CLASSICAL KICK-BACK


1 Remind yourself: what was the attitude of the organzed Church to Classicism (BEFORE the Council of Trent)?
It sought to suppress it.
It sought to reconcile it with Christianity.
It tried to forbid the teaching of Classical texts until they had been reconciled with Christianity.
Classical texts were potentially heretical, so they were dangerous to study.
Classicism was an ancient source of knowledge about the universe, and therefore it was valid. Christianity was also an old source of knowledge about the universe, and therefore it was also valid. Two truths could not conflict, but Classicism and Christianity did conflict. Therefore, they had to be reconciled.
2 What line did the organized Church take towards Classicism AFTER the Council of Trent?
It sought to suppress it.
It sought to suppress overt (open and obvious) references to it in religious contexts, including religious art.
It made nudity shameful instead of Ideal.
It made Galileo recant.
It burned books.
3 What religious development triggered the Council of Trent?
The rebuilding of St Peter's.
The rise of the Jesuits.
The monstrous regiment of women.
The rise of Protestantism.
The increasingly obvious corruption in the Roman Church.
4 Once overt Classicism was forbidden in Christian art, did it disappear?
No, it appeared in the form of Classical landscapes.
No, it appeared in the form of bodegones ("shop scenes" of ordinary and poor working folk).
Not really. New categories of art developed for Protestants and for aristocratic collectors, and these were very classical in nature, even though they may not have looked that way.
No, it appeared in the form of still life paintings.
Yes.
5 Why did the new classicising art forms appeal to Protestants?
Because everyone loves art, and they couldn't have altarpieces and devotional pictures any more.
Probably because they had strong meditative themes.
Because they didn't involve images of people.
Because the Catholics had rejected Classicism and the Protestants had rejected the Catholics.
Well, they appealed to most people, didn't they?
6 How did the Dutch modify the Classical landscape in order to make it religiously useful?
They turned the people round.
They added churches.
By turning the people round, they turned the "Arcadian past" into the "Christian hope of paradise" (i.e. future). And by adding images of agricultural and maritime work, they emphasised that salvation was possible through faith and good works.
They modernised them with windmills, towns, ports and churches.
They replaced the temples with churches to emphasise that people should worship God and not be pagans.
7 How did the Dutch modify the still life to make it religiously useful?
They added relgious symbols.
They sometimes added religious symbols drawn from their Medieval and Renaissance past, like carafes, oranges, oriental carpets.
By adding religious symbols they turned the meaning from a joke to a reminder that God made the world.
The food they presented usually ready to eat, or even half eaten, so the message went from a joke to Christian hospitality.
They added elements of destruction like bugs, and objects that emphasised time passing quickly, like flowers and watches, to remind us how soon we will perish and not to put off clearing our conscience - or enjoying life!
8 How did artists modify the bodegon ("shop scene", interiors and exteriors, ordinary and poor folk) to give it Christian relevance?
Some of them showed poverty in ways that made you want to do something about it - like Murillo's street urchins, or made you think you really should do something about it, like le Nain's Village Piper.
Perhaps the boorish behavior in some scenes was meant to warn people against vice?
Difficult to be sure, but some of them seem to be disguised references to parables or the Eucharist. The Water Seller of Seville would be one example.
By presenting some deformed figures in a semi-Idealized way, the artist could invite you to think about nobility of soul vs outward appearance.
They remind us that Christ came to befriend taxpayers and sinners.
9 How did French artists initially modify the Classical landscape, and how did this affect its meaning?
They enlarged the figures.
They included farmyards and haystacks, dirt and pigs.
They Romanticized the image by enlarging the figures and buildings, and strewing flowers, silks and birds everywhere.
They enlarged the figures and turned them to look right at us, so we can see their real poverty, hunger, squalor, and anger. Because they look the viewer in the eye, we are forced to think about this.
They put Biblical scenes into it from the Old and New Testaments.
10 How did Classicism continue within religious painting after the Council of Trent?
Idealization continued, although the figures were now draped. Classical Beauty continued. Personifications disappeared.
It didn't continue. Nudity disappeared, and personifications disappeared, and there was nothing Classical left.
It continued in landscapes and still lifes.
You had a new kind of Idealization, where the figure was clothed, but everything else remained the same.
Classical Beauty continued. It was such an ingrained way of designing things that it would hardly be noticeable.