THE EVOLUTION OF MARTIN LUTHER PORTRAITS

In order to portray the human subject as the major protagonists, the genre of portrait painting is used in art. 1. Portrait artists carry out their responsibilities for both private and public individuals, produce their work on commission, or they may be motivated by the subject's love or adoration. Portraits are crucial for preserving memories, significant family history, and official records. The powerful and wealthy were reflected in historical pictures, but as time went on, more middle-class consumers started ordering portraits of their friends and relatives. The government, organizations, businesses, and individuals all paint portraits in the modern day. Paintings can be used in other media channels such as digital media, photography, video, etching, and lithography2.

Below are descriptions of various themes indicative of the evolution in paintings of Martin Luther since the 15th century to his old days and posthumously. The differences in the portraits characteristics have been described in a more vivid ways indicative of the significant changes experienced by the portrait over time. The reasons for changes in the portrait characters have been captured more precisely and hence provided a mechanism of comparisons and reasons for the same. Various artistes have been put to task to explore the various machinations used in increasing including the materials for paintings, the periods and general reasons for changes in portraitist over time.

On the broader view were the portrait from America and English which were popular in times of Victoria and depicted memories of the loved ones. They were often carried as the jewelry carried in pockets. During the 16th century, the contemporary portraits were used for self-portraits which used x-rays and other images which did not match the physical appearance. The black and white photos of unmade material were common in ancient periods signifying

Aita, Virginia A., William M. Lydiatt, and Mark A. Gilbert. "Portraits of care: medical research through portraiture." Medical humanities 36, no. 1 (2010): 5-13.

mourning of the passing of loved ones. Luther specifically lost his two friends who supposedly affected his reasoning and later furthered his curiosity about Gods purpose/.

Born on November 10, 1483, Saxony Germany and died February 18, 1546, Luther was a Germany religious reformer and a theologian who initiated protestant reformation of the16th century. Through his actions and words, Luther catalyzed a movement that reformulated certain aspects of the Christian belief tenets and led to split of the western Christendom between protestant traditions (Calvinism, Anglican, Lutheranism, Anabaptists, antitrinitarians) and Roman Catholicism. He is known as one of the most influential Christianity figures in the modern times.

Luther protested on the door of Wittenberg’s All Saints Church as at 1518 showcasing the Ist anniversary of the 95 theses. The engraving depicted a portrait of Martin Luther which at the same time publicly attacked papal corruption and a major case in the 16th century. The engraved paintings on the door reflected the reality at the time. The reality was a protestation from the Roman Catholicism using 95 theses as shown in the paintings. He vehemently protested harsh rules that governed life inside the monastery. He prayed, fasted and confessed. With just a table and a chair in his unheated room, he would wake up very early in the morning to pray. He later became a monk and a bishop and taught theology in 1508 at the University of Wittenberg receiving two bachelor degrees.

The self-portrait by Martin Luther indicated his anguish over an affair with the existing political undertones. The paintings from his famous stance including ‘here I stand I can do no other’ were final words consistent with his disputing of the catholic church of engaging in indulgences meant to free people from sins after money purchase. When the pope Leo X requested that he renounce his writings, he refused and hence earned him an excommunication from the pope and condemned by the emperor and an outlaw. Eternal life and salvation were not earned by good deeds, but rather they were simply gifts from grace of god through Jesus Christ as a sin redeemer.

In 1527, portraits of Hans and Margaret Luther was painted by Lucas Cranach the elder depicting humble followers under as part of the Holy Roman Empire. They were painted indicative of the ancient regalia with women carefully having their head wrapped in a white clothing. The male had a scarf in his neck depicting a confession to evangelical and Catholicism faith. In colorless paintings, a photo of Luther emerged as a friar with tonsure indicative of his rebellious character including dropping out of the law school. He was later attracted to theology and philosophy in an attempt to seek assurance in his life. Having been previously taught to be suspicious of even the greatest thinkers, he made sure he has experienced everything by testing.

Posthumously, Luther’s early life as an Augustinian friar is different from the one painted in early 16th century. The picture depicts colorful paints with appropriate background pictures having colors and shades that match the long hours of fasting, prayer, and pilgrimage, perhaps showing increased respect by portraits over time. Unlike time back when the portraits had a black and white background colors with an ugly appearance. While in friar, Luther stated that the period provided a deep sense of spiritual despair. However, he resolved that true repentance does not involve self-inflicted punishments and penances but a change of heart.

