Religious Art
Definition, History, of Christian, Hindu, Buddhist & Islamic Arts.
Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art - HOMEPAGE

Detail from The Isenheim Alterpiece,
showing the Crucifixion of Christ.
By Matthias Grunewald (c.1475-1528)
(1512-15) Musee d'Unterlingen, Colmar.

Religious Art (700,000 BCE - present)

Contents

• Definition/Meaning of Religious Art
• Types
• Purpose and Cost
• History of Religious Art
• Themes of Christian Art
• Non-Christian Religious Art
• Hindu Art
• Buddhist Art
• Islamic Art
• Native Religious Art

Bronze sculpture of Shiva
the Hindu God (India).

Definition/Meaning

What is Religious Art?

There are many ways of defining religious art. We can say it is:

(1) Any art that has a Christian or Biblical theme; or
(2) Any art which illustrates the worship of any god, or deity; or
(3) Any art with an Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Juche Judaic, Bahai, or Jainist theme, or any art depicting themes of the Shinto, Cao Dai or traditional Chinese religions.

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However, on further analysis, these definitions relate to religious "content", rather than religious "quality". For example, a painting of a crucifixion scene which drew attention to some fundamentally weird or blasphemous physical attribute of the dying Christ would hardly merit the description religious art. Furthermore, certain religions (Eastern Orthodox, Islam) have certain rules circumscribing the type of art permitted: a sculpture of Muhammad would be regarded as a blasphemy, rather than a piece of religious art. Thus, to qualify as "religious", the painting, sculpture or architecture concerned must have some recognizable moral narrative, that imbues the work with the necessary sacred "quality." As with the assessment of all art, determining whether or not this moral attribute is present, is essentially a subjective exercise, although in most cases the answer is likely to be fairly straightforward.

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Definitions, forms, styles, genres,
periods, see: Types of Art.

Therefore, our suggested definition of religious art goes like this:

Religious art is any work whose theme supports the moral message of the religion it purports to illustrate. In this context, religion means any set of human beliefs relating to that which they regard as sacred, holy, spiritual or divine - whether or not deities are involved.

Common Types of Religious Art

Since Antiquity, the most common type of religious art has been painting and portable sculpture. However, the form of religious art with the greatest visual impact is undoubtedly architecture. From the Egyptian Pyramids to Stonehenge, from the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul to the Umayyad Great Mosque of Damascus, from the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem to French Gothic Cathedrals, from St Peter's basilica in Rome to the Taj Mahal, religious authorities have consistently turned to architecture to awe and influence their congregations. Interior and exterior artistic decorations for these Christian, Islamic and Buddhist churches typically include a wide range of decorative arts, including: calligraphy, ceramics, crafts, icons, illuminated manuscripts, metalwork, mosaic, stained glass, tapestry and wood-carving.

Purpose and Cost of Religious Art

The function of religious art, directly or indirectly, is to win converts. Architecture is therefore the principal form, since a cathedral can inspire, teach and house a congregation. Public statuary can also inspire, while interior mosaics and stained glass can illustrate divine stories - not unimportant in ages where illiteracy was the norm. By expounding the message of an ordered Universe under God, Christian art also contributed to the creation and preservation of social order. But it came at a price. Thus in their attempts to revive the grandeur, beauty and prestige of Rome with the finest architectural designs, sculpture and frescoes, Pope Julius II (1503-13) and Pope Leo X (1513-21) nearly bankrupted the Church. In fact, Papal overspending on art was an important cause of the Reformation, as it led to higher taxes on the common people, and greater corruption among the officers of the Church. Even so, during at least the nine centuries between 800 and 1700, the Church of Rome was by far the largest patron of the arts.

