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#0137
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12. Erhard Schön, Devil’s Bagpipe, woodcut, c. 1530
tendency to deprecating him as much as possible, by writ-
ers and artists associated with the Catholic Church.46 Ac-
cording to Treu, such actions acquired a rather pedestri-
an form under the influence of the Catholic polemicist
Johannes Cochläus (1479-1552) who, in order to deni-
grate Luther in the eyes of the folk, bluntly and coarsely
mocked his obesity, which the Reformer developed in the
early 1530, as an evidence that he had not been leading
an ascetic life, as would have been proper for a ‘man of
God’, who renounced the world.47 There is no doubt that
both Luther’s late portraits by Cranach and his posthu-
mous likeness disseminated in print very faithfully pre-
sented his enormous corpulence.48 So, all the Catholic art-
ists had to do was to make sure that the beholders did not
overlook this fault. Thus, for example, the author of the
print commemorating expulsion of Lutherans from Bo-
hemia after the battle of White Mountain, discussed by
Treu, showed Luther carrying his fat stomach in a wheel-
barrow [Fig. 11].49
46 W.H.T. Dau, Luther Examined and Reexamined: A Review of
Catholic Criticism and a Plea for Revaluation, St Louis 1914, p. 115;
J. VOKOUN, Luther, pp. 227-231 (as in note 36).
47 M. Treu, ‘Luther zwischen Kunst’, p. 421 (as in note 9). On the in-
terpretation of Luther’s obesity in anti-Protestant Catholic litera-
ture, see W.H.T. Dau, Luther, chapter 2 (as in note 46).
48 K. Hoffmann, ‘Totenbildnis Martin Luthers, Lucas Cranach d.J.,
Werkstatt’, in Martin Luther und Reformation, p. 437 (as in note 7).
49 M. Treu, ‘Luther zwischen Kunst’, pp. 419-420 (as in note 9).
It is worth noticing that Luther’s fat head appeared in
anti-Protestant art immediately after it had acquired such
a form in reality. In Erhard Schön’s woodcut, published
around 1535, Luther’s head serves as the bag of the bagpipe
on which the devil plays his blasphemous music, picking
out the tones on the pipe protruding from the Reformer’s
nose [Fig. 12] .50 All Catholic prints published during the
last twenty-five years of Luther’s life ostentatiously exhib-
ited his fat face and his enormous stomach, often shown
as overflowing the belt or girdle encircling the friar’s habit
which Luther had so notoriously dishonoured.51
Sometimes, however, the authors of anti-Protestant
iconography searched for more sophisticated solutions,
aimed at presenting Luther not merely as one of the en-
emies of the cross of Christ, whose god was their stom-
ach (Phil. 3, 18-19). By means of certain likenesses, they
tried to persuade the viewers that Luther was, as the Je-
suit Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) stated, an arch-heretic
who had herded larger numbers of faithful out of Christ’s
true Church than any other dissenter.52 Such actions were
undertaken, for example, by Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti
(1522-1597) who, in his Discorso intorno alle immagini sa-
cre e profane, published in 1582, wrote that Luther should
be depicted as a black wolf dressed in a friar’s habit, which
will demonstrate his monstrous transformation of a de-
vout Hermit of St Augustine into a horrible enemy of the
Church.53 This concept was, so it seems, a reversed ad-
aptation of a motif appearing in Lutheran anti-Catho-
lic prints in which the pope was frequently depicted as
a wolf, in a tiara and pontificals, menacing the flock of
Christ [Fig. 13].54 Sometimes also minor priests and mem-
bers of religious orders were portrayed as wolfs wearing
cassocks or habits.55
I am not aware of artworks which realise Paleotti’s in-
structions, but I can indicate other instances of depicting
Luther in Catholic art in a similar way to that in which
evangelical artists portrayed the pope and his clergy. The
papists did not have qualms about showing Luther being
50 K. Hoffmann, ‘Mit der “Verteufelung” des Gegners soll auch die
eigene Teufelsangst überwunden werden’, in Martin Luther und
die Reformationszeit, p. 239 (as in note 7); R. Zeller, Prediger der
Evangelismus. Erben der Reformation im Spiegel der Kunst, Re-
gensburg, 1998, p. 63.
51 K. Hoffmann, ‘Martinus Luther Siebenkopf, Hans Brosamer,
1529’, in Martin Luther und die Reformationszeit, pp. 227-228 (as
in note 7).
52 R Walter, ‘Der Ketzer Luther. Robert Bellarmin und die Kon-
troversliteratur’, in Martin Luther. Monument, pp. 42-60 (as in
note*).
53 G. Paleotti, Discorso intorno alle immagini sacre e profane, ed.
by S. Della Tore, G.L Lreguglia, Vatican City, 2002, p. 160.
54 ‘Die päpstlichen Wölfe, Johann Schöffer, 1521’, in Brennen für den
Glauben, p. 291 (as in note 7).
55 See K. Llügel, ‘Zwei Wölfe, als Kleriker und Mönch gekleidet,
zereissen ein Schaf’, in Kunst der Reformationszeit, pp. 377-378 (as
in note 7).
