Religious Art of the Renaissance
A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Humanities/Philosophies".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2026 | Viewed by 12
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The art of the Renaissance and Reformation responded to religious and cultural upheavals that affected every aspect of life. The Reformation required artists in Protestant territories to abandon the production of objects associated with “popish” practices such as veneration of saints, and to adjust the iconography of altarpieces that marked the performance of public ritual. Meanwhile, artists in Catholic territories responded to the clarifications of theology and functions of sacred art during the Counter-Reformation. Artistic innovations such as linear perspective created an uncanny effect of seeming real, as did the use of oil paints, which allowed artists to represent vibrant and tactile textures that seemed almost miraculously believable. Such techniques empowered artists to represent holiness as outwardly human and earthly, an effect that changed the way viewers conceptualized the divine. Of course, art in turn influenced human thought and experience. This Special Issue presents essays on a variety of topics that explore the ways religious change and visual culture affected one another during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Provisional topics will include:
- The impact of the Lutheran Reformation on visual culture; not merely the limitation of traditional representations of saints, but the addition of new pedagogical subjects.
- The impact of mechanically reproducible media in illustrated books and prints, particularly in their function as propaganda.
- The dissemination of copies of original paintings and sculptures, creating a shared visual culture.
- The influence of images and objects discovered in the Americas.
- The influence of new modalities of thought on Renaissance art, specifically concepts of the autonomous individual (as opposed to the community identities of the previous centuries) and the impact of such thinking on creativity and originality.
- The intersection of early modern self-awareness in artistic production
- The vogue of melancholy among Renaissance intellectuals
- The questioning of the possibility of objective perception.
We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200-300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor, or to the Assistant Editor Esme Zheng (esme.zheng@mdpi.com) of Religions. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Bonnie Noble
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Counter-Reformation
- Religious identity
- Devotional image
- Iconoclasm
- Ritual
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