英國自十六世紀中宗教改革後，宗教與藝術的關係長期冷 淡，甚至幾度格格不入。到了十八世紀，開始出現轉機：羅馬 教會圖像「拉斐爾圖稿」成為歷史畫典範，部分英國教會人士 則援用繪畫理論來辯護宗教圖像的益處，顯示分隔已久的藝術 與宗教有了重新交會的可能。本文旨在探討此項轉變得以發生 的概念基礎，以及「宗教藝術」在英國重新發展的意義。文中 首先闡述當時論者對拉斐爾圖稿的詮釋，繼而分析教會人士對 宗教圖像的辯護，最後導出當時的繪畫真理觀，指出此觀點使 宗教圖像得以在新的文化框架下建立其藝術價值論述。

Since the Reformation in the mid-sixteenth century, religion had been out of tune with—or even hostile to—art in England. During the eighteenth century, new channels began to appear which made possible reuniting long-separated art and religion: the Raphael Cartoons, originally produced as Roman apologetics, became canonical for history painting in Protestant England, while religious imagery was defended by some Anglican clergymen who put forth arguments based on contemporary theories of painting. This article aims to explore the conceptual basis for this change and the significance of this re-introduction of “religious art” in England. It first examines the ways in which English commentators dealt with religious and artistic questions concerning the Raphael Cartoons, and then analyzes some clergymen’s defences of religious images, prompted by certain controversies over the use of images in churches. Finally, it argues that a certain conception of truth in painting was formulated, which helped validated a discourse of artistic value of “religious images” in a new cultural framework.