16th-Century Visions of the Ruins of Religious Wars

[rug]

Philips Galle, after Maarten van Heemskerck, illustration from ‘Judaeae gentis clades’ (1569), showing the destruction of Jericho (© Bruxelles, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique)

by Allison Meier on January 12, 2016

As the 16th-century religious wars raged around Europe, Dutch artist Maarten van Heemskerck collaborated with printmaker Philip Galle on a series of 22 engravings featuring Old Testament destruction. The ruins of Jericho, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Tower of Babel snapping into fragments, could be interpreted just as biblical prints, yet a new exhibition argues the catastrophic scenes were contemporary political commentary.



Maarten van Heemskerck, “Le satyr della Valle” (1532–36), drawing (© Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France)

Les Villes Détruites de Maarten van Heemskerck is on view at the Galerie Colbert in the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art in Paris. Organized by the Louvre and the Institut, in partnership with the Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, the exhibition joins the little-known 1569 Judaeae gentis clades (“Disasters of the Jewish People”) engravings with other works that contextualize the religious climate and classical influence in van Heemskerck’s work.



Philips Galle, after Maarten van Heemskerck, frontispiece of ‘Judaeae gentis clades’ (1569) (© Bruxelles, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique

The Beeldenstorm, or “statue storm” in Dutch, was part of the greater religious conflicts between Catholics and Protestants broiling around Europe, including the French Wars of Religion between the Catholics and Huguenots. Churches were wrecked, religious monuments razed, and thousands of people were killed in the conflicts. Van Heemskerck, who lived from 1498 to 1574, experienced this friction in his Haarlem, Netherlands, home, following his journey to Rome in 1532.



Philips Galle, after Maarten van Heemskerck, illustration from ‘Judaeae gentis clades’ (1569), showing the sack of Jericho and punishment of Achan (© Bruxelles, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique)

Over about four years in Italy, he sketched and studied classical art, architecture, and landscapes, but was most enamored with the ruins. When the religious wars broke out in the Netherlands, classical destruction became a metaphor for the current obliteration of life and architecture. As an allegory, the Old Testament scenes of Sodom in flames, or statues tumbling in Jericho, had a moral tone alongside the new ruins appearing in the wake of the 16th century’s religious violence.



Cornelisz Anthonisz, “The Fall of the Tower of Babel” (1547), etching (© Bruxelles, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique)

http://hyperallergic.com/262396/16th-century-visions-of-the-ruins-of-religious-wars/


Compare and contrast.



Guernica - Picasso (1937)

[Cartoonist]

1. That's the religion I know

Death and destruction, because God loves us.

[rug]

2. Human knowledge is usually incomplete.

What inspired Guernica?

[sdfernando]

3. Hitler's Germany bombed the town of Guernica

Last edited Tue Jan 12, 2016, 08:02 PM - Edit history (1)

for about 3 hours in support of the Nationalist during the Spanish Civil War.

There was a story, don't know if it is true or not, that when the Germans occupied France, a Nazi officer saw Guernica and asked Picasso: "So you did this?"...and Picasso answered..."No, you did."

[rug]

4. That's a good anecdote.

In 20 years there should a lot of art coming out of Syria and Iraq.

[kwassa]

5. I saw Guernica at MOMA ....

before they repatriated it to Spain.

Weekday, nobody in the gallery but me and the guard eyeballing me. Then a women walks around the corner, stares at he picture, and says in the thickest Brooklynn accent:

"They call this AHT? They call this AHT? My two-year-old could do better than this." The guard and I couldn't stop laughing, and she stomped indignantly away.

A wonderful painting.

Thanks for the others, as well.

Much of the greatest art in the western world is about Christian stories

[rug]

6. Me too. Is it 40 years already?

Chaos and horror.

[kwassa]

7. I looked at it for a long time.

Those of us that draw know how good Picasso is. He finds essential lines.

[edhopper]

8. I saw Guernica at MOMA

and again in Madrid.

Hard from the small reproduction to illustrate the power of this painting.

Books can be written (actually, they have been) about the meaning of all the imagery in the painting.