During our tour of Wittenberg, the town where Martin Luther spent two-thirds of his life, we discovered three influential pieces of art that stood out to us.
Lucas Cranach the Elder’s Wittenberg Altarpiece
A close friend of Martin Luther, Lucas Cranach the Elder was a German renaissance painter who lived in Wittenberg during the same period of time as Luther. Cranach, a court painter for the elector of Saxony, lived and headquartered his print empire in Wittenberg for almost 45 years. He was also an influential member of the Protestant Reformation, supporting Luther’s ideals through altarpieces and pamphlets spreading Luther’s protestantism.
While most of Cranach’s paintings have been sold off, his altarpiece remains the forefront of the Town and Parish Church of St. Mary’s. Luther preached many sermons in the city’s church and encouraged Cranach to develop an anti iconoclastic altarpiece to instill his message. Even after the establishment of movable type, art was still a preferred source of spreading information and propaganda to the masses.
Because Luther did not want saints to be portrayed as idols, Cranach made his triptychs (trifold altarpiece) representative of the Protestant ideology. In the left panel, followers of Luther are baptized. This symbolizes the rebirth of those wishing to become Protestant. In the middle, followers of Luther wearing crimson red (ironically the color of mourning for Catholic priests) surrounded by hues of brown are surrounded by a table. The table is round because every follower has an equal chance of being close to clergy through Jesus and God. This humorously nags at the Catholic reverence for da Vinci’s Last Supper. Finally, the right panel shows repentance, also known as confession being led by a Protestant minister.
The stark contrast of Cranach’s work compared to traditional renaissance paintings immediately struck us as being very different. The colors, muted and somber except for flashiness of the red, was a bold choice for Protestant artists to display their message. Also, the realistic approach of incorporating realistic well-known faces in Carnach’s altarpiece definitely transcended Luther’s message to faith being about the people’s relationship in God rather than the idolatry of saints and priests.
The sculpture of Katharina von Bora
Katharina von Bora is one of the most important figures to the Reformation. She started as a nun but was unsatisfied with her life so she strived to grow reform movement. She ended up fleeing to Wittenberg, where we were on January 19, 2019. Although 15 years younger than Martin Luther, Katharina became his wife.
We thought it was very interesting how Oliver, our tour guide, explained that their marriage was a scandal. Luther, himself, was an outlaw monk and von Bora was a runaway nun. However, their marriage also shaped the course of history. Oliver also explained how at that time, women were to be seen and not heard. However, Luther would proclaim that since she is his wife, she was able to be in discussion rooms and voice her thoughts. Katharina had a very strong-willed personality. Luther was the ideas and the persona, however, she took care of the money and the house like a business.
In Wittenberg stands a statue of Katharina von Bora. It is evident that the ring on her finger was more gold than the rest of the statue. Oliver explained that this was because of the many hands that have touched it. It is a superstition that if one touches her ring, it will bring them a happy marriage. So of course, we had to touch her ring.
Judensau pig carving on Wittenberg Church
One aspect of Wittenberg that really stood out to both of us was why the city had an anti-Semitism symbol still carved into the stone of a church. The sculpture is a graphic image of a sow being suckled by Jews––– symbolizing that Jews are pigs. Oliver said that the phrase on the stone is something that should not be said out loud on the streets anymore. He said it only for educational purposes, however, we could tell that there was a sense of discomfort when he shared this information.
It was very shocking to see this carving, especially ingrained on a church. We both question why it would still be there. However, Oliver mentioned that they kept it up to remind and educate people about the horrific history and anti-Semitism of the area. Similar to any of the Holocaust memorials we have visited on this course, it is more dangerous if we forget horrific incidents in history such as the genocide of thousands of Jews in World War II.
-Abby and Theresa
Journey Through Media's Impact in Europe 