DOI Artikel:
Krasny, Piotr: Lutherus honorandus, non adorandus?: reflexions on the development of Martin Luther's iconography after reading the book: Martin Luther, Monument, Ketzer, Mensch
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.38234#0133
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6. Portrait of Martin Luther with a Swan, copper engraving, c. 1620.
After M. Treu, ‘Luther zwischen Kunst’ (as in note 9)
to be sweeping the pope, Roman Catholic cardinals, bish-
ops, clergy and monks - who deserve eternal condem-
nation for having disfigured and blemished the original
simplicity of Christian liturgy - into the yawning, flaming
chasm of Leviathans mouth. Luther’s raised right directs
the viewer towards the depiction of the Lords Supper cel-
ebrated in the proper, apostolic’ way, which was restored
thanks to him.26
The images of Luther introduced into churches shortly
after his death were most likely not intended to propagate
his cult, unlike devotional images of saints in the Catho-
lic Church. Even the presence of his image in the Wei-
mar altarpiece should not, in the light of his teachings,
have provoked such practices, since in his dissertation,
Wider die himmlischen Propheten, von den Bildern und
Sakrament [Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of
26 G. Soavizzi, Arte, pp. 64-65 (as in note 7); H. Mai, ‘Die Spen-
dung des Abendmahles in beiderlei Gestalt durch Luther und
Hus’, in Kunst der Reformationszeit, p. 421 (as in note 7); С. Pa-
piNi, ‘Commento alle illustrazioni nel testo’, in M. Lutero, Mes-
sa, pp. 381-382 (as in note 24); A. Arnulf, ‘Die Luther-Memoria’,
pp. 78-79 (as in note 12).
Images and Sacraments], published in 1525, Luther wrote
that Christian altarpieces must not be objects of venera-
tion, but - being especially eloquent testimonies of faith -
they should rather instruct the faithful.27 Therefore the
images of recently deceased or even still living persons
depicted in altarpieces were not considered by Luther-
ans as a manifestation of worship of these persons, but as
a means of contemporisation of the pastoral message con-
veyed by the paintings.28
The cult of Luther was more likely provoked by the dis-
semination of his ‘individual images’ which, since the sec-
ond half of the sixteenth century had been hung both in
private homes and in churches, mainly as a sign of affili-
ation with the Lutheran community of the inhabitants or
users of these buildings.29 A majority of these representa-
tions were copies’ of portraits by Cranach (a fact that was
sometimes recognised in the inscriptions accompanying
the images)30, but some were reminiscent of the Catholic
images of saints. According to Treu, the most widely dis-
seminated example of such an innovation was the image
of Luther with a swan at his feet [Fig. 6]31, inviting associa-
tions with representations of numerous saints accompa-
nied by animals as their attributes. This composition was
suggested by Luther himself who, in one of his table talks,
recorded in 1531, said: ‘The saint Hus had made a proph-
ecy about me, when in a letter sent from his prison cell
[in Constance] to Bohemia he wrote that he was going to
suffer being roasted as a goose (the word hus means goose
in Czech), but in a hundred years the voice of a swan
would be heard, who would explain the will of God’.32 This
rather gruesome concept, showing Luther as a superior
and more efficient continuator of the reform initiated by
Jan Hus (1369-1415) who was martyred at the stake, must
27 M. Luther, Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of Images
and Sacraments (digitool.library.mcgill.ca/R/?func=dbin-jump-
full&object_id=ii383i&local_base=GENoi-MCGo2 [accessed on
24 Oct. 2017]), paragraph 70.
28 F. Büttner, ‘“Argumentatio” in Bildern der Reformationszeit.
Ein Beitrag zur Bestimmung argumentativer Strukturen in der
Bildkunst’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 57, 1994, no. 1, pp. 24-
25; A. Arnulf, ‘Die Luther-Memoria’, pp. 102-106 (as in note 12).
An interesting instance of such a contemporisation, used in or-
der to defeat Luther and his teachings, is a painting by Barthel
Bruyn the Elder, The Temptation of Christ, in which the Satan has
the facial features of the Reformer of Wittenberg and is wearing
his characteristic gown. See C. Hecht, ‘Gegen die Reformation -
katholische Kunststiftungen in den ersten Jahrzehnten, in Kunst
und Konfession. Katholische Auftragswerke im Zeitalter der Glau-
bensspaltung 1517-1563, ed. by A. Tacke, Regensburg, 2008, pp. 87-
-88, Fig. 7.
29 R.W. Scribner, ‘Incombustible Luther’, p. 55 (as in note 3);
H. Schilling, Martin Luther, pp. 507-508 (as in note 2).
30 M. Treu, ‘Luther zwischen Kunst’, pp. 410-411 (as in note 9).
31 Ibidem, pp. 415-417.
32 Ibidem, p. 415. See also R. W. Scribner, ‘Incombustible Luther’,
PP- 57-58 (as in note 3).
