"A Work in Which the Angels Are Wont to Rejoice": Lucas Cranach's "Schneeberg " Author(s): Bonnie J. Noble Reviewed work(s): Source: The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Winter, 2003), pp. 1011-1037 Published by: The Sixteenth Century Journal Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20061643 . Accessed: 13/11/2011 22:07

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http://www.jstor.org Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

"A work in which the angels are wont to rejoice": Lucas Cranach's Schneeberg Altarpiece Bonnie J. Noble University ofNorth Carolina at Charlotte

This article demonstrates how Cranach the Elder's Schneeberg Altarpiece of 1539, the first evangelical retable, instructs viewers in Lutheran theology and actively perpetu s ates evangelical public devotional practice. The strategies of the retable , which derive from Luther's and other writings, explicate Luther's notion of justification by grace through faith. This model of creates a new foundation for the pictorial interpretation of traditional subjects. The Schneeberg Altarpiece estab lishes a discrete phase of evangelical , still bound by devotional forms of late medieval Northern art (the retable) yet departing from the insistent didacticism of the earliest evangelical images known as Law and . Earlier scholarship has tended on to focus iconography, rendering the Schneeberg Altarpiece secondary to the theology it embodies. This article contends that the Schneeberg Altarpiece actively changes the purpose of religious art.

are A work in which the angels wont to rejoice , Lectures on Genesis

a If it is not sin but good to have the image of in my heart, why should it be a sin to have it in my eyes? Martin Luther, Against theHeavenly Prophets

Lucas Cranach's Schneeberg Altarpiece of is 1539 the first evangelical retable at (figs. 1-3).1 Its production and installation the high altar of the of Wolfgang in the Saxon city of Schneeberg signals the establishment of an explicitly evangelical type of polyptych altarpiece.2 Though the triptych format of the

Heinrich Magirius et al.,"Der Cranachaltar in der St.Wolfgangskirche zu Schneeberg," Zeitschrift f?r Kunsttechnologie und Restaurierung 6, no. 2 (1992): 298-313, esp. 298. 2In 1477 Duke Albrecht began construction of the first stone church in Schneeberg, dedi cated to St.Wolfgang and the Mary. This original structure still forms the western part of the cur rent church. See Rudolf Ziessler, Die Wolfgangskirche zu Schneeberg, rev. ed., Christliche Denkmal, vol. 81 (Berlin: Union Verlag, 1984), 1;Richard Steche, Beschreibende Darstellung der Alteren Bau- und Kunst denkm?ler des K?nigreiches Sachsen, vol. 8, Amtshauptmannschaft Schwarzenberg (Dresden, 1887), 29-30. In a. December 1481, Schneeberg became freie Bergstadt or free city; Festschrift zum 450. Jahrestag derWeihe zu der St. Wolfgangskirche Schneeberg im Erzgebirge (Schneebergg: Kirchenvorstand St.Wolfgang, 1990), 5. Cf. Christian Melzer, Beschreibung der Bergk-Stadt Schneebergk (Schneeberg, 1684), 316-18; and Steche, Beschreibende Darstellung, 8:28.

This as a article began chapter of my dissertation, "The Lutheran of the Cranach Workshop, 1529-1555" (Northwestern University, 1998). This work was supported in part by funds provided by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

1011 1012 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

Fig. 1. Lucas Cranach, Schneeberg Altarpiece, Law and Grace panels. Landesamt fur no. Denkmalpflege Sachsen Bildsammlung, 850. Reprinted by permission. Noble / Cranach's SchneebergAltarpiece 1013

Fig. 2. Lucas Cranach, Schneeberg Altarpiece, and two donor panels. Landesamt fur nos. Denkmalpflege Sachsen Bildsammlung, 120-39, 120-40, 170-509. Reprinted by permission. 1014 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

rear Fig. 3. Lucas Cranach, Schneeberg Altarpiece, two panels ( and Moses). Landesamt fur nos. Denkmalpflege Sachsen Bildsammlung, 121 611,181 407. Reprinted by permission. Noble / Cranach's SchneebergAltarpiece 1015

