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The Allegory of Salvation and Sin
Jan Royt
(Prague)
Roughly ten years ago I published, jointly with Docent Vladimír Hrubý, an article about the Lutheran Allegory of Salvation and Sin in the hall of the Castle of Pardubice.^1 Since then several more such discoveries have occurred, hence one may surmise that the theme was more widespread than hitherto has been assumed.
The Lutheran Reformation’s attitude toward images of veneration was not entirely as negative as, for instance, is indicated by Luther’s reaction to the pilgrimages to “The Beautiful Virgin Mary of Regensburg.”^2 And it certainly was not as sweeping as the attitudes of the Unity of Brethren or of the Swiss and Dutch reformations against the didactic role of images in the liturgical space. Luther’s more tolerant view is attested in his prefaces to Passionsbüchlein and Bettbüchlein which even recommend images for the dissemination of the Christian message. In any case, many Lutheran churches have preserved numerous examples of medieval art, and churches newly built in the seventeenth century in Silesia (the so-called Friedenskirche ) did not lack ecclesiastical art, albeit exclusively on biblical themes. The idea of a dogmatic allegory, also known as Lehrbild , Dogmenbild , or Dogmenallegorie , apparently emerged in the reformation milieu of Wittenberg. In all probability, Martin Luther was responsible for its origin, inasmuch as the theme of the Allegory of Salvation and Sin has the same didactic bearing as Luther’s Katechismus (1529) that was published in the same period, when the allegory also presumably originated. There is some evidence that the allegory was theologically formulated by Philip Melanchton, as can be deduced from his letter to the poet Johann Stiegel.^3 The Allegory of Salvation and Sin (or Law and Grace), emerging just before 1530, is also known in German literature as Verdammnis und Erlösung , Sünde und Gnade , Sündenfall und Erlösung , Gesetz und Gnade , or Die Rechtfertigung des Sünders durch Glauben.^4
(^1) Jan Royt and Vladmír Hrubý, “Nástěnná malba s námětem Zákon a Milost na zámku
v Pardubicích,” [Mural painting with the theme of law and grace in the castle of Pardubice] Umění 40 (1992) 124-137. (^2) C. Altgraf zu Salm, “Neue Forsuchungen zur Schönen Madona von Regensburg,” in:
Münchener Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst 12 (1962) 49; G. Stahl, “Die Wallfahrt zur Schönen Maria in Regensburg,” in: G. Schwaiger and J. Staber, eds., Beiträge zur Geschichte des Bistums Regensburg 2 (1968) 35; A. Hubel, “Die Schöne Maria von Regensburg,” in: 850 Jahre Kollegiatsstift zu den hll. Johannes Baptist und Evangelist in Regensburg , ed. P. Mai (Munich, 1977) 45. (^3) H. Lilienfein, Lucas Cranach und seine Zeit (Leipzig, 1942) 54. (^4) See, concerning this issue, K. E. Meier, “Fortleben der religiös-dogmatischen Kompositionen
Cranachs in der Kunst des Protestantismus,” Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 32 (1909) 415-435; P. Goldberg., Die Darstellung der Erlösung durch Christus und sein Blut und der heiligen Eucharistie in der protestantischen Kunst der Reformationszeit. Diss. Phil. Marburg 1925 (unpublished); J. Bucholz, Protestantismus und Kunst (Leipzig, 1928); H. Schrade, Die Auferstehung Christi (Berlin and Leipzig, 1932) 295–298; M. J. Friedländer and J. Rosenberg, DieGemälde von Lucas Cranach (Berlin,
- 63-64, image 186; O. Thulin, Cranach, Altäre der Reformation (Berlin, 1955); M. Lurker , Der
The theme is based on the typology of the Old and the New Testament or, as the case may be, on their antithesis. As against the High Middle Ages that understood the relationship between the two testaments as one of preparation and fulfillment, now the relationship received a sharper antithetical, confrontational character. The essence of this relationship is contained in the verses of Luke (24:44): “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled,” and of John (1:17): “The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” We can here recall the words of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (5:12-15) that are most consonant with our theme: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned — sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many,” or other verses of the Epistle (Romans 1:17): “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith;’” and (Romans 3:20): “For ‘no human being will be justified in his sight’ by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.”
