A Painting Depicting Lutheran History and Worship
December 22nd, 2011
Take a close look at this painting and tell me all the amazing symbolism you see in it. Be sure to click on the image to see the full size version of it, details much easier to notice. Look for the means of grace depicted, and how they are depicted. Notice to the far left heretics and false teachers looking on the scene. And to the far right, the presentation of the Augsburg Confession, with John the Steadfast shown talking to the Emperor Charles V.
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Categories: Art
This is amazing!
Where did you find this painting and who is it by?
This seems to be the perfect painting for any Lutheran pastor’s office.
Found it on the Interwebs, not sure whom it is by. It is similar to a number of others like I’ve seen, same depiction, but this one is, in my opinion, the best one.
I think what I love the most about this painting is how it depicts the blood of Christ falling not just into the chalice, but it is also falling into the baptismal font. I’ve seen plenty of paintings with the chalice, but this is the first one I’ve seen with the font.
I remember seeing this or something very similar in one of the churches during a visit in Germany – maybe the Wittenberg church?
There is a version of this painting in a church in Leipzig. At least one of these types was presented in 1617 or 1630 (Reformation anniversary). I have seen three different versions. This one (which is also my favorite) has Christ in the center. Another has Emperor Charles and the Lutheran princes in the center; The third puts the emperor on the left and the altar at an angle to the right. I would love to track down a high resolution image in order to read the writing on the painting, which seems to be portions of the Augsburg Confession and Bible passages related to the articles of faith. I love to use this image as a graphical representation of what the confessors meant when they said, “Our churches…”
Here is an online source:
http://www.landschaftsmuseum.de/Seiten/Heimatpf/Konfessionsbild-1.htm
Trying to track it down, I found this smaller version of it online at a museum:
http://www.landschaftsmuseum.de/Bilder/Konfessionsg_Leipzig-1.jpg
Since I can’t read German, hopefully someone else can run with it. Maybe we can get a higher resolution print once we locate where it is from.
I can’t see any little cups!
;0)
OMG. Communion on the tongue and from a common cup. No way these are Lutherans.