Schneeberg Altarpiece derives from Catholic retables, its iconography and function set resem it apart from that tradition;3 and though the iconography and function as ble earlier single-panel evangelical paintings such , discussed

below, its polyptych format departs from the adamant didacticism of these single context art or panels. When considered in the of established forms of Catholic of the a conun earliest single-panel evangelical painting, the Schneeberg Altarpiece is drum, resisting the restrictions of both categories. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the in which the a ways Schneeberg Altarpiece establishes discrete phase of evangelical painting, still bound by the devotional forms of fifteenth- and early sixteenth- century Northern art, yet moving away from the insistent didacticism of the earlier single-panel evangelical images.4 The is a a Schneeberg Altarpiece complex monument, encompassing total of eleven, originally twelve, painted surfaces and three different viewing positions: the rear the closed or and the or panels, weekday position, opened feast day position.5 rear On the panels (fig. 3) the Last Judgment appears in the center, with the stories of Lot andHis Daughters andNoah and theFlood on either side.6 The defining subject of art known as Law and across evangelical Gospel spreads the front panels in the closed or These to or weekday position (fig. 1). panels open reveal the feast day opened position (fig. 2), with a Crucifixion in the center panel.7 In the feast day position the donors kneel in the lower half of each wing, with the on the left and the Resurrection on upper the upper right. On the front of the predella appears the .The missing panel depicting the Raising of the Dead on the back of the predella was burned in 1945.8 No substantive research on the Schneeberg Altarpiece has been published in One s English. explanation for this dearth of scholarship may be the retable location in the former East to , inaccessible until recently English-speaking and

^Christiane Andersson, "Religi?se Bilder Cranachs im Dienste der ," in Humanismus und Reformation in der deutschen Geschichte. Ein Tagungsbericht, ed. Lewis W. Spitz, Ver?ffentlichungen der historischen Kommission zu Berlin, vol. 51 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1981), 43?79, esp. 43, notes that in his on 1525 the First Commandment, Luther explains that images are neither good nor bad, but their (mis) use determines their value. 4Most scholars agree that the evangelical identity of the Schneeberg Altarpiece is beyond dispute. Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 298; Oskar Thulin, Cranach alt?re der Reformation (Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1955), 33. 5See Steche, Beschreibende Darstellung, 8:42-46. Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 299; Melzer, Beschreibung, 80-85, Herbert von Hintzenstein, Lucas Cranach der?ltere. Altarbilder aus der zeit, 3d ed. (Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1980), 94?98; and esp. Thulin, Alt?re, 33?53, on Schnee berg for full formal description and detailed reproductions. Reproductions of the Last Judgment panel are not available. 7Heinrich Magirius, Schneeberg St. Wolfgang (Passau: Kunstverlag Weick, 1996), 20-21, calls the Crucifixion the "feast day side" (Festtagsseite) and the Law and Gospel panels the "everyday side" Cf. "Der (Alltagsseite). Magirius, Cranachaltar," 299; Frank Meinel, Der Lucas Cranach altar zu Schneeberg (Schneeberg: Bergstra?e Aue, 1996), 36, 41-60. 8Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 303, 305; cf. Max Friedl?nder and Jakob Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, trans. Heinz Norden (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1978), cat. no. 379. Meinel, Altar zu and a Schneeberg, 75, Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 299, provide reproduction of the destroyed Raising of the Dead panel. 1016 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

West German scholars alike. The prolonged restoration and the retable 's virtual invisibility in the Institut fur Denkmalpflege in Dresden from 1960 to 1996 may also to this help explain enduring obscurity.9 The rather on consists limited German literature the retable of general descrip tions of and and of reviews of iconography style, scholarly Schneeberg's history.10 Other studies address the Schneeberg Altarpiece within the framework of Cranach's art or art of the Reformation in Oskar Thulin's general.11 important and funda mental book presents all three of Cranach's major evangelical retables?the Schnee bergAltarpiece (1539), the Altarpiece (1547), and the Altarpiece a His (1553?55)?as thematic group. discussion consists primarily of detailed formal analysis, basic historical background, and the fundamentals of evangelical as a a theology. Thulin presents the Schneeberg Altarpiece passive vehicle, conduit for in essence the expression and clarification of evangelical theology; the altarpiece to it con becomes secondary the theology embodies.12 The present discussion is not more cerned only with the changes the altarpiece reflects, but importantly, with not the changes the altarpiece perpetuates. The Schneeberg Altarpiece is active; it does new as assumes. passively "reflect" the theology, Thulin's scholarship Instead, new through iconography and motivations for patronage, this first evangelical enacts a in as polyptych change the function of the altarpiece such.