History of Western Religious Art

Earliest Prehistoric Religious Art
No one knows for sure when man first started creating specifically religious art. Stone Age artists may have started creating religious artifacts, in the form of mysterious cupules, as early as 700,000 BCE. Later, during the Upper Paleolithic era, from 40,000 BCE onwards, a number of ritualistic Venus figurines appeared across Europe, plus numerous examples of cave painting at Chauvet, Lascaux, and Altamira. To what extent these works can be classified as religious, remains unclear. We do know that various types of religious images began to appear in the Mesolithic Period: examples include: the Goddess terracotta figurine (dated to 5,500 BCE) unearthed at Çatal Hüyük, in Anatolia, Turkey; and the sandstone therianthropic figure known as the Fish God of Lepenski Vir (dated to 5,000 BCE), found at a Danube settlement in Serbia.

Religious Art of Antiquity (c.3,500 BCE - 400 CE)
Egypt was home to a significant amount of religious art. The role of Egyptian artists was to exalt their Pharaoh - a secular King who was worshipped as a divine ruler, supposedly the incarnation of the god Horus. The main focus of Egyptian art was the pyramid - the tomb of the Pharaoh and his household - which was typically filled with paintings, sculptures and numerous other precious artifacts to help him survive and prosper in the afterlife. Temples were also built for the living Pharaoh, as they were for the gods of Ancient Greece and Rome, during the period 600 BCE - 400 CE. Religious Greek art is best exemplified by the Parthenon (dedicated to the Goddess Athena) and other temples on the Acropolis in Athens. Up until 400 CE, surviving sacred artworks are almost exclusively architectural or sculptural. Virtually all painting has disappeared. (See also Persian art.) It was the same in Northern Europe, where ceremonial - possibly religious structures began to appear from the end of the fourth Millenium BCE, such as the Newgrange tomb in Ireland and Stonehenge in England.

Christian Art
Christian art - which now has some 2.1 billion adherents, or roughly 33 percent of all religious believers worldwide - emerged some 150 years after the death of Christ. Initially it combined Roman imagery with classical Greek motifs: the image of Christ in Majesty derives from both Roman Imperial portraits and depictions of the Greek God Zeus. Over the coming centuries, Christian iconography was gradually standardised, and harmonized with Biblical texts.

[For a short guide to Jewish art, see Jewish Art Museum Jerusalem, which has the world's most extensive collection of Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Oriental Jewish arts and crafts.]

Byzantine Religious Art (c.400-1000)
Byzantine art in Constantinople created a number of extraordinary examples of Christian architecture, including: the Chora Church, the Hagia Irene, the Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus, and the awesome Hagia Sophia (532-37). In addition they built the Church of St. Sophia in Sofia, Bulgaria (527-65), and the Church of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki. Icon paintings (made with encaustic paint on panels) and mosaic art were also common.

Religious Art in Ireland (c.600-1150)
Protected from Romanization and Barbarian invasion by its isolated position, Ireland became an important centre for early Christian art. Irish monasteries produced a number of outstanding illuminated manuscripts (eg. Book of Kells), whose illustrations drew upon designwork from the La Tene Celtic culture. Celtic craftmanship was also exemplified in a range of Irish ecclesiastical vessels, such as the Ardagh Chalice, the Derrynaflan Chalice, the Moylough Belt Shrine, as well as processional crosses like the 8th/9th century Tully Lough Cross and the great 12th century Cross of Cong. The third type of Christian art produced by this fusion of monastic devotion and Celtic artistry was Celtic High Cross sculpture, which was produced in great numbers across Ireland during the period 750 to 1150.

