By Faith Alone

This painting, called the Crucifixion with the Converted Centurion, was painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1536.  Lucas Cranach was a painter and engraver who worked for Frederick the Wise of Saxony in Wittenberg.  He painted with bold compositions and intense colors.  Cranach was friends with Martin Luther and worked on many Protestant pieces; he looked after the printing of Luther’s pamphlets, created altarpieces for Protestant Churches, painted portraits of reformers, and made woodcuts for Luther’s Bible.  The influence Protestantism had on Cranach can be seen in his paintings, such as the Crucifixion and the Converted Centurion.  This painting depicts the religious redemption of the centurion.  Jesus is dying on the cross, his body contrasting with the dark and stormy sky.  Inscribed in German are Jesus’s last words, “Father, into thy hand I commend my spirit,” and the the Centurion exclaiming, “Truly, this man was the Son of God.”  This scene displays the Luther’s concept of salvation by faith alone; the centurion, dressed in 1500s armor, represents the “Knight of Christ,” who defends his beliefs against anything.Though he participated in Jesus's crucifixion, the centurion is redeemed through his newfound faith in God.



Sources:
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/lucas-cranach-the-elder-the-crucifixion-with-the-converted-centurion
http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.46168.html

Dante's Vision

     Purgatory is a place that the roman catholics described as a place "of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in , are, not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions." This is a place of temporary punishment and purification. Those in purgatory are destined for heaven and will not be sent to hell. Purgatory played a huge role just before the reformation as the church would take indulgences from family members hoping to help their loved ones move on into heaven. 

      In Bronzino's "Dante gazing at purgatory" he showcases purgatory in a soft way a opposed to other pieces which depict the separation of heaven, purgatory, and hell in a very graphic and violent way. In this piece, Dante is staring at the seven layer mountain of purgatory and just above the mountain is a beam of light depicting heaven.  Just beneath him is a small glimpse of the flames of hell. The reason for having dante in this painting is because he wrote the divine comedy. '“Inferno” (hell) and “Purgatory” are two of the canticles, or major sections of Dante’s famous poem, which he simply titled Comedy"(The Divine Comedy) "but what began to be called “Divine” around the time this picture was made."'

http://catholicherald.com/stories/Dante-prophet-of-the-Year-of-Mercy,30365
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm