After Iconoclasm: The Refurbishing of Catholic Churches in Augsburg, Antwerp and the Northern Netherlands. A Comparative Study

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Iconoclasm of the Reformation marks a harsh break in the history of art. The phenomenon of destroying images and its impact on sacred art is well known, but the process of refurbishing Catholic churches after iconoclasm has been investigated only in a rudimentary manner. The research project works from the assumption, that instead of guidelines from the Council of Trent, the position of the Catholics in the respective cities determined the program for the new images. Wether Catholicism was the leading denomination in the city, or if it was only tolerated, made a great impact on the subject, semantics and style of the new pictures. To trace this premise, the altarpieces in three locations will be investigated. Antwerp in 1585, a few years after the last iconoclasm, was firmly under Spanish rule. Catholicism became the only approved denomination in society and politics. In the northern Netherlands after the political takeover by the Reformed, the Catholic Church had to go underground. Clandestine churches were built in private houses, which soon were equipped with paintings. In Augsburg some years after iconoclasm, a confessional parity was established and the city provided space for Catholic and Lutheran churches.The refurbishing of Catholic churches after iconoclasm did not proceed at a broadly uniform pace, rather in a locally specific manner. An initial overview shows that the pace and scale varied, depending on whether the refurbishing was done for churches in a Catholic city, or in a region where Catholics were only a tolerated minority, or in a city of Catholic and Lutheran parity. For the mentioned cities and region the installations after iconoclasm shall be investigated thoroughly. The comparative study will show the extent to which the social-confessional context affected the new altar pieces in Catholic churches after iconoclasm.