Romanesque & Gothic Religious Art (800-1400)
King Charlemagne of the Franks led the resurgence of Christian religious art from his court at Aachen. Carolingian artists created works of architecture, medieval sculpture, murals, illuminated gospel manuscripts, and more. Charlemagne's Ottonian successors maintained these traditions, supported by a revitalised Church based in Rome. Romanesque architecture and its attendant Romanesque sculpture followed from the 11th century until about 1200 when it was superceded by Gothic architecture (both Rayonnant and Flamboyant) with its soaring arches and glorious stained glass windows. Gothic sculpture was more evocative and expressive. The Gothic period witnessed one of the great flowerings of monumental Christian art, exemplified by a massive building program in France and thereafter across Europe. Gothic Cathedrals were built in Laon, Paris (Notre Dame), Chartres, Soissons, Bourges, Reims, Amiens, Beauvais, Auxerre and other cities. In Germany, Gothic architects built Cologne Cathedral, and others in Freiburg and Ulm (see also German Gothic sculpture), while in England cathedrals appeared in Lincoln, Wells, Salisbury, Canterbury, Durham, and Ely, along with York Minster and Westminster Abbey. (See also English Gothic sculpture.) Underneath the architects, an army of stone masons and other craftsmen were employed to produce a mass of decorative holy artworks including column statues, mosaics and freestanding statue sculptures. The Late Gothic era in Germany was especially noted for its exquisite church altar wood-carving, by craftsmen like Veit Stoss (c.1447-1533), Tilman Riemenschneider, (c.1460-1531) and Gregor Erhart (c.1460-1540).

Northern Renaissance Religious Painting (1400-1600)
Altarpieces, painted in oil on panels, were a regular feature of Netherlandish religious art during this period, as exemplified by The Ghent Altarpiece (1432) by Jan van Eyck (1390-1441) and Hubert van Eyck (d.1426), The Portinari Altarpiece (1475) by Hugo van der Goes (1440-82), The Isenheim Altarpiece (1515) by Matthias Grunewald (1470-1528) and The Deposition (1435), created by Roger Van der Weyden (1400-1464) for the Church of Notre Dame du Dehors (now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid).

Italian Renaissance Religious Art (1400-1600)
Italian Renaissance art was financed by the Christian Church and also by secular leaders, like the Medici and Gonzaga families. However, a huge proportion of the fine art painting and sculpture created had religious motifs or themes: famous examples include, Lamentation Over The Dead Christ (1490) by Andrea Mantegna (c.1431-1506); The Last Supper (1495-8) by Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519); Transfiguration (1520) by Raphael (1483-1520); Pieta (1500) by Michelangelo (1475-1564), as well as his Genesis (1508-1512) and Last Judgement (1536-41) frescoes on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. In Venice, virtuoso painters like Titian (1477-1576), Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-94) and Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) created glorious works of religious art. One major development at this time, thanks to the likes of Antonello da Messina (1430-1479) and Caravaggio (1573-1610), among others, was the use of more realistic human forms when depicting the Holy Family and other Biblical figures. Religious Renaissance architecture is exemplified by the Dome of Florence's Cathedral, designed by the architect and artist Filippo Brunellesci (1377-1446), and by the rebuilding of the 1,100 year old church of St Peter's in Rome (1506-1626) by Bramante, Raphael, Sangallo, Maderno, Michelangelo and Bernini. This project extended beyond the High Renaissance into the Baroque era.

Spanish Renaissance School (16th Century)
The Renaissance in Spain lagged behind that of Italy and elsewhere. Even so, Spanish piety and devotion to the religious dogmas of Rome was absolute. Not surprisingly therefore, their artists were heavily involved in propagating and illustrating the Christian message. They included: Alonso Berruguete (c.1486-1561) the greatest of all Renaissance sculptors in Spain, whose masterpieces include: the altarpiece for the monastery of La Mejorada Valladolid (1526), and the choir stalls in Toledo Cathedral (1539-43). Also, Juan de Juni (1507-1577), the famous French Mannerist sculptor, who specialized in religious themes and in the dramatic expression of emotion, as exemplified by his two groups of the Entombment of Christ (1544, Valladolid Cathedral) and (1571, Segovia Cathedral). Spanish religious painting of the Late Renaissance period is exemplified by the Mannerist painter El Greco (c.1541-1614), whose major works include: The Holy Trinity (1577), The Disrobing of Christ (1577-79), The opening of the Fifth Seal of the Apocalypse (1608), The Adoration of the Shepherds (1612-14), Christ on the Cross Adored by Donors (1585-90), The Repentant Peter (1600), Saints John the Evangelist and Francis (1600) and Christ Carrying the Cross (1600).