Commission and Historical Background

The initial commission for the Schneeberg Altarpiece came from John Frederick on to the Magnanimous, elector of Saxony, who appears the wing the viewer's left on the feast day side, and his half , John the Serious, duke of on on , who appears the wing the viewer's right (fig. 2).13 The retable

9Restoration began in 1960; the Schneeberg Altarpiece was returned to the church in Schneeberg in June 1996. Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 305.1 am grateful to Christine Keim, restorer of the Schneeberg Altarpiece in Dresden. Her insights in our discussion of the altar (23 October 1995) as well as her assis tance with sources and bibliography have been invaluable. a ^Festschrift zum 450. Jahrestag is general history. More scholarly sources include Ziessler, Wolf gangskirche zu Schneeberg, 1-31, and Steche, Beschreibende Darstellung; Klaus Kratzsch, Bergst?dte des Erz gebirges: St?dtebau und Kunst zur Zeit der Reformation (Munich: Schnell & Steiner, 1972). Melzer, Beschreibung, is the oldest and most complete source; the entire text is dedicated to Schneeberg s history, from art to theology to weather patterns. 11 What is known about the Schneeberg Altarpiece and Cranach's work as a whole depends heavily on Christian Schuchardt, Lucas Cranach des Aeltern Leben und Werke, 3 vols. (Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1851-71); see esp. 2:112-22; 2:118-20 concludes that the Schneeberg Altarpiece is not Cranach's work, but that of the workshop; cf. 1:288-89. Thulin, Alt?re, 36, shares Schuchardt's opinions on attribution. For further discussion of attribution, see C.J.Waagen, Kunstwerke und K?nstler inDeutschland (Leipzig, 1843), 54, and the introduction to Ingo von Sandner, ed., Unsichtbare Meisterzeichnungen auf dem Mal grund: Cranach und seine Zeitgenossen (Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner Verlag, 1998), 12. 12On the Schneeberg Altarpiece, see Thulin, Alt?re, 33-53, esp. 33-34. zu ^Festschrift zum 450. Jahrestag, 8, 24; Ziessler, Wolfgangskirche Schneeberg, 7; Thulin, Alt?re, 33, 36; Schuchardt, Lucas Cranach des Aeltern, 2:121. Steche, Beschreibende Darstellung, 40. John Frederick's identity is unmistakable, particularly when compared with any of Cranach's other representations of him, for example in the Weimar Altarpiece, 1553?55. On the similarity between John Frederick's appear ance in Schneeberg and in Cranach's other portraits, see Thulin, Alt?re, 36. The identity of the other donor has caused some scholarly confusion, deriving from an erroneous identification on a plaque Noble / Cranach's SchneebergAltarpiece 1017

was on placed the altar in 1539. Frederick and the Serious were a John John Ernestines, Protestant family of Saxon electors that also included Frederick theWise (d. 1525) and John the Con stant of In (d.1532), all whom supported Luther loyally.15 contrast, the Albertines, cousins were not of the Ernestines and dukes of Saxon territories, supportive of evangelical reform. Both of these aristocratic lines had claims to territories within the modern state of and to the of Founded Saxony, specifically city Schneeberg.16 in came into existence as a town in 1471, Schneeberg mining the Erzgebirge. Schneeberg was a small satellite of the larger city of Zwickau, and depended for its livelihood on the silver mines that attracted settlers to the new relatively city.17 The commission and installation of the Schneeberg Altarpiece coincided with John Frederick's taking control of the city in 1532, the definitive declaration of s Schneeberg evangelical identity, and the removal of from Schnee berg's churches.18 By 1540, the building of the Church of SaintWolfgang was

