Lutheran
Lutheran sacred art gained a new function in addition to exciting one's mind to thoughts of the Divine by also serving a didactic purpose.
With respect to the Divine Service, "Lutheran worship became a complex ritual choreography set in a richly furnished church interior."[15] Ornate church interiors in Lutheran churches reflected Lutheran Eucharistic theology, which taught the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist as a sacramental union.[1] Lutheran churches, as well as homes, displayed a prominent crucifix as it highlighted their high view of the Theology of the Cross.[1][16][17] It became a popular devotional image for Lutherans, who "prayed, meditated, and even wept before them."[17] Thus, for Lutherans, "the Reformation renewed rather than removed the religious image."[18]
During the
Baroque period
Artists who designed Lutheran Baroque art not only took their inspiration from Martin Luther, but from popular Lutheran piety in the latter part of the 16th and 17th centuries.
From the pulpit beside the entrance to the choir area the pure Word of God was preached against a truly magnificent visual backdrop. With its imposing high altar, showing in sculpted relief the emotive scene of Christ in prayer on the Mount of Olives, its splendid organ and its cupola with paintings of the evangelists and virtues by Giovanni Battista Grone, the interior of the Frauenkirche embraces illusion, even illusion dependent on the techniques of the Italian Baroque. The Frauenkirche rivalled contemporary Catholic churches in its beauty and splendour and was, in fact, compared by eighteenth-century observers to St. Peter’s in Rome.[24]
In the second half of the 17th century, High Baroque art continued to spread through Saxony, under the rule of Johann Georg II.[24] Pieces like the altar of Johanneskirche resembled the Descent from the Cross by Peter Paul Rubens.[24]
More typically, Daniel Hisgen (1733-1812) was a German painter of the rococo period who worked as a painter of Lutheran churches in Upper Hesse, specializing on cycles of paintings decorating the front of the gallery parapet in churches with an upper gallery. His discreet cycles demonstrate the modest prominence expected of Lutheran art in German churches of his day, taking a middle route between the large and prominent images in Catholic churches, and the complete absence of images in Calvinist ones.
19th century
In the
Present day
With respect to artwork adorning Lutheran churches in the modern era:
Lutheran places of worship contain images and sculptures not only of Christ but also of biblical and occasionally of other saints as well as prominent decorated pulpits due to the importance of preaching, stained glass, ornate furniture, magnificent examples of traditional and modern architecture, carved or otherwise embellished altar pieces, and liberal use of candles on the altar and elsewhere.[1]
In Finland,
See also
- Art in the Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation
- Pulpit altar
- Schneeberg Altarpiece
- Wittenberg Altarpiece
- Weimar Altarpiece
- Gotha Altarpiece
- Drothem Church
Notes
This article contains too many or overly lengthy quotations. (May 2018) |
- ^ Joseph Leo Koernerhas noted that Lutherans, seeing themselves in the tradition of the ancient, apostolic church, sought to defend as well as reform the use of images. "An empty, white-washed church proclaimed a wholly spiritualized cult, at odds with Luther's doctrine of Christ's real presence in the sacraments" (Koerner 2004, 58). In fact, in the 16th century some of the strongest opposition to destruction of images came not from Catholics but from Lutherans against Calvinists: "You black Calvinist, you give permission to smash our pictures and hack our crosses; we are going to smash you and your Calvinist priests in return" (Koerner 2004, 58). Works of art continued to be displayed in Lutheran churches, often including an imposing large crucifix in the sanctuary, a clear reference to Luther's theologia crucis. ... In contrast, Reformed (Calvinist) churches are strikingly different. Usually unadorned and somewhat lacking in aesthetic appeal, pictures, sculptures, and ornate altar-pieces are largely absent; there are few or no candles; and crucifixes or crosses are also mostly absent.
- ISBN 9780820486857.
Although some reformers, such as John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli, rejected all images, Martin Luther defended the importance of images as tools for instruction and aids to devotion.
- ^ a b c Noble, 67-69
- ^ Noble, 1, 12-14 on the extent of Cranach's "Lutheranism" in the early years
- ^ Heal (2017), 33-38
- ^ Heal (2017), 46
- ^ Heal (2017), 43-45. "In Hesse, for example, the Homberg Synod that met in 1526 at the behest of Landgrave Phillip made no concessions with regard to images: all should be removed, whatever the status and subject matter. Although Luther objected to the conclusions reached by this synod, Phillip again decreed the removal of images in 1527."
- ^ Heal (2017), 43-44
- ^ Heal (2017), 52
- ^ Heal (2017), 51
- ^ ISBN 9781316351741.
- ^ ISBN 9781317067009.
- ISBN 9781317067009.
In most Lutheran territories, however, altars and altarpieces were not only preserved, but they also continued to be used and were even commissioned anew. Lutheran commitment to the doctrine of Christ's real presence undoubtedly provides the key to understanding this visual conservatism. The altar was still believed to be a particularly holy place, and should be adorned accordingly.
- ^ "Luther's anti-papist pamphlet, Passional Christi und Antichristi, 1521 - The British Library". British Library.
- ISBN 9781351921169.
As it developed in north-eastern Germany, Lutheran worship became a complex ritual choreography set in a richly furnished church interior. This much is evident from the background of an epitaph painted in 1615 by Martin Schulz, destined for the Nikolaikirche in Berlin (see Figure 5.5.).
- ISBN 9781443803984.
In fact, Lutherans often justified their continued use of medieval crucifixes with the same arguments employed since the Middle Ages, as is evident from the example of the altar of the Holy Cross in the Cistercian church of Doberan.
- ^ a b Heal, Bridget (20 February 2018). "The Reformation and Lutheran baroque". Oxford University Press.
Images also came to play a key part in the new forms of Lutheran piety promulgated during the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by figures such as Johann Arndt. The crucifix in particular became an important devotional image. Crucifixes—which had been objects of particular hatred for Calvinist iconoclasts—adorned Lutheran churches and homes, and Lutherans prayed, meditated, and even wept before them.
- ISBN 9781118272305.
According to Koerner, who dwells on Lutheran art, the Reformation renewed rather than removed the religious image.
- ISBN 978-0-8014-7496-5
- ISBN 9781588365002.
The Beeldenstorm, or Iconoclastic Fury, involved roving bands of radical Calvinists who were utterly opposed to all religious images and decorations in churches and who acted on their beliefs by storming into Catholic churches and destroying all artwork and finery.
- ISBN 9780968987391.
Devoutly Catholic but opposed to Inquisition tactics, they backed William of Orange in subduing the Calvinist uprising of the Dutch beeldenstorm on behalf of regent Margaret of Parma, and had come willingly to the council at her invitation.
- ISBN 9780191578885.
Iconoclastic incidents during the Calvinist 'Second Reformation' in Germany provoked reactive riots by Lutheran mobs, while Protestant image-breaking in the Baltic region deeply antagonized the neighbouring Eastern Orthodox, a group with whom reformers might have hoped to make common cause.
- ^ a b Heal, Bridget (20 February 2018). "The Reformation and Lutheran baroque". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ .
- ^ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark. 2017. Archived from the originalon 2018-05-01. Retrieved 26 July 2022..
Works cited
- Heal, Bridget (2017), A Magnificent Faith: Art and Identity in Lutheran Germany, Oxford University Press, 2017, ISBN 0191057541, 9780191057540, google books
- Lamport, Mark A. (31 August 2017). Encyclopedia of Martin Luther and the Reformation. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9781442271593.
- Noble, Bonnie (2009). Lucas Cranach the Elder: Art and Devotion of the German Reformation. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-7618-4337-5.