Art under the influence of the Protestant Reformation

1517!  Martin Luther (Eisleben, 1483 – 1546) and the Protestant Reformation generated changes in society and the arts, producing portraits of defenders of the Reformation, representations of the New Testament and daily life, scientific observation of nature, documentation of landscapes and cartography.

Aesthetic documents in the MNBA help to understand the reforming winds in the arts: paintings and engravings from the Portuguese royal collection, in Rio in 1809, the one purchased from Joaquim Lebreton, in 1819, for didactic purposes, complemented by others incorporated in the 20th century.

Portrait of João Maurício de Nassau-Siegen (Dillenburg, Germany, 1604 – Cleves, Germany, 1679), between 1652 and 1679.

Evangelical, in 1636, he accepted to be governor, admiral and captain-general of the colony of the Dutch West India Company (WIC) in the Northeast region of Brazil, staying there from 1637 to 1644, bringing scientists and artists. The painter of this work was from a Lutheran family.

(Nuremberg, Germany, 1471 - 1528)

Converted to Lutheranism,  in 1520, his graphic work became more austere and restrained: “God grants the ability to learn and [...] do good and beautiful things to an unparalleled man, in his days" [and not before and nor much later] PANOFSKY. Vida y arte de A Durero.1982, p.291.

(Leiden, Netherlands,1606 - Amsterdam, Netherlands1669)

Filho de pai integrante da Igreja Reformada dos Países Baixos e de mãe católica, pintou cenas bíblicas, retratando-se em algumas delas. Grande nome do Barroco holandês, na pintura e gravura, sua vida pessoal registrou decisões distantes de alguns preceitos bíblicos.

(Courtrai, Netherlands 1576 - Utrecht, Netherlands 1639)

An excellent painter of flowers, animals and landscapes, from a traditional Mennonite Protestant family, whose name refers to Father Menno Simons (Wytmarsum, 1496 – Wüstenfelde, Bad Oldesloe, 1561), converted to the Anabaptist movement and one of its leaders in the Netherlands.

He distinguished himself by his genre painting, representing everyday scenes, which emerged and developed in the Netherlands. Son of a Catholic family who converted to Protestantism during the 80 Years War, a religious decision taken amid the tensions of that time.

(Zwolle, Netherlands, 1617 - Deventer, Netherlands, 1681)

(Netherlands, 1610 - 1685)

Great name in genre painting from the Netherlands, painter and engraver, from a Protestant family, converted to Catholicism when he married, in 1657, Anna Ingels, a rich Catholic from Amsterdam.

(Utrecht, Netherlands, 1636 - Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1695)

An excellent bird painter and member of a Protestant family of artists from Antwerp, who took refuge in Utrecht due to religious persecution during the Spanish Catholic siege.