One can fathom from Luther’s thoughts that the weapon of death is sin and sin has its power from the Law, from which also comes understanding. The Law bears with it the wrath of God and all have sinned and are far from God’s glory; it is as though the man, depicted under the tree in the Allegory of Salvation and Sin, would ask (Romans 7:24): “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” The sin of the progenitors, however, is not an inescapable tragedy (Romans 5:18): “Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all,” hence, against Adam’s fall and his grave there stands in the Allegories of Salvation and Sin “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” as it is announced by the depicted St. John the Baptist. The sacrifice of the Lamb washes away the sins, to which humankind was seduced by the fall of Adam; the sacrifice on the cross
Baum in Glauben und Kunst unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Werke des Hieronymus Bosch (Baden–Baden and Strassbourg, 1960) 33; F. A. Grossmann, “A Religious Allegory by Hans Holbein the Younger,” Burlington Magazine 103 (1961) 491-494; D. L. Ehresmann, “The Brazen Serpent, A Reformation Motif in the Works of Lucas Cranach the Elder and his Workshop,” in: Marsyas 13 (New York University, 1967) 33-47; Cranach – Colloquium (Wittenberg, 1973) 69; Dieter Koepplin and Tilman Falk, Lukas Cranach: Gemälde, Zeicnhungen, Druckgraphik: Ausstellung im Kunstmuseum Basel, 15. Juni – 8. September 1974 , 2 vols. (Basel: Birkhäuser, 1974-1976) 2:505-510; K. Hiob, “Gesetz und Evangelium , Südenfall und Erlösung,” in: Reformation in Nürnberg und Bewahrung (Nurenberg, 1979) 134 -135; J. Harasimowicz, “Typy i programy śląskich ołtarzy wieku Reformacji,” Roczniki Sztuki Śląskiej 12 (1979) 7-27; F. Ohly, Gesetz und Evangelium. Zur Typologie bei Luther und Lucas Cranach. Münster 1985; Ikonographie des Protestantismus , in : Beiträge des CIHA Kolloquium
- Kunst und Reformation (Leipzig, 1985) 332-340; J. Harasimowicz, “Treści i funkcje ideowe sztuki śląskej reformacji 1520-1650,” Acta Universitatis Wratislawiensis , No 819, Historia sztuki 2 (1986).
and the Prague variant may be considered the more recent and theologically more elaborate.
The Gotha Type
The earliest extant variant of the Allegory of Salvation and Sin is the image in Gotha.^7 The tablet (oil tempera on a wooden tablet, 80 x 115 cm) was painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder probably in Wittenberg in 1529 (as dated on the trunk of the tree). The image field of the Gotha tablet is halved by a tree, the crown of which is withered on the left side, and green on the right side. On the left half, that is, on the side of the Law, we see, under the withered branches of the tree, Moses with the tablets of the Law and three Prophets and, in the first layer, a naked sinner chased into the infernal flames by the figures of death and sin (i.e., the devil). The second layer depicts the Original Sin, and the third layer portrays the Hebrew camp with a copper serpent on a pole raised by Moses. Moses is surrounded by ailing people, who are recovering from the stings of serpents (Numbers 21:9). This Old Testament event was considered an emblematic foreboding of the Crucifixion, as suggested in the Gospel of John (3:14-15): “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” An apocalyptic God, with a sword and with a lily in his mouth, floats in the sky, and is adored by two hosts of saints.
