11/1/07 - History of Art - Art and the Church in the Later Middle Ages

From the point of view of the medieval Church, images play a key role in keeping the attention of the faithful.
The most successful and widely used image employed by the Church was that of the Virgin Mary (the Blessed Virgin, the Madonna), mother of Jesus.
Mary was also Mother of God and Ecclesia - a personification of the Church.

In Van Eyck's Madonna in the Church, c. 1437, the church background is symbolic of ecclesia. Note that Mary is a giant in proportion to the church. The figure of Mary is associated with light, hence the light in the windows. It was thought that as light passes through glass without breaking it, so the Virgin remained a virgin after conceiving Jesus.

Cults of saints usually rely on relics and feasts. The Virgin had many feasts (the birth of Christ, her coronation, etc.). Many new cathedrals were built in the 13th century to accommodate relics of saints, and relics were increasingly in demand. The cathedral had to reflect the fact that it was representative of Mary, ecclesia. As a result, cathedrals are covered with sculpture of people, such as saints, angels and figures of authority. The figures gradually became more life-like so that they were recognisable to the illiterate public. For example, compare the figures from the outside of Chartres Cathedral c. 1145 to those of Reims Cathedral c. 1270. The figures on Reims Cathedral appear to communicate with each other, they are sculpted all the way round, they gesture to one another, they are draped with complex and individual garments, the scenery is more natural: each type of leaf can be clearly identified as a correct copy of nature.

Light was of great importance in the development of late medieval Christian art. For example, tall stained glass windows became fashionable. A rose window was installed in Reims Cathedral. The rose window is symbolic because it is placed directly behind the sculpture of the Virgin's coronation and could represent a halo of light. It is also said to represent the Virgin herself (a rose), whose perfection is implicit in the perfect circular shape of the window.

'The word' was a metaphor for Christ, which came from the description of the conception of Jesus in the Bible. In Campin's Annunciation, c. 1423, we see the child coming through the window in the form of light, making a direct path for Mary's ear. The annunciation is represented in the same way in Melchior Broederlam's Dijon altarpiece.

An episode in the New Testament was thought to have many parallels with stories from the Old Testament. The birth of Christ, for example, was paralleled with the story of Moses and the burning bush (because the bush burned but was not consumed). The birth of Christ also paralleled the story of Aaron and the flowering rod (because Joseph had a flowering rod). This is demonstrated in a manuscript illumination from the 15th century. In Petrus Christus' Nativity, c. 1465, the story of Adam and Eve is depicted on the arch beside the birth of Jesus, the solution of original sin.

The Seven Sacraments were Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance (Confession), Marriage, Ordination and Extreme Unction. Rogier Van der Weyden represented them all in his Seven Sacraments altarpiece, of the 1450s. Many other altarpieces depicted these in order to hold the attention of the faithful and to teach them without the use of words.

From the mid-thirteenth century and later new subjects were introduced into the Christian art of the West. These were subjects not actually described in the Bible, but which the devout imagined must have taken place. Many of these new subjects stress pathos and emotionality - human qualities. In many cases the origins of these subjects lay in Byzantine art. If we look at Rogier Van der Weyden's Deposition altarpieces of the 1430s, we see tears on the faces of the crowd. Compared to the sculpture on the Chartres Cathedral, Christ appears triumphant and godlike rather than human and subject to pain.

The Church taught that Purgatory was where the souls of sinners could expect to go to await judgement after death. However, indulgences could be awarded by the Church for good deeds such as prayer or pilgrimage, which allowed specified periods of time off of Purgatory. There arose a 'death industry', where there was a rise of demand among the rich for elaborate tombs, with effigies and inscriptions, and chantry chapels. These ensured that the person commemorated would not be forgotten in people's prayers, thus saving them time in Purgatory.

The poor were not entirely forgotten in the scheme of late medieval society. Pilgrimages were often available to anyone as a means of attaining some spiritual satisfaction, and often treated as a kind of holiday. The main objective of going on pilgrimage was to visit a shrine, usually the tomb or relics of a saint, for example, the tomb of Sir Thomas à Beckett at Canterbury Cathedral. As a result of increasing numbers of pilgrims, new building campaigns were launched to accommodate them.

By the early 16th century, practices like the cult of saints, the building of elaborate tombs and chantry chapels, the issuing of indulgences and the dogma of Purgatory were starting to be called into question. Martin Luther's preaching against indulgences and other practices of the Church that he though corrupt eventually led to the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation had major consequences for the activities of painters and sculptors, since the use of images in worship was also challenged by many Protestants.

Luther and his associates drew particular attention to one of the Commandments: "Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above, or in the earth." Often this was taken to mean religious images. Religious images were not less in demand than formerly. In place of religious art, many artists in the early 16th century turned to new genres for the visual arts, including portraiture, landscape and classical subjects.

In conclusion, the Reformation was a time of huge upheaval for many artists in northern Europe. The livelihoods completely changed. No longer could leading artists rely on the Church to sustain them. The Church, which one held the dominant position in the patronage of the visual arts, was now replaced by the courts of Europe. Talented artists, like Holbein, therefore looked for suitable employment at court to develop their talents.