Baroque Religious Art (1600-1700)
Following the Reformation (c.1520 onwards), the Roman Catholic Church launched a vigorous Counter Reformation campaign against Protestantism in order to win back its wayward congregations across Europe. Art was a key element of this religious propaganda campaign.

In Spain, the devout Francisco de Zurbaran (1598-1664), strongly influenced by Spanish Quietism, produced holy paintings for numerous monasteries and Religious Orders (Carthusians, Capuchins, Dominicans, Jeronymites, among others), as well as Cathedrals and other ecclesiastical authorities. Among his noted works are Christ on the Cross (1627), Apotheosis of St. Thomas Aquinas (1631), and Adoration of the Shepherds (1638). The great Diego Velazquez (1599–1660), while famous as a virtuoso portraitist, also produced a number of sacred paintings like The Immaculate Conception (1618) and Joseph's Coat (1630). Spanish Baroque religious sculpture is well represented by the Seville artist Juan Martinez Montanes (1568-1649), who was dubbed the God of Wood for his carving skills, sculpted mainly wooden crucifixes and religious figures. His best known works include The Merciful Christ (1603, Seville Cathedral) and the Santiponce Altarpiece (1613); and also by the explosive Alonso Cano (1601-1667), known as the "Spanish Michelangelo", whose masterpiece is The Immaculate Conception (1655, Granada Cathedral).

In Italy, home of the Roman Catholic Church, painters like Rubens (1577-1640), Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), and Claude Lorrain (1600–1682) received numerous religious commissions. The greatest exponents of Italian religious sculpture were the incomparable Bernini (1598-1680) - see his Ecstasy of St. Teresa (1645–52), created for the Cornaro Chapel of the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome - and his great rival Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654), both of whom were given numerous Papal commissions. The Catholic Baroque style gave rise to an emotional style of architecture, typically exploiting to the full the melodramatic potential of the urban landscape. This is exemplified above all by Saint Peter's Square (1656-67) and its approaches, in front of St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Protestantism had its own religious art. Dutch Realist painters in Protestant Holland, like Harmen Steenwijk (1612-1656), created "Vanitas" still lifes (based on Ecclesiastes 12:8 "Vanity of vanities saith the preacher, all is vanity"), whose principal theme was the ephemeral nature of life and the absurdity of human vanities.

It was during the period roughly 1650 to 1750 that the nature of the European art market began to change. Up until 1650, most art had been public art aimed at the masses - mostly in the form of architecture and sculpture, and most of it religious. By 1750, this type of public art had been superceded by portable easel art - mostly paintings for commercial customers. The era of large-scale spending by Church authorities was over.

Decline of Religious Art (1700 onwards)
The 18th century was the era of absolute monarchs, whose despotic rule was based on the so-called 'Divine Right of Kings' appointed by God. However, these monarchs, like Louis XIV, Louis XV, the Russian Romanovs, and the Austrian Habsburgs, were too concerned with exalting their own secular status and propping up their creaking empires to invest money in religious painting, sculpture or architecture. Furthermore, except in the Iberian Peninsular, where Spanish piety never slackened, the power of the Roman Catholic Church had been severely weakened by the destruction of its monasteries during the previous two centuries. This combination of secular and ecclesiastical weakness meant that - with odd exceptions, such as the Catholic commissions awarded to Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770) in Bavaria and Venice - there was a significant reduction during the 18th century in the amount of money devoted to religious art. Moreover, this period saw a huge increase in demand on behalf of merchants and land-owners, for portraiture and topographical landscapes. As it was, the period ended with the French Revolution, which heralded a change in sentiment across Europe. Henceforth, art would celebrate people rather than deities.

