Dogs and the Reformation

I'd like to preface this post with a warning that I just woke up from an unplanned "I just need to rest my eyes for a minute" that turned into a two hour nap, so I can make no promises as to the quality of this response. 

This is the vibe for today

 Anyways, the Rembrandt work that we read about this week reminded me a lot of Caravaggio's "The Calling of St. Matthew", a work I wrote about for AP Art History.

Much like Rembrandt's The Visitation, this work uses bold light and shadows to create a theatrical effect. The figures in the scene are richly clothed in black, brown, and shades of red. However, these are both very intimate, contemporary scenes that a 17th century observer would be able to see themselves in. In Caravaggio's work, this is accomplished by putting the subjects at eye level with the viewer and setting this Biblical scene in a familiar place, a tavern. 

The Visitation by Rembrandt

 This painting looks to be set in a grand structure with high columns and peacocks, and the viewer is distanced from Mary and Elizabeth. However, the sense of humanity and closeness to the divine is created by the scruffy little dog in the center of the painting. As Sutton describes, dogs represent both a model of loyalty and a low creature, subject to physical needs. But Rembrandt shows the Virgin Mary as an approachable figure, who existed in a world with humble little animals like this dog. 

This was important for the rebranding of Christianity that occurred post-Reformation. People felt that the church had become too ritualized and salvation was in the hands of the wealthy rather than the penitent. Therefore, the art changed to reflect the new values of personal salvation and the human nature of Christ. Perhaps dogs were a good allegory for Christ, having both animal and human characteristics, the same way He was human and divine.