at on placed the altar 23 May 1650; see Steche, Beschreibende Darstellung, 41. The plaque identifies the donor as John the Constant; see Schuchardt, Lucas Cranach desAeltern, 2:121?22; see also Thulin, AIt?re, 33. Melzer perpetuated this misunderstanding when he also misidentified the donor based on this inaccurate inscription, Melzer, Beschreibung, 82-85. The donor in question is young; John the Serious was so born in 1521, he would have been eighteen years old at the time the altarpiece was installed in same as 1539, approximately the age the donor across from John Frederick. Most importantly, if the man portrait of the young in Schneeberg is compared to known portraits of John the Constant cat. nos. (Friedl?nder and Rosenberg, Paintings, 179E, 311A-B, 337B) the Schneeberg donor's identity becomes clear. Cf. Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 298, and Festschrift zum 450. Jahrestag, 8. ^Festschrift zum 450. Jahrestag, 6, 8;Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 298; Thulin, Alt?re, 33; Melzer, states a now Beschreibung, 83, that the retable dates from 1539, per lost date next to Cranach's insignia. On the transportation of the Schneeberg Altarpiece toWittenberg during Easter week, April 1539, see the manuscripts by Peter Albinus in the Schneeberger Kollektaneenchronik (MS d. 45, fol. 3, and MS d. 48, fol. 142) which appear verbatim in Thulin, Alt?re, 36-46 and nn. 23-24, and 85 n. 15. Cf. Kratzsch, Berg st?dte des Erzgebirges, 124. 15For a discussion of the Ernestine electors' support of Luther and their patronage of Cranach, see Carl Christensen, Art and theReformation (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1979), and idem, Princes and : Electoral Saxon Art of the Reformation, Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies, vol. 20 (Kirks ville, Mo.: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, 1992). 16Ziessler, Wolfgangskirche zu Schneeberg, 5, 7. In the fifteenth century, Ernst and Alb recht Wettin ruled In Saxony. 1485, the Ernestines had residences inWeimar, Wittenberg, andTorgau; the seat of the Albertines was in Dresden. When the family split into Ernestine and Albertine factions, the territories were divided along extremely jagged lines, and smaller, independent territories?including Mei?en, Naumburg, Merseburg, Herrschaften Reu?, and Sch?nburg?were also part of Saxony; Kratzsch, Berg st?dte des Erzgebirges, 12. 1 "Kratzsch, Bergst?dte des Erzgebirges, 12?13. During a visit to Schneeberg in June 2001, Minister me Frank Meinel introduced to sermons written by Johann Mathesius, a student of Luther's who became minister in in Schneeberg 1542 and who used the language of the mining profession as amet aphor to instruct his congregation. 18ln the division of the in it was use territory 1485, agreed that the of local mines belonged to both lines of the ruling Albertine and Ernestine families, but the rulership of the city was divided. Con flict ensued the between descendants: Frederick theWise and John the Constant on one side and George the Bearded on the other. In 1531 George the Bearded's part of the city, but not his right to the mines, fell to the and in to Frederick. to electors, 1532, John According Steche, Beschreibende Darstellung, 29, it was on of the occasion John Frederick's gaining power in Schneeberg that he and John the Serious of who was entitled to half of the use of the Coburg, mines, commissioned the altarpiece. In 1541, John 1018 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

was completed, and the church consecrated.19 Catholic priests had been dismissed and evangelical clergy installed.20 The SchneebergAltarpiece marked the official establishment of evangelical reform in It also the as as Schneeberg. proclaimed confessional identity of the donors well that of the people who worshiped at the Church of SaintWolfgang and the city of Schneeberg itself. By commissioning the retable, John Frederick and John the Seri ous also declared themselves the new rulers of this newly conquered territory, lend the retable overt The ing political significance.21 installation of the retable heralded the establishment of both in evangelical and Ernestine authority Schneeberg. to out Because the donors paid Cranach carry the commission, their wishes the s even was overrode artist beliefs and intentions, though Cranach Luther's per sonal friend and theological ally.22 It is highly likely that Cranach would have of the was approved iconographie program personally, but he still officially express ing the wishes of others.

