Prints

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Prints
Biblical and mythological themes were some of the themes highly used by artists during the early modern days. Religion had a great influence on art especially during the birth of Protestant churches whose doctrine differed with that propagated by the Roman Catholic. Moreover, the church was the largest source of work for artists at this time because the visual representation of the Bible was of great importance to the church in keeping the faithful rooted to the doctrine of the church. The use of sculptures to honor the heroes of the day was a common practice. Commissions from the church, sculptures for the tombs of the church leaders, artwork in honor of martyrs of faith, architectural works and paints fetched the artists a lot of money during the early modern Europe. However, after the birth of the protestant movement of the Christina religion, sculptures were highly discriminated and considered as idol worship. As a result, painters gained a lot of recognition because their work was highly commissioned to replace the sculptures and other artwork that was considered unholy.
Paintings inspired by the Bible stories became part of the early modern Europe prints. Further, this break-up and the initiative of the Catholic Church to regain the control of the masses revived the interest of tale and other mythical stories. Artists who did not want to participate in the division of the Christina religion focused on mythological stories that combined the use of religion, erotic and perverse tales to create prints.

The artists intending to employ myth in their work made the use of symbolism to pass important messages to the society. Similarly, those artists that focused solely on Bible religious paintings, the use of symbolism played an important part in passing on the message from the artists to the society. The different styles used by artists during this era have been duplicated over the years with continuous perfection to meet the needs of the present society.
The paintings chosen top exhibit and represent biblical and mythological theme in the early modern days include the Adam and eve painting, the judgment of Paris, the knight, death and the devil, the groom bewitched, the virgin and child with a monkey, Jesus healing the sick, the three crosses, annunciation, creation of Adam and the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence. The paintings will be exhibited in the order of their original creation dates from the oldest to the newest. The arrangement will help in showing the audience how art progressed from one stage to another during the early modern Europe days. Further, the period was marked by quick transition, which can only be explained by the use of the art, and the creativity of artists displayed on their works. The arrangement will be as follows:
Painting Artist Original Artist medium date
The Virgin and The Child With A Monkey Erin McCarthy Durer Engraving 1471-1528
The Judgment of Paris Claire Montgomery Marcantonio Raimondi Engraving 1480-1534
The Knight, Death And The Devil Audry Rott Durer Engraving 1513
The Bewitched Groom Hannah Schechter Hans Balding Grien woodcut 1544
Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence Ryleigh Staples Cornelis Cort After Titian Engraving 1571
Annunciation Jacqueline Resnik Barocci Oil on Canvas 1582-84
Adam and Eve Taylor Marrin Rembrandt Etching on Ivory Laid Paper 1638
The Creation of Adam Nissa Sills Castiglione Monotype in Black Ivory Laid Paper 1642
Jesus Healing the Sick Katie Mergelas Rembrandt Engraving 1647-49
The Three Crosses Kinga Peszko Rembrandt Drypoint 1653
The paintings were chosen for the exhibition because they all represent the biblical and mythological theme as used in the early modern days. Further, the paintings show the beginning of a new era where painters did not just use the biblical stories plainly but employed the use of symbolism to inspire the society. Painters at the time used wit and creativity to make artwork as opposed to the plain traditional art employed by the earlier artists. The paintings can be used as a reference to the history of art in Europe and other parts of the world. The paintings work together to show the growth of the theme from the vague representation of the religion to suing real facts found in the Bible. Additionally, the use of symbolism was used instead of the vague representation to capture the attention of the people and to trigger emotions.
The paintings fit into the larger picture of paint making in the early modern Europe because they represent the change of religious artwork. The transition from sculptures to prints is a true representation of the modern days of Europe as the Christian religion split into two segments including the Roman Catholic and the Protestants. The church was the major source of work for the artists at the time, and so most of the painters were affected by change. Artists chose to produce artwork that was relevant to the region in which they served. Further, the emergence of mythical stories in the form of art was highly appreciated at the time. It was a moment for the people to decide which deity they wanted to associate with; therefore, the artists used their imagination and creativity to provide several options to the masses. Further, the use of religious painting at the time was used to show the society of the bad ways that the people were engaged in and the need to change for the better. For instance, the judgment of Paris shows how choices of worship have considerable effects on the society. Further, it shows the factors that people considered while choosing the deity for their adoration.
The works of Rembrandt are some of the renowned works of the time, and they represent different ways in which artists used the biblical and mythical themes to represent their work. For instance, in the painting showing Jesus healing the sick, Rembrandt broke the tradition of associating devotional qualities with religious paintings. He showed biblical stories as representing tender instances of piety and serenity. Further, this painting is a combination of many stories of the Bible, an indication that not all bible-inspired paintings had to exclude imagination and symbolism. An individual could pass more than a single message by using paintings to capture different events of the Bible.
Classical myths characterized religious paintings at this time. As mentioned earlier, religion was very influential especially the Christina religion. The religious movement was conceived and started in Europe, and the church organizations were some of the wealthy people in the society. Before the modern era, the artwork was only found in the houses of the wealthy and the church represented a big part of this group of the society. Painters used their skills to impress different groups of people in Europe who had varied views of religion. After the split of the church into two, the artists were also divided into two to serve the two groups of the society hence the differences in how biblical and mythical theme was used by different artists at the time. Those serving the protestant movements avoided issues that would be considered blasphemous or idolatrous while those serving the Roman Catholic had the freedom of using different styles and features to create artwork.
Among the artists serving the protestant lot, there were differences also, in how the artist used their works. Some artists stuck with the traditional approach of religious works focusing on the message and not the realism of the situation. The inclusion of mythical stories and characters was born out of this approach because the idea was simply to pass a religious message. On the other hand, some artists in the early modern era based their work purely on Bible stories aiming to attract more people to the religion and propagate the good news as the Christian followers call it. The contemporary artists can understand the paintings based on biblical and mythical theme easily because the myths have not changed and neither have the Bible stories. Artists still use this theme today although with few variations to serve the current needs of the modern society.
The biblical and mythological theme was highly used by artists in the early modern Europe days. Painters were more appreciated than other artists were because they produced non-controversial artwork that was accepted by the church. The church influenced the art industry greatly, and the split of the Christian religion into Protestantism and Catholicism had a great impact on the paints. The theme has been developed over the years to include contemporary issues that match the needs of the religious groups today.

Bibliography
Brien, Patrick K. Urban Achievement in Early Modern Europe: Golden Ages in Antwerp, Amsterdam, and London. Cambridge New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Rynck, Patrick. Understanding Paintings: Bible Stories and Classical Myths in Art. London: Thames & Hudson, 2009.
Whitford, David M. Reformation, and Early Modern Europe: A Guide to Research. Kirksville, Mo: Truman State University Press, 2008.