Religious Art

Before the bible became the bestselling book in the world, there was a time when most people reply on art for getting knowledge about the bible. Since in the early ages people are mostly illiterate, art is used to illustrate biblical stories in order to further spread religion. However, some pieces of artwork are served as instruments for artists to express their own faith and devotion. Being the most affluent group, church sometimes pay artists to produce art works for the church’s use. Many common forms of religion influenced art consist of sculpture, oil painting, fresco painting as well as poetry. It is almost impossible to study the Western culture without taking religious influences into account.
In Ancient Egypt, Gods are always depicted in art. Egyptians worship Gods for several of reasons. In order to achieve longevity of life and prosperous crop, they created art as homage to their God. One particular pharaoh, Amenhotep IV, is very interested in a monotheistic religion. He changes his name to Akhenaten, meaning “on the behalf of Aten”. Much of what we think of Egyptian art came from his Amarna period. The most common theme in their sculpture is worshipping. These sculptures usually depict Akhenaten standing in front of an altar, offering something to the Aten with Nefertiti and his daughters standing behind him. Even in royal family scene, we can still find traces of religious aspect in a sculpture. Although this style of sculpture soon vanish due to his son Tutankhamun’s reign, religion continues to influence later Egyptian art.
Some of the most well-known artists today come from the period of High Renaissance. Almost everyone knows the works of Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino o...

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...outhful Mary instead of an older woman. Although the statue was commissioned for a wealthy French man, Michelangelo is able to incorporate some of his own understanding and devotion into the statue. Instead of showing pain all over Jesus’s face, Michelangelo chooses to emphasize on the abandonment of Jesus over the death of Jesus. Another work of his is the painting on the Sistine Chapel ceiling that highly represents the movement of High Renaissance art. It takes him approximately five years to finish this enormous work. The painting contains 9 stories from the Book of Genesis including, The Separation of Light and Darkness, The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Earth, the Separation of Land and water, the Creation of Adam, the Creation of Eve, the Temptation and Expulsion, the Sacrifice of Noah, the Great Flood, and the Drunkenness of Noah. The most recognized images