Law and Gospel

In the evan weekday position of the Schneeberg Altarpiece appears the quintessential con gelical theme of Law and Gospel; Cranach created and produced this image in rests sultation with Luther around 1529.23 All of Cranach's evangelical painting

Frederick visited Schneeberg, and the altars of the and of the Miners were removed. Melzer, Beschreibung, 32; Festschrift zum 450. Jahrestag, 7; Ziessler, Wolfgangskirche zu Schneeberg, 13. As early as 1524 papal practices were abolished; for example, no more processions took place. At that time, the was given in both kinds and evangelical ministers married; see Ziessler, Wolfgangskirche zu Schneeberg, 23. ^Ziessler,Wolfgangskirche zu Schneeberg, 8. An earlier version of the church was completed in 1478; Festschrift zum 45O.Jahrestag, 23, 24, and Steche, Beschreibende Darstellung, 30. zum zu an ^Festschrift 450. Jahrestag, 1, 23. Ziessler, Wolfgangskirche Schneeberg, 1, claims that evan gelical church was already established in Schneeberg by 1534. Melzer, Beschreibung, 202, describes the career ofWolffgang Krau?, priest from 1509 to 1534 (d. 1537). Krau? recorded the beginning of his career in 1509 in a ; after his retirement in 1534, he received 20 florins a year until his death in 1537. Melzer, Beschreibung, 213, explains that Krau? was the last Catholic priest in Schneeberg. 21Heinrich Magirius, "Zum Wiederaufbau der St.Wolfgangskirche in Schneeberg seit 1945," in Denkmalpflege in Sachsen, 1894-1994, 2 vols., ed. Landesamt f?r Denkmalpflege Sachsen (Weimar: B?hlau, 1997), 1:343-51, esp. 344, proposes that the Schneeberg Altarpiece was conceived to contrast with the Catholic Altarpiece of theHoly Kinship commissioned by Duke Georg in 1522 for the Annenkirche in Annaberg from the Augsburger Daucher workshop. See also Meinel, Altar zu Schneeberg, 20. 22On 28 April 1521, after the Diet ofWorms and as he was on his way into hiding, Luther wrote a letter to Cranach expressing friendship for the artist and sending greetings to his wife. LW 48:201-3. Luther became godfather to Cranach's daughter, Anna; Andersson, "Religi?se Bilder," 44 and n. 16;M. B. Lindau, Lucas Cranach. Ein Bild aus dem Zeitalter der Reformation (Leipzig, 1883), 158ff.; and Kurt Ihlenfeld, "Martin Luther und Lucas Cranach," Luther Zeitschrift der Luthergesellschaft 1 (1973): 42-44. Cranach was one of the three witnesses (Trauzeugen) at Luther's wedding in 1525; see Johannes Jahn, ed. Lucas Cranach derAltere. Das gesamte graphische Werk (Munich: Rogner & Bernhard, 1972), 613. In 1526 Cranach became godfather to Luthers firstborn son; see Andersson, "Religi?se Bilder," 44 and n. 17: Lindau, Lucas Cranach, 216. 2^Thu\in, Alt?re, 126. Around 1529 other events occurred which seem to be compatible with the appearance of a picture that clarifies evangelical doctrine: Luther's Small Catechism appeared (full text in Timothy Lull, Martin Luther's Basic Theological Writings [Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989], 471-96). Cf. Friedrich Buchholz, Protestantismus und Kunst. Studien ?ber Christliche Denkm?ler, ed. Johannes Ficker, Neue Folge der Archaeologischen Studien zum christlichen Altertum und Mittelalter, vol. 17 (Leipzig: Noble / Cranach's SchneebergAltarpiece 1019

this which also the of most upon pictorial type, formed basis subsequent evangelical Not Law images. only does and Gospel recapitulate key notions of evangelical theol but its and art ogy iconography function critique and reconfigure the function of of the must preceding period. Any discussion of the Schneeberg Altarpiece begin with Law and Gospel. Luther's views on art are no religious dispersed throughout his writings, and text acts as a for Law and or other single script Gospel any evangelical image.24 the of as a Instead, conceptual underpinnings Luther's theology served broad foun dation for Law and In Law evan Gospel. part, and Gospel elucidates and summarizes gelical ideas in visual form, most basically the notion of salvation by faith through rather than salvation human or as grace, by action "good works." As important the meant to was evangelical teaching be conveyed by this pictorial type the way Law and Law Gospel reinterpreted evangelical ideas. Both and Gospel and its successor, the were not Schneeberg Altarpiece, simple reflections, but rather interpretations of to theology and subject the influence of artistic traditions and conventions as much as to theological notions. Law a and Gospel is frequently called Law and Grace, title that derives from a version of the painting in , where the terms Gesecz (Law) and Gnad (Grace) are and boldly painted plainly visible.25 Cranach's earliest paintings of Law and Gos both from circa include the in a pel, 1529, panel Prague and version currently in In the Gotha two on (fig. 4). panel, nude male figures appear either side of

