What was the impact of the Reformation on art in Northern Europe?

1 The two main reformers were Erasmus, who worked to reform the Roman Catholic Church from within, and Martin Luther, who eventually broke with the Church.
2 Although Luther wrote about the veneration of saints and relics, he did not encourage iconoclasms that occurred in Protestant territories.
3 Artists began looking for nonreligious commissions and patrons began looking for secular, yet philosophical and meditative subjects.
4 A growing middle class and a less rigid social hierarchy in some areas allowed artists to create a variety of luxury goods and small, personalized paintings.