6. Portrait of Martin Luther with a Swan, copper engraving, c. 1620.
After M. Treu, ‘Luther zwischen Kunst’ (as in note 9)
to be sweeping the pope, Roman Catholic cardinals, bish-
ops, clergy and monks - who deserve eternal condem-
nation for having disfigured and blemished the original
simplicity of Christian liturgy - into the yawning, flaming
chasm of Leviathans mouth. Luther’s raised right directs
the viewer towards the depiction of the Lords Supper cel-
ebrated in the proper, apostolic’ way, which was restored
thanks to him.26
The images of Luther introduced into churches shortly
after his death were most likely not intended to propagate
his cult, unlike devotional images of saints in the Catho-
lic Church. Even the presence of his image in the Wei-
mar altarpiece should not, in the light of his teachings,
have provoked such practices, since in his dissertation,
Wider die himmlischen Propheten, von den Bildern und
Sakrament [Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of
26 G. Soavizzi, Arte, pp. 64-65 (as in note 7); H. Mai, ‘Die Spen-
dung des Abendmahles in beiderlei Gestalt durch Luther und
Hus’, in Kunst der Reformationszeit, p. 421 (as in note 7); С. Pa-
piNi, ‘Commento alle illustrazioni nel testo’, in M. Lutero, Mes-
sa, pp. 381-382 (as in note 24); A. Arnulf, ‘Die Luther-Memoria’,
pp. 78-79 (as in note 12).
Images and Sacraments], published in 1525, Luther wrote
that Christian altarpieces must not be objects of venera-
tion, but - being especially eloquent testimonies of faith -
they should rather instruct the faithful.27 Therefore the
images of recently deceased or even still living persons
depicted in altarpieces were not considered by Luther-
ans as a manifestation of worship of these persons, but as
a means of contemporisation of the pastoral message con-
veyed by the paintings.28
The cult of Luther was more likely provoked by the dis-
semination of his ‘individual images’ which, since the sec-
ond half of the sixteenth century had been hung both in
private homes and in churches, mainly as a sign of affili-
ation with the Lutheran community of the inhabitants or
users of these buildings.29 A majority of these representa-
tions were copies’ of portraits by Cranach (a fact that was
sometimes recognised in the inscriptions accompanying
the images)30, but some were reminiscent of the Catholic
images of saints. According to Treu, the most widely dis-
seminated example of such an innovation was the image
of Luther with a swan at his feet [Fig. 6]31, inviting associa-
tions with representations of numerous saints accompa-
nied by animals as their attributes. This composition was
suggested by Luther himself who, in one of his table talks,
recorded in 1531, said: ‘The saint Hus had made a proph-
ecy about me, when in a letter sent from his prison cell
[in Constance] to Bohemia he wrote that he was going to
suffer being roasted as a goose (the word hus means goose
in Czech), but in a hundred years the voice of a swan
would be heard, who would explain the will of God’.32 This
rather gruesome concept, showing Luther as a superior
and more efficient continuator of the reform initiated by
Jan Hus (1369-1415) who was martyred at the stake, must
27 M. Luther, Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of Images
and Sacraments (digitool.library.mcgill.ca/R/?func=dbin-jump-
full&object_id=ii383i&local_base=GENoi-MCGo2 [accessed on
24 Oct. 2017]), paragraph 70.
28 F. Büttner, ‘“Argumentatio” in Bildern der Reformationszeit.
Ein Beitrag zur Bestimmung argumentativer Strukturen in der
Bildkunst’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 57, 1994, no. 1, pp. 24-
25; A. Arnulf, ‘Die Luther-Memoria’, pp. 102-106 (as in note 12).
An interesting instance of such a contemporisation, used in or-
der to defeat Luther and his teachings, is a painting by Barthel
Bruyn the Elder, The Temptation of Christ, in which the Satan has
the facial features of the Reformer of Wittenberg and is wearing
his characteristic gown. See C. Hecht, ‘Gegen die Reformation -
katholische Kunststiftungen in den ersten Jahrzehnten, in Kunst
und Konfession. Katholische Auftragswerke im Zeitalter der Glau-
bensspaltung 1517-1563, ed. by A. Tacke, Regensburg, 2008, pp. 87-
-88, Fig. 7.
29 R.W. Scribner, ‘Incombustible Luther’, p. 55 (as in note 3);
H. Schilling, Martin Luther, pp. 507-508 (as in note 2).
30 M. Treu, ‘Luther zwischen Kunst’, pp. 410-411 (as in note 9).
31 Ibidem, pp. 415-417.
32 Ibidem, p. 415. See also R. W. Scribner, ‘Incombustible Luther’,
PP- 57-58 (as in note 3).