On the contrasting right half of the tablet, the side of Grace, we see, under the green tree branches, a naked man, to whom the greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist, is showing the crucified Christ. The “naked man” is not depicted merely as “the old Adam” of the Middle Ages in contrast to Christ, but as a man of the present and of the past, for whom and for whose sins God had posited the Law, but for whom he had also rendered the sacrifice of his only Son. The naked man figures here as one between sin and grace – between the two poles of the divine order of salvation. It is as if we heard Martin Luther’s words: “Gott der hat ywey Wort, eins ist das Gesetz,…das ander ist das Evangelion,” and his assurance that the life of man is: “…transitus de lege ad gratiam, de peccato ad justitiam, de Mose ad Christu.” At the foot of the cross, the victorious Lamb is treading on death and sin. In the second layer of the right half of the tablet, the resurrected Christ is floating over the cave with an empty tomb; and in the third layer, we see the image of the annunciation to the shepherds. The bottom part of the image contains scriptural quotations that are relevant to the various motifs, and largely drawn from Romans.
A later variant of the image from Gotha is an image from Weimar (Gallerie im Schloss, c. 1530), a town that also was one of the important centres of the Reformation.^8 In distinction from the Gotha prototype, the theme of the allegory in Weimar is expanded to include a Marian component. On the right side, we see, on a rock, the Virgin Mary in an expectant state, and Christ Emmanuel with a small cross being sent to her. This may be interpreted as a reference to the Saviour’s
(^7) Kunst der Reformationszeit , ed. E. Badstübner (Berlin 1983) 358-360, image on 328. (^8) Ibid. 357-360.
incarnation. It would be, however, difficult to see here Mary as a sharer in Christ’s passion, or even as a co-redemptrix. Such roles would not be consonant with Lutheran theology. The latter, it is true, did not entirely rule out respect for Mary, yet saw her proper role in a strict subordination to Christ. Another fine distinction is that, on the right side, the resurrected Christ is overwhelming death and sin. Likewise, the scene of the Jewish camp with the serpent has been transferred from the left side to the right side , into the place of the annunciation to the shepherds that has entirely disappeared.
As for other depictions in the style of the Weimar variant, there is a drawing in Frankfurt am Main (in Städelsches Kunstinstitut) that may be a preparatory sketch for the Weimar variant, to which it corresponds in every detail, except for the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, and the pursuit of the sinner by death.^9 It may be by Lucas Cranach the Elder himself from around the year 1530. Another specimen is the tablet from the Cranach workshop, deposited in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nurenberg, and dating to the late 1529.^10 Its distinctive features are the feet of the Ascending Christ in the upper right corner, and the blood from Christ’s side shed on a human figure. An etching by Lucas Cranach from around the year 1530 is also very close to the Weimar prototype. It is among the holdings of the Department of Prints and Drawings of the British Museum in London.^11
The Prague Type
The other prototype is the so-called Prague image, the origin of which remains unknown. The back side of the tablet bears a small seal of the Bruntálskýs of Vrbno from the eighteenth century. Considering, however, that a number of other specimens in Bohemia repeat its characteristics, it may be assumed that it was destined for one of the Lutheran churches in northwest Bohemia. The image is included in the collections of the National Gallery in Prague under the title “The Original Sin and the Redemption of Mankind.”^12 It is signed and dated 1529 and, as confirmed by Mojmír Hamzík, the signature and the date are authentic. The Prague image is iconographically and intellectually the most sophisticated specimen among the hitherto mentioned variants. It is characterized by a symmetrical arrangement of the motifs.
Under the tree, we see a man, who sits on a stump, with an inscription “Mensch an Gnad” underneath him. This man is deciding between, on the one hand, a prophet (with an inscription “Propheten”), that is, the Law, behind whom there is depicted a cadaver in the grave (with the inscription “Todt”), and, on the
(^9) Werner Schade, Die Malerfamilie Cranach (Dresden, 1974) image 185. See also Werner
Schade, Cranach, a Family of Master Painters , trans. by Helen Sebba (New York, 1980). (^10) Gertrud Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art , 2 vv. (London, 1971-1972) 2:259, images 533-
(^11) Koepplin and Falk, Lukas Cranach: Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik 505-509; Schade,
Die Malerfamilie Cranach 88. Schade improperly attributes the etching to Lucas Cranach the Younger. (^12) Inventory no. 010732, 72 x 88.5 cm.
