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. This movement 'created a North-South split in Europe, where generally Northern countries became Protestant, while Southern countries remained Catholic.'

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 retable became visible again after restoration in 1919 removed the false wall placed in front of it. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht, attacked by Calvinists in the Beeldenstorm in 1566. An early Lutheran work depicting leading Reformers as Apostles at the Last Supper. Artists in Protestant countries diversified into secular forms of art like history painting, landscape painting, portrait painting and still life.Īrt and the Reformation Cranach the Elder's Wittenberg Altarpiece. Protestant religious art both embraced Protestant values and assisted in the proliferation of Protestantism, but the amount of religious art produced in Protestant countries was hugely reduced. In turn, the Catholic Counter-Reformation both reacted against and responded to Protestant criticisms of art in Roman Catholicism to produce a more stringent style of Catholic art. Calvinists remained steadfastly opposed to art in churches, and suspicious of small printed images of religious subjects, though generally fully accepting secular images in their homes. The Lutheran churches, as they developed, accepted a limited role for larger works of art in churches, and also encouraged prints and book illustrations. A new artistic tradition developed, producing far smaller quantities of art that followed Protestant agendas and diverged drastically from the southern European tradition and the humanist art produced during the High Renaissance. The Protestant Reformation during the 16th century in Europe almost entirely rejected the existing tradition of Catholic art, and very often destroyed as much of it as it could reach.

It is small, and generally naturalistic in style, avoiding iconic elements like the halo, which is barely discernible. Hans Holbein the Younger's Noli me tangere a relatively rare Protestant oil painting of Christ from the Reformation period.

Famous reformation portrait painter