How do you get to heaven? Does religious art lead to idolatry?
The Reformation asked these and other good questions.
1517 and after
videos + essays
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The Council of Trent and the call to reform art
The impact of the Council of Trent on Catholicism is indisputable, and similarly on a great deal of art made after it ended
The Protestant Reformation
From baptism to last rites, one Church organized the lives of most Western Europeans—until the events of 1517.
Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 1 of 4): Setting the stage
Could you buy your way out of purgatory? Martin Luther said no, believing in faith alone.
Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 2 of 4): Martin Luther
After the Diet of Worms, Luther escaped to a castle and translated the Bible into German.
Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 3 of 4): Varieties of Protestantism
Luther’s ideas quickly spread across Europe, inspiring new interpretations of the Bible—and new conflicts.
Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 4 of 4): The Counter-Reformation
Protestants largely rejected the visual culture of Catholicism, going so far as to whitewash and destroy its art.
Henry VIII and the Reformation
Professor Susan Doran discusses Henry VIII and the Reformation, looking at the Catholic devotional texts that were owned by the king, his break with the Catholic Church and the development of the English Bible following the Reformation.
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Law and Gospel (Law and Grace)
How did heaven get to be so controversial? This painting was a defining image of the Protestant Reformation.
Iconoclasm in the Netherlands in the Sixteenth Century
Who was responsible for the ignition of the Beeldenstorm —the sudden outbreak of violence against religious images that began in the summer of 1566 and spread throughout the Low Countries?