The ensuing scenes, on both sides of the tree, are composed in strict symmetry. The first layer, on the left side, probably depicted the sarcophagus with a cadaver, as it appears from the painting’s fragments. On the corresponding right side, the resurrected Christ is exiting his stony grave, and with a long spear, furnished with a banner, pierces Satan. In the second layer, we see, on the left side, the scene of the Original Sin; on right side, the Lamb of God with the inscription NEVINOST [Innocence]. In the next layer, on the left from the tree, Moses kneeling on a high rock is receiving the tablets of the Law from God the Father. A scroll with the inscription ZÁKON [the Law] floats above Moses’s head. The opposite, right side is dominated by the figure of the Virgin Mary in an expectant state, and accompanied by a scroll with the inscription MILOST [Grace]. Above the inscription, we see Christ Emmanuel with a little cross and, beneath him, angels with a book and a pointer. There is a wide opening into the countryside behind the tree. On the left, we see the Jewish camp with a copper serpent on the pole; on the right on a hill, the crucified Christ, originally bearing a scroll with the inscription SPRAVEDLNOST NAŠE [Our justification]. The image is crowned by a ribbon with the inscription: ZÁKON SKRZE MOYZISSE DÁN GEST MILOST A PRAWDA SKRZE GEZISSE KRYSTA [The Law is given through Moses; Grace and Truth through Jesus Christ], which is a quotation from John (1:17). The painting in Pardubice differs from the Prague image only in minor details, such as the victory of the resurrected Christ over the monster. It is a motif that also appears in the Weimar variant, as well as in Erhart Altdorfer’s earlier-mentioned etching on the title page of Luther’s New Testament edition.
The reason for the occurrence of a painting with a blatantly Reformational tendency must be sought in the religious convictions of the Pernštejns, the feudal rulers of Pardubice. The noble brothers, Vojtěch and Jan, adopted the Utraquist faith in the 1520s. Their father, Vilém of Pernštejn, was a man of remarkable religious tolerance. In 1510, he established the church of St. John the Baptist for the Utraquists in Pardubice. Above all, he entrusted the education of his two sons to the Utraquist priest and Humanist, Jan Čejka. His son, Vojtěch, who ruled in Pardubice from 1521 to 1534, also wrote a history of the Bohemian religious wars which, however, has not survived. Even more active, Jan, who ruled from 1534 to 1538, was one of the postulators of Reformation teaching, as well as one of the “defensores” of the Consistory sub utraque. In the 1530s, he sought a reorganization of Utraquism and, in 1540-1542, together with Krajíř of Krajek, a Bohemian brother, he advocated a unification of Utraquism with the Unity of Brethren. His strong religious convictions and his courage in defence of “God’s Truth” are attested by a letter of 1539, in which he refers to the doctrine of justification by faith, and reproaches Emperor Ferdinand I for his religious intolerance.
The origin of the Prague tablet in 1529-1530 establishes the earliest time period for the creation of the Pardubice fresco with the theme of the Allegory of Salvation and Sin. The date of the fresco can be further narrowed down because – according to expert opinion – it was contemporaneous with the creation of the surrounding décor of the hall. We can, therefore, reasonably assume that the painting was created in the first half of the 1530s (c. 1532) during the rule of Vilém of Pernštejn. Thus, it is a very early example of this Allegory in central Europe. Under the existing historical circumstances, the placing of a fresco, that bore a conspicuously Reformation message into the main hall of the Pardubice Castle, must be seen as an important religious and political manifesto. It publicly signalled an adherence of the Pernštejns to the Protestant confession.
