The Protestant Reformation was a revolt against abuses and other forms of corruption perpetrated by the Papacy and the Church in Rome. The actual spark which ignited the revolt was Pope Leo X's decision to launch a campaign in Germany for the sale of "indulgences" (effectively permits allowing sinners to buy their way into heaven), in order to finance the building of the new Saint Peter's Basilica, in Rome. The Reformation began on Oct 31, 1517, when the German Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed his 95-point manifesto on the door of All Saints Church, Wittenberg, Germany, and led to a split in Christianity.The form and content of Protestant art - in particular, painting - reflected the plainer, more unvarnished and more personal Christianity of the Reformation movement. Thus large scale works of Biblical art were no longer commissioned by Protestant church bodies. And while Protestant art collectors continued to commission religious paintings privately from artists, notably Rembrandt (1606-69), overall there was a huge reduction in the amount of religious art produced in Protestant countries. This fall in ecclesiastical patronage forced many Old Masters to diversify into secular types of art, such as history painting, portraiture, genre painting and still lifes. But although overt religious art was banned or frowned upon by the Reformation a demand grew up for small-scale works containing a Christian message, or moral lesson. The Protestant Reformation during the 16th century in Europe almost entirely rejected the existing tradition of Catholic art, and very often destroyed as much of it as it could reach. A new artistic tradition developed, producing far smaller quantities of art that followed Protestant agendas and diverged drastically from the southern European tradition and the humanist art produced during the High Renaissance.
