The Catholic Church has employed for millennia several forms of art, most notably baroque paintings. Consequently, this served as a firm response to the rise of Protestantism due to the efforts of Martin Luther to destabilize the Church for its institutional abuses. Furthermore, the upper echelons of the clergy mandated any artwork that was to be formulated should be characteristic to the dogmas of Catholicism such as the Transfiguration of Christ and canvases that pertains to Scripture should be direct and fathomable to the ordinary believer of Jesus at that time, such as country-dwellers.
It would be carefully assumed that the raison d’etre of the espousal of baroque paintings by the Catholic hierarchy stemmed from its ability to evoke passion and devotion amongst the people, instead of rational thought, which would intensify the foundations of Catholicism at that time when it was vulnerable to Luther’s revolt. Moreover, baroque representations lean towards expressing prodigious drama penetrating light and dark shadows. More importantly, artists that patronized baroque styles focused on the dramatics – such as the instant action that takes takes place on Michelangelo’s David which was sculpted on the moment he threw the stone to the
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Image and word illuminate each other. (…) One of these traditions consists in the production of representational artwork, which accords with the history of the preaching of the Gospel. For it confirms that the incarnation of the Word of God was real and not imaginary. (CCC 1160) Pope emeritus Benedict XVI also elucidated, “Works of art open the door to the infinite, to a beauty and a truth that goes beyond the ordinary. A work of art can open the eyes of the mind and