The 19th century produced even less religious art. Although the Industrial Revolution created significant surplus wealth for both nations and individuals, it wasn't invested in Christian art. Instead it went into the development of social and public services. The only regular commissions offered by Church authorities were for free-standing sculpture to commemorate deceased Bishops and other clerics. And while a few painters continued to paint Biblical scenes, the demand for religious compositions slumped - a trend which continued into the 20th century.

20th Century Religious Art
A feature of modern Christian art in the West has been the temple architecture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Its development - from the simple church-like design of the Kirtland Temple (constructed 1830s), to the intricate Gothic styles of the early Utah temples, to the mass-produced modern temples of today - chronicles the evolution of modern religious architecture itself. The most recent postmodernist churches include the Community of Christ Temple in Independence, Missouri, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Unitarian Universalist Unity Temple in Chicago, the Pietro Belluschi-designed Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption (San Francisco), and the Jose Rafael Moneo-designed Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (Los Angeles). Sadly, the 20th century has also witnessed enormous destruction: many beautiful churches and other religious works of art were destroyed by the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe. As far as sacred painting is concerned, 20th century painters have, with a few exceptions, ignored it, preferring to cater for the more secular modernist and contemporary art collector. Exceptional modern religious paintings include: Christ on the Cross (1936) by Georges Rouault (1871-1958); Ecce Homo (1925) by Lovis Corinth (1958-1925); Christ at Emmaus (1963) by Patrick Caulfield (1936-2005); Crucifixion 3.85 (1985) by Antonio Saura (1930-98); and the strange abstract work St John (1988) by Gerhard Richter (b.1932). Meantime, postmodernist religious sculpture is surely exemplified by Virgin Mother (2005) by Damien Hirst (b.1965), which stands in the Plaza of Lever House, New York City.

Themes of Christian Art

Painters and sculptors have been commissioned by Popes, religious and secular authorities to illustrate a very wide range of scenes from the Bible. The choice of scenes may be determined by religious politics, as well as the type of art form and media involved. One of the most famous themes of religious sculpture, for example, is David and Goliath: witness the three Davids sculpted by Donatello (1386-1466), Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488), and Michelangelo (1475-1564).

Popular Art-Subjects From The New Testament Gospels

Popular Art-Subjects From The Old Testament Gospels

Non-Christian Religious Art

In this brief overview, phrases like Hindu art, Buddhist art and Islamic art, are no more than umbrella terms for arts and decorative crafts created within the territories occupied by the culture concerned. These include architecture, relief sculpture, body-painting, bronze-casting, calligraphy, carpet-weaving, ceramics, costume decoration, drapery, drawing, embroidery, face-painting, friezes, furniture making, gemstone carving, goldsmithery, illumination of manuscripts, ivory carving, jewellery-making, lacquer-painted bookbinding, lustre-ware, metalworking, mosaics, painting, pottery, tapestry art, textile design, wood carving, among others.

Hindu Art
Hinduism, dating from the 2nd Millennium BCE, is the main religion in India, with about 850 million followers and some 64 types of traditional art. Hindu painting, for instance, is exemplified by early and medieval works from Ajanta, Bagh, Ellora and Sittanavasal, while Hindu sculpture is marked not by a sense of plastic fullness but rather by a linear character with an emphasis on outline, as in the Shiva statuette [left]. Hindu architecture embraces temples like the Akshardham in Delhi, Hoysaleswara Temple at Halebidu, Chennakesava Temple at Belur, the Kesava Temple at Somanathapura, Brihadeeswara Temple, Thanjavur, and Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam. (For more details, see: India: Painting & Sculpture.)

Buddhist Art
Buddhism, founded by Siddhartha Gautama around 600 BCE, has about 380 million adherents spread across India, central and southern Asia and Japan. Buddhist architecture is mainly devoted to temples, monasteries and shrines, including stupas, dagobas and pagodas, across Asia. But Buddhist iconography used in arts like sculpture, varies according to region: in Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia), Theravada traditions encourage images of Buddha in mediating or reclining positions; in central Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Bhutan, Vietnam, Afghanistan), Mahayana traditions have led to a wider range of representations, including different Buddhas, saints, bodhisattvas and other deities. Buddhist 3-D art is illustrated by the sandstone sculptures of Mathura, India. (For more, see: Japanese Art, and Chinese Art.)

