's
Wittenberg Altarpiece. An early Lutheran work depicting leading Reformers as Apostles at the
Last Supper. , attacked by Calvinists in the
Beeldenstorm in 1566. This
retable became visible again after restoration in 1919 removed the false wall placed in front of it. The
Protestant Reformation was a religious movement that occurred in Western Europe during the 16th century that resulted in a divide in Christianity between Roman Catholics and Protestants. This movement "created a North-South split in Europe, where generally Northern countries became Protestant, while Southern countries remained Catholic." The Reformation produced two main branches of
Protestantism; one was the Evangelical Lutheran churches, which followed the teachings of
Martin Luther, and the other the
Reformed Churches, which followed the ideas of
John Calvin and
Huldrych Zwingli. Out of these branches grew three main sects, the
Lutheran tradition, as well as the
Continental Reformed and
Anglican traditions, the latter two following the Reformed (Calvinist) faith. Lutherans and Reformed Christians had different views regarding religious imagery. The
Wittenberg Altarpiece,
Schneeberg Altarpiece,
Weimar Altarpiece and
Gotha Altarpiece are important examples of the relatively small number of attempts to continue the tradition of the
altarpiece giving an explicitly Lutheran interpretation. This phase was mostly finished by 1555. Lutherans continued the use of the
crucifix as it highlighted their high view of the
Theology of the Cross. Stories grew up of "indestructible" images of Luther, that had survived fires, by divine intervention. Thus, for Lutherans, "the Reformation renewed rather than removed the religious image." On the other hand, there was a wave of
iconoclasm, or the destruction of religious imagery. This began very early in the Reformation, when students in
Erfurt destroyed a wooden altar in the
Franciscan friary in December 1521. Later, Reformed Christianity showed consistent hostility to religious images, as
idolatry, especially
sculpture and large paintings. Book illustrations and prints were more acceptable, because they were smaller and more private. Reformed leaders, especially
Huldrych Zwingli and
John Calvin, actively eliminated imagery from churches within the control of their followers, and regarded the great majority of religious images as idolatrous. Early Calvinists were even suspicious of portraits of clergy; Christopher Hales (soon to be one of the
Marian exiles) tried to have portraits of six divines sent to him from
Zurich, and felt it necessary to explain his motives in a letter of 1550: "this is not done ....with a view to making idols of you; they are desired for the reasons which I have mentioned, and not for the sake of honour or veneration". The destruction was often extremely divisive and traumatic within communities, an unmistakable physical manifestation, often imposed from above, that could not be ignored. It was just for this reason that reformers favoured a single dramatic
coup, and many premature acts in this line sharply increased subsequent hostility between Catholics and Calvinists in communities for it was generally at the level of the city, town or village that such actions occurred, except in England and Scotland. But reformers often felt impelled by strong personal convictions, as shown by the case of Frau Göldli, on which Zwingli was asked to advise. She was a Swiss lady who had once made a promise to
Saint Apollinaris that if she recovered from an illness she would donate an image of the saint to a local convent, which she did. Later she turned Protestant, and feeling she must reverse what she now saw as a wrong action, she went to the convent church, removed the statue and burnt it. Prosecuted for
blasphemy, she paid a small fine without complaint, but flatly refused to pay the additional sum the court ordered be paid to the convent to replace the statue, putting her at risk of serious penalties. Zwingli's letter advised trying to pay the nuns a larger sum on condition they did not replace the statue, but the eventual outcome is unknown. By the end of his life, after iconoclastic shows of force became a feature of the early phases of the
French Wars of Religion, even Calvin became alarmed and criticised them, realizing that they had become counter-productive. 's paintings are mostly cycles on the parapets of Lutheran church galleries. Here the Creation (left) to the
Annunciation can be seen. Subjects prominent in Catholic art other than Jesus and events in the
Bible, such as
Mary and saints were given much less emphasis or disapproved of in Protestant theology. As a result, in much of northern Europe, the Church virtually ceased to commission figurative art, placing the dictation of content entirely in the hands of the artists and lay consumers. Calvinism even objected to non-religious
funerary art, such as the
heraldry and effigies beloved of the Renaissance rich. Where there was religious art, iconic images of
Christ and scenes from the Passion became less frequent, as did portrayals of the saints and clergy. Narrative scenes from the Bible, especially as book illustrations and prints, and, later, moralistic depictions of modern life were preferred. Both Cranachs painted allegorical scenes setting out Lutheran doctrines, in particular a series on
Law and Gospel.
Daniel Hisgen, a German
Rococo painter of the 18th century in
Upper Hesse, specialized in cycles of biblical paintings decorating the front of the gallery parapet in Lutheran churches with an upper gallery, a less prominent position that satisfied Lutheran scruples. Wooden organ cases were also often painted with similar scenes to those in Catholic churches. Lutherans strongly defended their existing sacred art from a new wave of Calvinist-on-Lutheran iconoclasm in the second half of the century, as Calvinist rulers or city authorities attempted to impose their will on Lutheran populations in the "
Second Reformation" of about 1560–1619. Against the Reformed, Lutherans exclaimed: "You black Calvinist, you give permission to smash our pictures and hack our crosses; we are going to smash you and your Calvinist priests in return". This campaign of Calvinist iconoclasm "provoked reactive riots by Lutheran mobs" in Germany and "antagonized the neighbouring Eastern Orthodox" in the Baltic region. Similar patterns to the German actions, but with the addition of encouragement and sometimes finance from the national government, were seen in Anglican England in the
English Civil War and
English Commonwealth in the next century, when more damage was done to art in medieval parish churches than during the
English Reformation. A major theological difference between Protestantism and
Catholicism is the question of
transubstantiation, or the literal transformation of the Communion wafer and wine into the body and blood of Christ, though both Lutheran and Reformed Christians affirmed the
real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the former as a
sacramental union and the latter as a
pneumatic presence. Protestant churches that were not participating in the iconoclasm often selected as altarpieces scenes depicting the Last Supper. This helped the worshippers to recall their theology behind the
Eucharist, as opposed to Catholic churches, which often chose crucifixion scenes for their altarpieces to remind the worshippers that the sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Mass were one and the same, via the literal transformation of the Eucharist. The Protestant Reformation also capitalized on the popularity of
printmaking in northern Europe. Printmaking allowed images to be mass-produced and widely available to the public at low cost. This allowed for the widespread availability of visually persuasive imagery. The Protestant church was therefore able, as the Catholic Church had been doing since the early 15th century, to bring their theology to the people, and religious education was brought from the church into the homes of the common people, thereby forming a direct link between the worshippers and the divine. There was also a violent propaganda war fought partly with
popular prints by both sides; these were often highly scurrilous caricatures of the other side and their doctrines. On the Protestant side, portraits of the leading reformers were popular, and their likenesses sometimes represented the Apostles and other figures in Biblical scenes such as the
Last Supper. == Genre and landscape ==