Painting Death in Antwerp: Depictions of Martyrdoms By Ambrosius Francken I: .

The turbulent backdrop of the protestant reformation serves as the context for my thesis, which will look at altarpieces from Antwerp made after the waves of Calvinist iconoclasm in 1566 and 1581 once Catholicism was reinstated in 1584. In my thesis I argue that these depictions of the most violent scenes in a Saint's life reflect the reinvigoration of the cult of the saints as a result of martyrdom during the reformation and a push by the Catholic church to re-indoctrinate the populace.