Reformation

Refers to the period of the religious revolution that took place in the Christian church of central and northwestern Europe in the 16th century, having as its object the reform of the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, and which became the basis for Protestantism. Its style is dictated by a shift in patronage from the church to the laity, and in subject matter from the lives of saints and other Catholic themes to ones relating more directly to the common man, particularly landscapes, still lifes, portraits, Hebrew Biblical and certain Christian Biblical themes.