Images and Relics Theological Perceptions and Visual Images in Sixteenth-Century Europe

by Dillenberger, John

• ISBN13: 9780195121728
• ISBN10: 0195121724
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-03-18
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

John Dillenberger has written the first comprehensive account of the relation between the visual arts and theological currents in Europe during the first half of the sixteenth century. With an astute knowledge of the theology of the period and a keen interest in the lives and work of prominent artists, Dillenberger makes incisive connections that illuminate the cultural movements of the time. Images and Relics considers both popular and professional art within distinct religious contexts. It examines the works of Matthias Grunewald, Albrecht Durer, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Michelangelo, Hans Holbein the Younger, Hans Baldung Grien, and Albrecht Altdorfer, and demonstrates how these artists expressed and transformed the reigning theological ideas of their day. The book also addresses the range of iconoclastic movements from the 1520s to the 1570s, particularly in northern Europe. Finally, Dillenberger reflects on the ambiguity of the history of this period and its continuing impact on modern-day life.

Table of Contents

PART I. CULTURAL AND THEOLOGICAL SETTINGS	3	(22)
1 Setting the Stage for the Image Question	3	(22)
The Chronology of Reform	5	(8)
Iconoclasm, Images, and Relics	13	(2)
The Role of Popular Culture	15	(10)
PART II. ARTISTS AND IMAGES	25	(148)
2 Matthias Grunewald: Extending the Medieval World	25	(28)
Orientation to the Person and His Work	25	(2)
The Isenheim Altarpiece	27	(5)
The Medieval Background	32	(4)
More on the Isenheim Altarpiece	36	(13)
Works after 1520	49	(4)
3 Albrecht Durer: Renaissance Humanist Reform	53	(26)
Early Life and Work	54	(1)
Selected Works to circa 1515	55	(9)
Durer's Early Interest in Luther	64	(5)
Durer and the Reformation in Nuremberg	69	(10)
4 Lucas Cranach the Elder: A Reformation Artist	79	(36)
Cranach the Elder until circa 1528	80	(9)
Luther's Views of the Visual Arts and Theology	89	(7)
Law and Gospel in the Art of the Cranachs	96	(13)
Individual Works after 1530	109	(6)
5 Michelangelo Buonarroti: Catholic Reformation Piety	115	(34)
Michelangelo and Reform	115	(2)
The Sistine Ceiling	117	(10)
Reforms in the Life and Thought of the Church	127	(5)
Religious Currents and Michelangelo's Last Judgment	132	(7)
Notes on the Pauline Chapel	139	(2)
Religious Conflicts and the Emergence of the Nicodemites	141	(2)
The Florentine Pieta and the Last Years	143	(6)
6 Three Artists with Distinctive Accents	149	(24)
Hans Holbein the Younger: The Cult of the Portrait	149	(8)
Hans Baldung Grien: Misogyny and the Devil	157	(9)
Albrecht Altdorfer: Artist of Many Stripes	166	(7)
PART III. ICONOCLASM AND BEYOND	173	(16)
7 The Rejection and Repositioning of Visual Images	173	(16)
Reformation Theologians and Iconoclasm	174	(12)
Reconstitution of the Catholic Tradition	186	(3)
Conclusion: Thoughts in the Wake of the Reformation	189	(4)
Notes	193	(18)
Bibliography	211	(20)
Credits and Permissions	231	(2)
Index	233