The Counter-Reformation Church searched for authentic religious art with which to counter the threat of Protestantism , and for this task the artificial conventions of Mannerism , which had ruled art for almost a century , no longer seemed adequate . During the Counter-Reformation the Roman Catholic Church searched for religious art with which to counter the threat of Protestantism , and for this task the artificial conventions of Mannerism , which had ruled art for almost a century , no longer seemed adequate .