The images of Virgin Mary during the counter reformation

The Virgin Mary is the most important female religious figure since the first century of Christian art, the most portrayed after Jesus Christ. In spite of this importance, she has been mentioned infrequently in the Canonical Gospels and that inevitably led to theological disputes. In this study, it was discussed one of the most controversial figure is between Reformation and Counter Reformation - which that controversies caused bloody conflicts and deep disagreements in Catholicism - that Virgin Mary: How Counter Reformation affected Virgin Mary images; in which purpose and direction? In the first part, the reasons for the emergence of the Reformation in Europe and the important events, its historical and regional effects, theological disputes, and the decisions of the Trento Council - which the most important event in Catholic Christianity during Counter Reformation - and principles of the Counter Reformation are explained. In the second part, the intervention and direction of the decisions of Trento Council and the Counter Reformist's ideas on visual art are examined. It is investigated that which sacred notions and figures has chosen for glorifying. In the third part - which constitutes the main purpose of the thesis - derivations and transformations of Virgin Mary images in the light of the principles of Counter Reformation are analysed. It is studied in stages that the function of the derived scenes and the reasons for their derivation and the meaningful transformations in the scenes that survived during the Counter Reformation. Keywords: Council of Trent, Counter Reformation, Virgin Mary, Western Art, Art History, Christian Art