Did religions other than Christianity inspire art forms like the Catholic Church did with baroque art, pre 19th century?

by sailsouth_
Abderian87

I think the key word in your question may be "inspire." Inspire, in artistic terms, can be a very passive act. The way this question is phrased, I am tempted to assume you mean that artists, in their learning of Christianity, were motivated from the theology and ethos alone to create their amazing works of art.

I don't think it is realistic to deny that such a thing did happen and broadly. However, it's important to acknowledge that the creation of Christian-themed art in Europe came from more than the inherent qualities of the faith alone.

One major influence pushing artists towards Christian themes is that artists have this unfortunate need to eat and have shelter. Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the people with the money to commission artworks were the Church itself, royalty and nobility, and wealthy families. The latter groups, for reasons of power dynamics as much as piety, would have a strong motivation to commission artworks associating themselves with Biblical figures, most prominently Jesus and Mary.

There are, of course, exceptions. The Medici family encouraged (with their money, of course) a period of humanistic art alongside religious works. Many famous portraits and works relating to Greek and Roman mythology date from their period of dominance in Florence. When the family fell from power and became exiled, roaming sermonizers responded to their humanism with a new wave of religious zealotry. Christian theological works resurged.

But did other faiths inspire such artwork? It can be difficult to evaluate. The Jews in Renaissance Italy were confined to the ghetto, and in the Middle East, they endured dhimmi laws that forced them into second-class citizenry. Though Jews did create art, the guild system and Church power would have made it unlikely for Jewish theological art to succeed. Islam forbids depictions of Mohammed, but there are many examples of beautiful geometric and architectural art from Islamic cultures. Though Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu religions have produced amazingly beautiful temples and statues, there aren't (to my knowledge) the kinds of art we typically associate with European Christian outputs--frescoes, tapestries, and oil paintings. We also see Japanese expressions of Zen in the form of flower arranging, tea ceremonies, and minimalism in architecture, painting, and poetry.

Unlike Europe, East Asian cultures generally did not have a single, centralized religious authority that with the power, money, control, and interest to generate the creation of theologically-specific art. Though Confucianism has had a profound impact on China and its surrounding nations, there never was a Church of Confucius dispensing dogma to which leaders needed to show their loyalty through pious art. This has more to do with culture and authority structures than it does with faith. A Japanese shogun need only have the approval of the Emperor, the Son of Heaven, and exert military control in order to have his legitimacy. The same goes for Chinese dynastic leadership, whose concern would likely have been the Will (or Mandate) of Heaven.

TL;DR: Did other religions inspire artwork? Yes, but not the same kind of art that we think of when we talk about European Christian artwork before the Enlightenment. The reasons for this have more to do with local power dynamics and culture than with inherent inspirational qualities of specific religions.