Art Piety and Destruction in the Christian West 1500–1700

Spanning two centuries and two continents Art Piety and Destruction in the Christian West 1500-1700 addresses the impact of religious tensions on art design and architecture in the early modern world. Beyond famous works of art such as Kraft's Eucharistic Tabernacle the volume examines less-studied objects including church plate and vestments stained glass graffiti and Mexican images of St. Anne created throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The collection's contributors present religious artworks from Germany England Italy France Spain and Mexico; the media include sculpture oil painting fresco metalwork dress and architecture. Questions of art's destruction preservation and censorship are discussed against the ever-present backdrop of religious conflict and varying degrees of tolerance. New information and original perspectives demonstrate the ways in which art illuminates history and the close links between the changing values of a society and the images it displays to represent itself.