Editing Christian art (section)

===Renaissance and early modern period===
{{main|Renaissance art|The Reformation and art}}
[[File:Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) - The Last Supper (1495-1498).jpg|thumb|280px|[[The Last Supper (Leonardo da Vinci)|Leonardo da Vinci's ''The Last Supper'']] (1498).]]
The [[fall of Constantinople]] in 1453 brought an end to the highest quality Byzantine art, produced in the Imperial workshops there. Orthodox art, known as [[icon]]s regardless of the medium, has otherwise continued with relatively little change in subject and style up to the present day, with Russia gradually becoming the leading centre of production.

In the West, the Renaissance saw an increase in monumental secular works, although Christian art continued to be commissioned in great quantities by churches, clergy and by the aristocracy.  The Reformation had a [[The Reformation and art|huge impact on Christian art]]; [[Martin Luther]] in Germany allowed and encouraged the display of a more limited range of religious imagery in churches, seeing the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a continuation of the "ancient, apostolic church".<ref name="Lamport2017"/> [[Lutheran art|Lutheran altarpieces]] like [[Last Supper (Cranach)|the 1565 ''Last Supper'' by the younger Cranach]] were produced in Germany, especially by Luther's friend [[Lucas Cranach the Elder|Lucas Cranach]], to replace Catholic ones, often containing portraits of leading reformers as the apostles or other protagonists, but retaining the traditional [[depiction of Jesus]]. As such, "Lutheran worship became a complex ritual choreography set in a richly furnished church interior."<ref name="Spicer2016">{{cite book|last=Spicer|first=Andrew|title=Lutheran Churches in Early Modern Europe|date=5 December 2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|language=en|isbn=9781351921169|page=237|quote=As it developed in north-eastern Germany, Lutheran worship became a complex ritual choreography set in a richly furnished church interior. This much is evident from the background of an epitaph pained in 1615 by Martin Schulz, destined for the Nikolaikirche in Berlin (see Figure 5.5.).}}</ref> Lutherans proudly employed the use of the [[crucifix]] as it highlighted their high view of the [[Theology of the Cross]].<ref name="Lamport2017"/><ref name="MarquardtJordan2009">{{cite book|last1=Marquardt|first1=Janet T.|last2=Jordan|first2=Alyce A.|title=Medieval Art and Architecture after the Middle Ages|date=14 January 2009|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|language=en|isbn=9781443803984|page=71|quote=In fact, Lutherans often justified their continued use of medieval crucifixes with the same arguments employed since the Middle Ages, as is evident from the example of the altar of the Holy Cross in the Cistercian church of Doberan.}}</ref> Thus, for Lutherans, "the Reformation renewed rather than removed the religious image."<ref name="Dixon2012">{{cite book|last=Dixon|first=C. Scott|title=Contesting the Reformation|date=9 March 2012|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|language=en|isbn=9781118272305|page=146|quote=According to Koerner, who dwells on Lutheran art, the Reformation renewed rather than removed the religious image.}}</ref> On the other hand, Christians from a [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]] background were generally iconoclastic, destroying existing religious imagery and usually only creating more in the form of book illustrations.<ref name="Lamport2017">{{cite book|last=Lamport|first=Mark A.|title=Encyclopedia of Martin Luther and the Reformation|date=31 August 2017|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|language=en|isbn=9781442271593|page=138|quote=Lutherans continued to worship in pre-Reformation churches, generally with few alterations to the interior. It has even been suggested that in Germany to this day one finds more ancient Marian altarpieces in Lutheran than in Catholic churches. Thus in Germany and in Scandinavia many pieces of medieval art and architecture survived. [[Joseph Leo Koerner]] has noted that Lutherans, seeing themselves in the tradition of the ancient, apostolic church, sought to defend as well as reform the use of images. "An empty, white-washed church proclaimed a wholly spiritualized cult, at odds with Luther's doctrine of Christ's real presence in the sacraments" (Koerner 2004, 58). In fact, in the 16th century some of the strongest opposition to destruction of images came not from Catholics but from Lutherans against Calvinists: "You black Calvinist, you give permission to smash our pictures and hack our crosses; we are going to smash you and your Calvinist priests in return" (Koerner 2004, 58). Works of art continued to be displayed in Lutheran churches, often including an imposing large crucifix in the sanctuary, a clear reference to Luther's ''theologia crucis''. ... In contrast, Reformed (Calvinist) churches are strikingly different. Usually unadorned and somewhat lacking in aesthetic appeal, pictures, sculptures, and ornate altar-pieces are largely absent; there are few or no candles, and crucifixes or crosses are also mostly absent.}}</ref>

Artists were commissioned to produce more secular genres like [[portrait]]s, [[landscape painting]]s and because of the revival of Neoplatonism, subjects from [[classical mythology]].  In Catholic countries, production of religious art continued, and increased during the [[Counter-Reformation]], but Catholic art was brought under much tighter control by the church hierarchy than had been the case before.  From the 18th century the number of religious works produced by leading artists declined sharply, though important commissions were still placed, and some artists continued to produce large bodies of religious art on their own initiative.