God must have expensive tastes
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You seem surprised at the notion.
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I was tickled the Michelangelo’s David was such a political hot potato, that it had to be wrapped in mattresses to protect it against Florentines (of the anti-Medici factions) lobbing bricks at it as it was moved through the city to his plinth.
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I did not know that but that’s pretty interesting. I do have one bit of trivia, if you’re ever in Vegas check out the replica at Ceasar’s Palace. It’s a 1:1 replica and the marble from that is from the same quarry as the original and you get to check it out pretty damn close, it’s in a really random hidden corner in the casino and i’m sure most people don’t typically see it.
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That sounds so typically Vegas on several levels. 
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Very much so lol, former Vegas local here.
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Yes. Very.
While we are focused on Christianity, yes, true believers around the world have build amazing art and architecture for their gods. Now I assume you’re a non-believer, and that is fine. But per-science you probably would have been. And if one is a believer of that god(s), one would want to exalt them to curry favor and to give them glory. I can understand if one feels this is foolishness now, but should respect that wasn’t always the case then.
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Actually, in that era a fair percentage of the parish priests couldn’t understand Latin either!
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Aye, and the same motivations drove all other patrons.
Amusingly, the paintings often considered to be exemplars of medieval art were - at the time - generally at the cheaper or ‘entry level’ end of the art world. The really good stuff was made of gold ad other precious metals, or exotic woods from foreign climes. But all that stuff has been “repurposed” over the intervening centuries - either stolen and melted down, or eaten by borer. What we’ve been left with are primarily the paintings, which weren’t worth stealing and couldn’t be melted down.
I exaggerate a little, but not too much.
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Though unlike Holbein, a supporter of Luther, they might have been willing to work for a pope…
Not really. Popes weren’t commissioning art for random churches in rural backwaters, they were commissioning for the Vatican (and often their own family homes), to impress rather than to educate.
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So with all the other recommendations here no one has recommended F for Fake?
I strongly recommend F for Fake.
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Yes! van Meegeren is a great example–he wasn’t copying existing works, he was creating new works that were utterly credible as Vermeer’s, not just in terms of composition, color, light, and brush technique, but also artificially aged to match them. And on top of that, he was credibly “discovering” these works and selling them to collectors and museums. Talk about your Renaissance man.
I would be very interested in exhibiting the forgeries along with original artwork by the forger. Almost all of these forgers are extremely talented artists in their own right. They deserve recognition beyond Wikipedia.
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RAW was right!
Needs more Red Crayola
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The wealth and power of Church told of the power of God to achieve His ends, so of course they would try to impress the rubes that way. A technique still used by CEOs when building their business temples to the lordly power of Capitalism.
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