Piety / 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 Counter-Reformation emphasised church rituals, sacraments, doctrines, processions, and so forth. The cult of the Eucharist was promoted more forcibly. For the first time, Catholic Baroque artists were commissioned to create cycles of large paintings on the Seven Sacraments. Poussin’s is one example. New orders like the Jesuits were represented in Pozzo’s ‘Missionary Work of the Jesuits / Triumph of St. Ignatius’ in Sant’Ignazio.