The altarpiece in the
church of Wittenberg was finished in 1547 by Lucas Cranach the Elder. The
church called St. Marien is the place where Luther preached his sermons and
where the people heard his reformative thoughts about the nature and the constitution
of church and religion.
The altarpiece consists of four different panels. The
biggest panel in the middle depicts the scene of the last supper. It is shown
as a communicative scene in which everybody is sitting around the table and is
clearly talking and having a conversation with his neighbor (except of Judas
who wears bright yellow clothes and his foot steps out of the circle). Cranach
also depicts Luther in the circle of the apostles. He is the one on the right
who just gets handed over the chalice. The left panel shows Philip Melanchton,
who was a colleague of Luther, baptizing new followers of the new faith. The
right panel depicts another follower of Luther, Johannes Budenhagen, who acts
as a confessor. The three panels show different events but they are all
connected not only by their subject (the three sacraments) but also in the
artistic way of using similar colors (red, brown) and shapes (circles). The
fact that the altarpiece shows Lutheran sacraments as well as the traditional Catholic
last supper emphasizes the reality of Luther’s new church and is meant to give
credibility to his thoughts and faith.
In
the bottom panel (called Predella) the historical context becomes clearer. It
shows Luther preaching and presenting the crucified Christ to his followers.
This scene works more as a metaphor in which Luther can be seen as the leader
and preacher of the new church. The way in which he places one hand on the book
(probably the Bible) reflects the thinking of Protestants, who believed in the
scriptural authority of the Bible and people’s individual reading and
interpreting of it (which is opposite to the Catholic belief in which the pope
or the priest does the interpretation).
The Wittenberg altarpiece clearly illustrates the new
forming Lutheran church and it also idealizes the new community of Lutherans in
the area. It is therefore an important piece in a meaningful place of the
Reformation. Lucas Cranach, who was a close friend of Martin Luther and his
wife Katharina, depicts this Reformation as a whole concept of thinking and by
doing so he marks a decisive change in the Northern European art.
Anna, this post is really informative and interesting! Personally I do not know much about the Lutheran faith, or this church so this post told me many things I wasn't aware of. Your analysis of the connection between the various panels tells a good story, as well as offering the history of the faith and the men involved. One question on your post, who is handing Luther the chalice, is it symbolically important or is he just a character to fill the piece?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jenn, i also would like to comment on the last panel which shows Luther preaching and presenting the crucified Christ to his followers. In ways, it shows the birth of protestants. Like you said, its the metaphor in which Luther can be seen as the leader and preacher of the new church.
ReplyDelete@Jenn: Thanks for the question. I read that the guy who is handing the chalice to Luther is depicted as Cranch's son Lucas Cranach the Younger. He followed his father's profession and also became a painter. It was mentioned in one of the sources that the act in giving back the chalice can be seen symbolically as a return from the church to Luther in appreciating his work and acknowledging his influence.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and history! I had not seen this before, so thank you sharing.
ReplyDeleteCatholics were Ok with people reading the Bible. But preaching and interpreting was left to those with licenses and those who had studied at the university. What kept people from owning a Bible or a lot of Bibles was the prohibitive cost pre-printing press.
I liked your citation from Smart History and the differences between Italian (Ren and Baroque art) to someone like Cranach. Less body, right? How does this contribute to a new sense of difference and nationalism between Germany and Italy. Interesting though, and maybe its a future article to write, nudity was reserved for women who were linked to witchcraft in Germany.
ReplyDelete