In 1530, the sale of indulgences portraits by the catholic indicated a faint black and white background photos. This was as a result of his constant assertion that since it was only for God to forgive but for those who indulged as absolved buyers and granted salvation were in great error. The portraitist took it as unpopular, and hence used demeaning portrays and colors to paint him in a bad light. Luther described such acts as false assurance. He condemned the act of Christianity in following Christ on account of untrue assurances such as your sins being forgiven because of purchasing your freedom by money and being free. God is the only one that can forgiver! Justification by faith alone was not admired by Luther in the long run under the doctrine of sola fide. Through painting works by Joseph Noel Paton in 1861 posthumously, portraits have emerged of Luther having voluminous books over his desk trying to discover the doctrine of sola fide under the Luther at Erfurt. The picture depicts a well-colored paintings perhaps suggesting increasing respect and honor to Luther posthumously.

At the meeting between Cardinal Cajetan and Martin Luther in 1519 shows a portrait of Luther holding a book, perhaps the indication of greater focus and excessive reading. Further assertions were provided by Luther showing papal that nowhere in the bible has God indicated that they have the sole purpose of providing interpretation of the verses in the bible. He claimed Gods favor cannot be attracted by any good deeds. He claimed of having his belief stronger and sins strong for the stronger belief in Christ is what is important.

Technique and equipment used in photography are changing over time and more quickly. The portrait of Martin Luther has been changing over time throughout his life including posthumously. This is due to changes in photography trends which has been changing more quickly over the last century. For example, ten years ago, the technology that was used is quite different from what is being used today. The portraits that have been taken a long time back often are poor lit or appear washed out, or otherwise unattractive to a website. However, this can be fixed depending on when the pictures were taken and how they were taken.

Another motivating factor that has influenced the changes in portrait belonging to Martin Luther include the desire to have a better photo compared to the originals. The portraitist may want to wow the crowd in a more appealing way. The pictures should be more welcoming, accommodating, attractive, and professional. This will involve a lot of thoughts to get the best photos on the page. Despite the original photo looking attractive, it’s important to focus on other areas such as eye tone, skin tone to improve on the visuals. During post-processing, getting the right photo retouch will lead to right skin tone, and make the portrait have sparkling eyes resembling a sky diamonds.

Other reason for Martin Luther portraits evolution over time include working with web substances. In providing the professional photography services, some portraitist has embarked on updating old pictures or create the brand new archive of photos for landing pages and more. Chances have emerged on how the portraits for martin Luther king might have undergone the process of professional services. This was probably done to improve the overall appearance of the photos. For photo optimization using techniques in postproduction, the portraits will be made to look friendly and natural as well as modern. A team from the professional service providers will review the portraits and give feedback that will result in best results for the resultant photo.

For the last few thousand years, portraits, whether sculpted, painted or drawn, were embraced by those who were deemed important to be respected with art work bearing their likeness. The royalty and nobility families, important historic figures, religious were the common subjects. For example, in European context queens and kings had their court painters, who had been charged with painting various associated servants and attendants, royal family as well as history paintings that showcased the various associated historical events and figures such as important leaders and generals from bygone eras. Hans Holbein the younger and Diego Velazquez are the most notable court painters, and their work has offered the favorable depiction of important clergy and royalty and other members of the court. Non- royals from wealthy families afforded paintings of themselves and their families and the church on a regular basis commissioned paintings of adorn cathedrals and religious figures1.

During the period of Italian renaissance at the time of Baroque 1, some painters took an interest in the portraits of the common man. Philosophy in humanity had begun appearing and made their way into fine art. They include Johannes Vermeer and Georges De La Tour who paint scenes of the middle-class life. Their work focused on quite a humanity such as details of everyday life that were considered too insignificant or too banal compared to earlier times. The subjects were mostly anonymous. The painting remained a skilled trade that can’t be practiced as a hobby. Status of the subject still played an important role in whether or not you will have a portrait of yourself.

By the mid of the 19th century, significant changes were observed. The age of reason was followed by the attitude of humanity combined with improvement in social upheavals as influenced by industrial evolution and introduced the art of paintings to the middle-class homes. Mass production meant canvas and oil plants could be purchased at a store rather than studio apprentice. The brush paintings could be picked up by anyone and paint whatever they preferred. French painters such as Jean-Francois Millet and Gustavo Courbet embraced social realism movement that painted political statements from the quite scenes of working class and the poor

Conclusion

In the early 1960s, Artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein made comments on popular culture and influenced commoditization of art. Today, Portraiture has remained as a healthy and vital discipline in the art world. Nontraditional approaches are being used in rare cases with most artists returning to the traditional techniques to portray contemporary issues, and hence larger number of people are drawing paintings than ever before witnessed.











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