Question 1: Impact of protestant reformation on the visual arts in Northern Europe

The protestant reformation had a significant effect on art in Northern Europe. It was notable between 1606- 1669 where there was a considerable reduction of religious paintings in protestant countries. Religious imagery was replaced by iconoclasm, and this was triggered by the move of protestant reformers of requesting removal of religious images. They believed that Christian symbolism is distractive and could lead to idolatry. As a result, patrons gained interest in secular ideas and concepts in art. Subject matter portrayed in art was mostly morality as this was the central message of the patrons, as they tried to educate societal the moral values for better living. Majority of those who took part in Renaissance were followers and friends of protestant reformers. This new art genre got several devotees in Northern Europe who were eager to use art to spread reformers ideologies. The impact of this new school of thought could easily be seen in the artwork of Lucas Cranach and Albrecht Durer.

Question 2: Comparing Michelangelo’s David and Bernini’s sculpture

The most apparent difference between Michelangelo’s David and Bernini David is the visual characteristics of David’s sculpture. Bernini’s David depicts a warrior in the middle of a battle. He is using his sling as a weapon to defeat Goliath (Stokstadand Cothren 95). His hand and leg muscles are strained, and he is stepping forward, and his chest is also tensed depicting a process of gaining momentum to issue a mighty blow. This activity seems to be pulling his robe away from the body describing the action.

Both Michelangelo’s and Bernini David feature David before his battle with Goliath. This broke the artistic tradition which depicted David after his battle. This includes the artwork of Verrocchio and Donatello who featured David after winning his battle over Goliath.

Michelangelo’s David, on the other hand, does not depict action and it’s all about his hands and balls. It describes casual and lazy hands but crushingly powerful. David’s right hand is exaggerated in size believed to be a reference of biblical description of David ‘strong at hand’. His balls are hanging out depicting an epoch of embarrassed Greek heroes. He seems to be courageous and self-satisfied ready relaxed and ready to battle against goliath. There are several ways in which David’s sculpture represents the Baroque era, including:

• Bernini sculpture depicts an active relationship with space a characteristic which was not there in high renaissance clannish period. It depicts David charging at space with a lot of energy.
• It rejects self-sufficiency since David seems not to be self-contained a feature of David in earlier sculptures.
• The sculpture also uses curves in its art. This characteristic that was not used in previous sculptures. It’s an effect that was traditionally used outside the province.

Question 3: Was Velasquez a follower of Caravaggio?

By comparing the artwork of Velasquez ‘water carrier of Seville’ and Caravaggio ‘Calling of St. Mathew’, we can see that Velasquez is a follower of Caravaggio. Velasquez art depicted ordinary people in ordinary places a characteristic that Caravaggio had explored in his artwork of the calling of St. Mathew (Stokstadand Cothren 120).  Velasquez used dramatic lighting, understated backgrounds, and natural color palettes a feature associated with Caravaggio painting.  Dramatic lighting and understated backgrounds are elements of Baroque style.Both depict an event of a nearly silent narrative. You can read what is going on in the images. In the calling of St. Mathew by Caravaggio, it depicts how the tax collectors responded. In the painting of the Water-carrier by Velasquez, it represents a boy paying respect to the water carrier. Art Work of Velasquez of ‘The water carrier of Seville’ tries to appreciate the people in the lower classes in the society. This is a feature that Caravaggio also valued in his artwork such as featuring tax collectors in ‘The call of St Mathew’ This was not a common artwork in the earlier periods before Baroque era.

Question 4: Definition of terms

Poesie – It is a term used by Titan to describe a series of mythological paintings. An example is the artwork of Philip (II) of Spain.

Iconoclasm– It is a social belief that focused on the destruction of monuments icons and images for either political or religious reasons, such as alarms stock photo (Stokstadand Cothren 152).

 Genre painting – It is a form of art that depicts ordinary aspects of life such as ordinary people engaging in day to day activities. A good example is the painting of ‘The water carrier of Seville’ by Velasquez.

Memento Mori –It is a Latin Christian practice and theory that reflects on mortality and vanity of earthly life. Such as the art of manliness, and the art of living the ancient Latin Christian life.

Tenebrism – This is a style of painting that uses profoundly pronounced chiaroscuro. It portrays a violent contrast between darkness and light. Twilight is the dominant theme.

Works Cited

Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael W. Cothren. Art History. 6th ed., Pearson, 2017.

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