The Dutch Republic was officially Calvinist yet large portions of the population did not
belong to the Reformed confession. Catholics too influenced society art and culture in
important ways. This book's essays originally presented at an international conference at
Frankfurt's Städel Museum draw from a range of methodologies to examine the significance of
images and objects to Catholics from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. The various media
and contexts under discussion bring to light the expansive communicative space of the Catholic
image. Nuanced consideration of both confessionally specific and interdenominational factors
yields a deeper understanding of the complexity and multifaceted character of the art of the
northern Netherlands.