12. Erhard Schön, Devil’s Bagpipe, woodcut, c. 1530
tendency to deprecating him as much as possible, by writ-
ers and artists associated with the Catholic Church.46 Ac-
cording to Treu, such actions acquired a rather pedestri-
an form under the influence of the Catholic polemicist
Johannes Cochläus (1479-1552) who, in order to deni-
grate Luther in the eyes of the folk, bluntly and coarsely
mocked his obesity, which the Reformer developed in the
early 1530, as an evidence that he had not been leading
an ascetic life, as would have been proper for a ‘man of
God’, who renounced the world.47 There is no doubt that
both Luther’s late portraits by Cranach and his posthu-
mous likeness disseminated in print very faithfully pre-
sented his enormous corpulence.48 So, all the Catholic art-
ists had to do was to make sure that the beholders did not
overlook this fault. Thus, for example, the author of the
print commemorating expulsion of Lutherans from Bo-
hemia after the battle of White Mountain, discussed by
Treu, showed Luther carrying his fat stomach in a wheel-
barrow [Fig. 11].49
46 W.H.T. Dau, Luther Examined and Reexamined: A Review of
Catholic Criticism and a Plea for Revaluation, St Louis 1914, p. 115;
J. VOKOUN, Luther, pp. 227-231 (as in note 36).
47 M. Treu, ‘Luther zwischen Kunst’, p. 421 (as in note 9). On the in-
terpretation of Luther’s obesity in anti-Protestant Catholic litera-
ture, see W.H.T. Dau, Luther, chapter 2 (as in note 46).
48 K. Hoffmann, ‘Totenbildnis Martin Luthers, Lucas Cranach d.J.,
Werkstatt’, in Martin Luther und Reformation, p. 437 (as in note 7).
49 M. Treu, ‘Luther zwischen Kunst’, pp. 419-420 (as in note 9).
It is worth noticing that Luther’s fat head appeared in
anti-Protestant art immediately after it had acquired such
a form in reality. In Erhard Schön’s woodcut, published
around 1535, Luther’s head serves as the bag of the bagpipe
on which the devil plays his blasphemous music, picking
out the tones on the pipe protruding from the Reformer’s
nose [Fig. 12] .50 All Catholic prints published during the
last twenty-five years of Luther’s life ostentatiously exhib-
ited his fat face and his enormous stomach, often shown
as overflowing the belt or girdle encircling the friar’s habit
which Luther had so notoriously dishonoured.51
Sometimes, however, the authors of anti-Protestant
iconography searched for more sophisticated solutions,
aimed at presenting Luther not merely as one of the en-
emies of the cross of Christ, whose god was their stom-
ach (Phil. 3, 18-19). By means of certain likenesses, they
tried to persuade the viewers that Luther was, as the Je-
suit Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) stated, an arch-heretic
who had herded larger numbers of faithful out of Christ’s
true Church than any other dissenter.52 Such actions were
undertaken, for example, by Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti
(1522-1597) who, in his Discorso intorno alle immagini sa-
cre e profane, published in 1582, wrote that Luther should
be depicted as a black wolf dressed in a friar’s habit, which
will demonstrate his monstrous transformation of a de-
vout Hermit of St Augustine into a horrible enemy of the
Church.53 This concept was, so it seems, a reversed ad-
aptation of a motif appearing in Lutheran anti-Catho-
lic prints in which the pope was frequently depicted as
a wolf, in a tiara and pontificals, menacing the flock of
Christ [Fig. 13].54 Sometimes also minor priests and mem-
bers of religious orders were portrayed as wolfs wearing
cassocks or habits.55
I am not aware of artworks which realise Paleotti’s in-
structions, but I can indicate other instances of depicting
Luther in Catholic art in a similar way to that in which
evangelical artists portrayed the pope and his clergy. The
papists did not have qualms about showing Luther being
50 K. Hoffmann, ‘Mit der “Verteufelung” des Gegners soll auch die
eigene Teufelsangst überwunden werden’, in Martin Luther und
die Reformationszeit, p. 239 (as in note 7); R. Zeller, Prediger der
Evangelismus. Erben der Reformation im Spiegel der Kunst, Re-
gensburg, 1998, p. 63.
51 K. Hoffmann, ‘Martinus Luther Siebenkopf, Hans Brosamer,
1529’, in Martin Luther und die Reformationszeit, pp. 227-228 (as
in note 7).
52 R Walter, ‘Der Ketzer Luther. Robert Bellarmin und die Kon-
troversliteratur’, in Martin Luther. Monument, pp. 42-60 (as in
note*).
53 G. Paleotti, Discorso intorno alle immagini sacre e profane, ed.
by S. Della Tore, G.L Lreguglia, Vatican City, 2002, p. 160.
54 ‘Die päpstlichen Wölfe, Johann Schöffer, 1521’, in Brennen für den
Glauben, p. 291 (as in note 7).
55 See K. Llügel, ‘Zwei Wölfe, als Kleriker und Mönch gekleidet,
zereissen ein Schaf’, in Kunst der Reformationszeit, pp. 377-378 (as
in note 7).