Dieterich'che Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1928), 5; Luther's Sermon on the Fifth Book of Moses on the uses pedagogical of images, LW 1:332-59 (WA 28:677 ff.) also appeared in 1529. See Karin Groll, Das von Passional Christi und Antichristi Lucas Cranach der Altere, Europ?ische Hochschulschriften, series 28, vol. 118 (Frankfurt a/M: Peter Lang, 1990), 14. On 29 June 1529, ClementVII accepted peace at Barcelona, and Fran?ois I made peace with Charles V on 3 August. The resolution of these conflicts to freed the papacy take action against the reformers, who now faced a powerful and undistracted enemy; Auster E. McGrath, Reformation Thought (Oxford: Blackwell, 1988), 129. sources 24For secondary analyzing Luther's general position on images, see Sergiusz Michalski, Reformation and theVisual Arts: The Protestant Image Question inWestern and Eastern Europe, trans. Chester Kisiel (London: Routledge, 1993); Margarete Stirn, Die Bilde frage in der Reformation, Quellen und For zur ... schungen Reformationsgeschichte, vol. 45 (G?tersloh: Mohn, 1977); Christensen, Reformation Luther und Art, 42?65; die Folgen f?r die Kunst, exhibit catalog, ed.Werner Hofmann (Hamburg: Prestel Verlag for Hamburger Kunsthalle, 1983), 46; Hans Preu?, Martin Luther derK?nstler (G?tersloh: Bertels Paul zu mann, 1931); Lehfeldt, Luthers Verh?ltniss Kunst und K?nstlern (Berlin:Wilhelm Hertz, 1892); Christian Luther und Rogge, die Kirchenbilder seiner Zeit, Verein f?r Reformationsgeschichte, vol. 108, no. 4 1-29. (Leipzig, 1912), Thulin 25See Alt?re, 134. Donald L. Ehresmann, "The Brazen Serpent, a Reformation Motif in the Works of and His Workshop, Marsyas 12 (1967): 32-47, uses the title Law and Grace throughout his article. The catalog Luther und die Folgen f?r die Kunst, cat. nos. 84-89, discusses the Law and Gospel images in a section entitled "Gesetz und Gnade," 210-16. Luther himself uses the terms "law" and For "grace." example, Luther, Wie das Gesetz und Evangelium rechtgrundlich zu unterschei den sind (How law and grace may be thoroughly distinguished from one another), 1532: "Unter dem ... Papstumb hat der Papst mit alle [sic] seinen gelerten, Cardinein, Bisschoffen noch nie gewust... was das Evan dem oder was das gelium gegen gesetz gesetz gegen dem Evangelium unterschiedlich sey,Darumb ist irglaube ein lauter T?rken von den glauben gesetzen..." (In papism, the pope, with all his advisors, cardinals [and] never knew ... how to tell or ... law from grace grace from law.Their religion is nothing more than Turkish religion of law ...); seeWA 36:8-23. 1020 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

?il' I_I_I_I_

Fig. 4. Lucas Cranach, Law and Grace, Gotha Museum, Germany, 1505-12592. Reprinted by permission.

a tree on to that is green and living side, the viewer's right, but barren and dying on the law side, to the viewer's left. The stories of the Brazen Serpent and the Fall of Humanity appear in the background on the law side, while in the foreground a skeleton and a demon force a frightened naked man into hell while a group of prophets, including Moses, point to the tablets of the law.On the gospel side of the image directs the naked man to both Christ on the cross in front of the tomb and to the risen Christ, who appears on top of the tomb. Six columns of Bible citations at the bottom of the appear panel.26 One key difference between the Prague version and the Gotha version is that a in the Prag panel a single naked man sits at the base of the bisecting tree (instead of one on either side) and the lower half of his body faces towards law while the upper body turns towards the gospel. Besides Gesecz and Gnad, the Prague panel contains labels within the painting itemizing individual motifs as well as four col umns of Bible citations at the bottom. While the Prague Law and Gospel served as the model for later versions of this subject produced outside Germany, the Gotha version formed the for all later versions in Cranach's This prototype production.27 on discussion focuses primarily the Gotha version.

