Repentance / The Magnificent Age: Art, Life and Baroque

When Martin Luther published his 95 theses in 1517, it was not only a challenge to the perceived corruption of the Catholic Church, it was an act which prompted the transformation of the religious, socio-political, and artistic landscape of Europe. One of the most dynamic styles to emerge in the wake of the Counter-Reformation, the Baroque lasted a century and manifested differently in Italy, Spain, and France, where it produced the most extraordinary artists and architects including Caravaggio, Bernini, Velasquez, Poussin, and Borromini.

The notion of doing penance for one’s sins was described through images of the Magdalene by Guido Reni and La Tour, of penitent saints by Ribera; Pedro de Mena’s polychrome sculptures in wood, El Greco, and perhaps autobiographically in Caravaggio’s spectacular ‘The Beheading of John the Baptist’ for the Knights of Malta. However, given the prevalence of corporal punishment for children, it also pervaded secular life with the rod or whip typical in allegories of penitence.