The consequences of the protestant reformation in the early modern art in Gdansk and their European context

Abstract

In the works of art created in the pre-Reformation period some art-historians find certain symptoms of a religious crisis. The first part of the paper discusses this issue: the critique of the miraculous images and of some other types of images and their subjects; it pays attention to the phenomenon of the monochrome sculpture, considered by some scholars – who are not quite right in the opinion of the author of this paper – to be an expression of the sacra art reform; it examines certain cases of a retrospective in art; it indicates that the foundation of the great retables at the end of the Middle Ages might in some cases express the defense of the Church’s existing position. The next part of the paper discusses the consequences that the proclamation of Luther’s the 95theses had for the European art. On the one hand – contrary to Luther’s intentions – the Reformation brought about, to a greater or lesser extent, a removal or destruction of the medieval images, and on the other hand it opened art for new tasks but in some cases it seriously minimised its role in the Church. The subsequent part shows the situation in Gdansk, where in the pre-Reformation period or during the early part of that time, the phenomenon of art was similar to what could be seen in its other regions, like the monochrome sculpture, the retrospective tendency, the appearing of splendid retables, e. g., the one situated on the high altar that can be localised in Our Lady’s Church. An accurate scope of the iconoclasm in Gdansk is difficult to estimate. There are very few archival sources that mention the destruction of many sacral images, furthermore, a lot of elements of the Medieval decor of Our Lady’s Church are preserved, which could indicate that the iconoclasm was not a serious problem in Gdansk. However, as far as the other churches in Gdansk are considered, the Medieval decor have been lost nearly completely, which might suggest that the cases of the iconoclasm were more numerous than the written sources indicate. Perhaps, a few of the damaged images preserved in Gdansk testify to the cases of the iconoclasm in the city during the Reformation period. The final part of the paper focuses on the Artus Court, where for the first time in the modern period the protestant subjects as regards their forms and contents, could be found.