In India, the relationship between Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam has been extremely complex. Hindu art was influenced by the younger Buddhist art, until Buddhism faded around 950 CE century partly as a result of the growing influence of Islam (and Islamic art) in parallel with Hinduism. Because of this influence, Hindu architects adapted their designs to accomodate the traditions of the new religion, as illustrated in the design and construction of Taj Mahal, and Gol Gumbaz. But note also the recent clash of religious ideologies which occurred in Afghanistan, when Taliban muslims destroyed the monumental stone sculptures known as The Buddhas of Bamyan.

Islamic Art
Islam, founded by the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century CE, has around 1.5 billion followers. Like its fellow faiths, Islamic art is a mixture of many cultures. Although it reflects the Muslim creed concerning the absolute power of The One God (Allah), it combines elements from Greek and early Christian art, as well as the great Middle Eastern cultures of Egypt, Byzantium, and ancient Persia, along with the eastern heritage of India and China. Even so, the influence of the Arabs, who conquered the ancient Islamic world, is paramount. It has propagated the Koran (Qur'an), the Arabic form of writing, the Kufic and Naskhi scripts of traditional Islamic calligraphy, an infinite variety of abstract ornament, and an entire system of linear abstraction (Arabesques) that is peculiar to all forms of Islamic Art. This abstract designwork balances the Islamic ban on figurative reproduction.

Other notable Islamic arts and crafts include: ceramic art notably lustre-ware, stone-carving, textile silk art, and wall painting. Book illumination was an Iranian specialty, as exemplified by the Manafi al-Hayawan (Usefulness of Animals) manuscript (1297), and the Jami al-tawarikh by Rashid al-Din. Enamelled glass and metalwork were also highly prized, take for example the exquisite metal basin of Mamluk silverwork known as the "Baptistere de Saint Louis" (Syria, 1290-1310). Islamic architecture is especially famous for religious structures such as: The Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem, built by Abd al-Malik, 691); the Great Mosque of Damascus (finished 715); the Alhambra Palace (Granada, c.1333-91); the Great Mosque of Samarkand (begun 1400); The Ottoman mosque of Sultan Ahmet I ("the Blue Mosque") (Istanbul, 1603-17); the domed mosque of Shaykh Lutfullah (1603-18), built by Safavid architects in Isfahan; Mughal architecture includes the palace complex of Fatehpur Sikri (c.1575) built during the reign of Akbar, as well as the sublime Taj Mahal (1630-53), built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife Mumtaz Mahal.

Native Religious Art
Tribal art (aka Primitive Native art), meaning arts and crafts produced by indigenous natives from tribal societies in Africa, the South Pacific and Indonesia, Australia, the Americas and Alaska, typically is much more sacred or religion-oriented than Western art. This is because tribal religions were all-pervasive. Thus tribal pictorial imagery (paintings), sculpture (stone or wood-carving) or 3-D models (masks) embodied the vital forces believed to exist in all living matter. Sometimes these images represented the spirits of the dead, the vital essence of tribal ancestry. Unfortunately many such artworks have perished or been bartered away with white explorers. What remains is mainly stonework (sculpture, temples), some earthworks, or various forms of rock art. Even so, some extraordinary finds of native religious art have been made, including: (1) prehistoric paintings in the Laas Gaa'l caves at Hargeisa in Somalia, which contained drawings of men and women worshipping cattle and performing religious rituals; (2) paintings at Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg, South Africa, portraying animals and humans which, according to experts, represent religious beliefs. For more details of primitive religious art, see: Tribal Art. For specific areas, see Oceanic Art (of the Pacific Ocean area), and African Art.

• For more about art in Ireland, see: Irish Art Encyclopedia.

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