#cranach

Lucas Cranach (German, 1472–1553)

Portrait of a praying woman (front) or St. Catherine (back), 1508

Silesian Cranachiana: Allegory of the Reformed Church by Silesian follower of Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1570, Archdiocesan Museum in Wrocław (tempera and oil on panel).

The painting depicts Martin Luther preaching and Philipp Melanchthon hearing confession. The figures include contemporary nobility, including the von Zedlitz family. The background contains Passion and Paschal elements: rocks with crosses and the resurrection of Christ (after "Führer durch das Erzbischöfl. Diözesanmuseum in Breslau" by Alfons Nowack, p. 55, item 197). The painter was undoubtedly inspired by the works of Cranach to create the effigies of the reformers.

The painting was originally located in a church in Nowy Kościół in the Złotoryja district (Nova ecclesia, Neukirch bei Falkenhain, Kr. Schönau). The village likely dates back to the Middle Ages and was the seat of the von Zedlitz family, who owned a castle there. In the 16th century, Nowy Kościół was the center of Lutheranism in Silesia. The parish of Neukirch was among the first to embrace the Reformation. On September 12, 1518, Georg von Zedlitz appointed Melchior Hoffmann (or Hofmann ca. 1495 - ca. 1543), a disciple of the reformer Martin Luther and probably the first Lutheran preacher in Silesia, as head of the local church.

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© Marcin Latka