Lutheran Lampoons
Martin Luther used pictorial propaganda to further the Protestant cause. Mark Bryant looks at the work of those artists who became his allies – and those who became his enemies.
Of the three traditional learned professions – the church, the law and medicine – it is the clergy that has suffered most at the hands of graphic satirists. This was especially so during the Reformation in 16th-century Germany when a propaganda war took place between the supporters of the Protestant theologian Martin Luther (1483-1546) and those who backed the established Roman Catholic Church. Luther’s cause was supported by the artist Albrecht Dürer and others, especially the painter Lucas Cranach (1472- 1553), who not only designed numerous ‘Antichrist’ images of the pope but also produced satirical woodcuts for the first illustrated polemical book of the Reformation.
To continue reading this article you will need to purchase access to the online archive.
Buy Online Access Buy Print & Archive Subscription
If you have already purchased access, or are a print & archive subscriber, please ensure you are logged in.
Please email digital@historytoday.com if you have any problems.
