“[…] quia vulgus libentius videt ein gemald bild quam bene scriptum librum”. Art and pedagogy in the Lutheran Reformation

Abstract

The paper is part of the research on art in the Reformation and, especially, on the theological basis for the image controversy, which deeply modify the relationship of the believer with the religious images. After a brief summary of the different opinions of the most important reformers about the representability of God, the article focuses on the new accepted purposes of the visual arts. Useful is, above all, the teaching role, which takes advantage of the communication and seduction qualities of art as reinforcement of the preached Word.

According to Luther, the visual arts, particularly the graphics, might be of service of the Church by illustrating the Holy Scriptures and the new doctrine, by creating religious iconographies ad hoc, or by reinterpreting and modifying the traditional ones, some of which will be discussed in this paper.