Other Types
In 1545, the Allegory of Salvation and Sin from the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger appeared also on the altar of St. Joachim in Jáchymov.^16 The Counts Jeroným and Vavřinec Šliks ordered the erection of the altar during the last year of their joint rule in the town. It was to honour the city’s founder, Štěpán Šlik, and evidently also to perpetuate the eternal glory of their family. Unfortunately, this piece of art, undoubtedly notable both artistically and iconographically, is known only from descriptions, because it perished during a major conflagration in the town in 1873.^17 I have discussed the description of this lost specimen in a previous article in this series.^18
Three other frescos with the theme of the Allegory of Salvation and Sin are of more recent origin: the first one, on the external wall of the presbytery of the former monastery church in Horažďovice (not yet described in print); the second one, on the north wall of the chapel in Horšovský Týn; and the third, in the arcade of the Dominican monastery in České Budějovice. Created apparently in the years 1550- 1560, the painting in Horažďovice is undoubtedly connected with the adherence of Václav Švihovský to the Protestant Reformation. He had previously “purged” the monastery church of the Observants (which his ancestor, Půta Švihovský had established) of idolatrous images and statues. We know that he likewise had removed from the choir the grave of Půta Švihovský, and had the gravestone set into the wall of the church nave. In addition, Václav appointed a Protestant clergyman to preach in the church. Despite being considerably damaged, it is evident that the painting of Horažďovice stands close to the image of the Prague type in the selection and arrangement of its motifs. On the left side, however, there is a motif of the resurrected Christ that is rather untraditional.
The fresco with the theme of the Allegory of Salvation and Sin has survived only in fragments on the north wall of the chapel in the castle of Horšovský Týn. It is also rooted in the Prague type but with considerable variations. Despite the conventional view in literature, the painting evidently is not connected with Jan the Younger of Lobkovice, who was a devout Roman Catholic and a defensor of the Consistory sub una. It is much more likely that the fresco owed its creation to Vilém the Elder Popel of Lobkovice in the 1590s. Originally sub una, Vilém converted to Lutheranism and was pressuring the burghers of Horšovský Týn to embrace the new faith. In the years from 1595 to 1604, he quarrelled with the Prague Archbishop Zbyněk Berka of Dubá over the right of appointing clergy on his estates. In 1609, he was elected one of the defensores , in consequence of Rudolf II’s Letter of Majesty. He was sentenced to death for his part in the Bohemian Uprising of 1618, but the sentence was change to lifetime imprisonment, thanks to the intervention of his influential uncle Zdeněk Vojtěch of Lobkovice. He died in Zbiroh in 1626.
(^16) Jan Royt, “Horní město Jáchymov, reformace a umění,” [The mining town of Jachymov:
reformation and art.] in: Ústecký sborník historický 2001. Gotické umění a jeho souvislosti [Gothic art and its context] (Ústí nad Labem, 2001) 351-359. (^17) R. Schmidt, Soupis památek historických a uměleckých v politickém okrese Jáchymovském
[Catalogue of the historical and artistic monuments in the region of Jachymov] (Prague, 1913) 44 –
(^18) Jan Royt, “The Mining Town of Jáchymov: Reformation and Art,” BRRP 5/2 (2005) 309-310.
Fig. 1
“Law and Grace” title page of Martin Luther’s Auslegung der Evangelien vom Advent bis auff Ostern… , (Wittenberg, 1528).
Fig. 2
Lukas Cranach the Elder, “Law and Grace” 1528 – Gotha, Castle Museum.
Fig. 4
Lukas Cranach the Elder, “Law and Grace” 1529 – Prague, National Gallery.
Fig. 5
Lukas Cranach the Elder, (workshop) “Law and Grace” – Prague, National Gallery.
Fig. 7
“Law and Grace” wall painting in the cloister of the former Dominican convent in České Budějovice, c. 1590.
Fig. 8
“Law and Grace” wall painting on the exterior of the former Franciscan Observant friary in Horažďovice, c. 1550-60.