26Ehresmann, "Brazen Serpent Motif," 36 n. 15, reproduces the full text.Werner Schade and All muth Schuttwolf also reproduce the full text in the section "Malerei und Plastik" in Gotteswort undMen schenbild:Werke von Cranach und seinen Zeitgenossen, ed. Allmuth Schuttwolf et al. (Gotha: Schlossmuseum Gotha), 20. 27Versions based on the Prague model produced outside of Germany include: 's painted version currendy in Scodand and a print by Geoffroy Tory; see Thulin, Alt?re, 178. On to the see Karl Ernst Meier, "Das Fordeben der Tory's relationship Prague painting, " religi?s-dogma tischer Kompositionen Cranachs in der Kunst des Protestantismus Reportorium f?r Kunstwissenschaft 32 Noble / Cranach's SchneebergAltarpiece 1021

to make an that would reduce certain Despite Cranach's apparent desire image to have about the ideas easily understood visual motifs, scholars disagreed meaning on from the of Luther s direct influence of Law and Gospel nearly every level, degree to of the individual to the theological ideas the image expresses the meaning most of the bisected motifs.28 This discussion briefly explores the basic meaning and the in which Law and related composition, the individual motifs, ways Gospel art to both Cranach's and Luther's theology. is with two and mer Law and Gospel concerned fundamental aspects?-judging to one and con ciful?of God's relationship humanity. On the hand, God judges on demns human sin; the other, God shows mercy and forgiveness, granting

unearned salvation to sinful believers. As Bernhard Lohse explains:

encounters as as as a of The Word of God people law and gospel, word as a It true that there is more judgment and word of grace.... is certainly law than gospel in the Old Testament and more gospel than law in the . Luther's distinction between law and gospel, however, to of statements into referred something other than the division biblical the two parts of the . This distinction rather describes the fact that God both judges and ismerciful.29

Luther's definition of law and gospel is the point of departure for Cranach's painting. If Law and Gospel simply distinguished between the Old and New Testa or even more not ments, broadly Judaism and , then it would be specif or in art or Law ically evangelical any way innovative, historically theologically. and in it Gospel is evangelical that represents Cranach's pictorial translation of Luther's

(1909): 415-35, esp. 420-21. Cf. Friedrich Ohly, Gesetz und Evangelium: Zur Typologie bei Luther und Lucas Cranach zum Blutstrahl der Gnade in der Kunst, Schriftenreihe der West F?lischen Wilhelms Universit?t M?nster, n.s., vol. 1 (M?nster: Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1985), n. 52; Gotteswort und Menschenbild. Werke von Cranach und seinen Zeitgenossen (Kunstverlag Gotha Wechmar, 1994), cat. 1.3, p. 21; Carsten Bach-Nielsen "Cranach, Luther und servum arbitrium," Analecta Romana 19 (1990): 158. 28The following is a selection of the most important work on Law and Gospel: Meier, "Das Fort leben der religi?s-dogmatischer Kompositionen"; Ernst Grohne,"Die bremischen Truhen mit reforma torischen Darstellung und der Ursprung ihrer Motive," Abhandlungen und Vortr?ge der Bremer Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft 10, no. 2 (1936): 1?70; Christensen, Art and theReformation and Princes and Propaganda; JeanWirth,"Le dogme en image: Luther et l'iconographie," Revue de l'art 52 (1981): 9-23; Ohly, Gesetz und Evangelium; Suzanne Urbach,"Eine unbekannte Darstellung von 'Sundenfall und Erl? sung' in Budapest und dasWeiterleben des Cranachschen Rechtfertigungsbildes," in Niederdeutsche Bei tr?ge zur Kunstgeschichte, vol. 28 (Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1989), 33-63; Bach-Nielsen, "Cranach, Luther und servum arbitrium," 145-84; Frank B?ttner, "'Argumentio' in Bildern der Refor mationszeit: Ein Beitrag zur Bestimmung argumentiven Strukturen in der Bild-Kunst," Zeitschrift f?r Kunstgeschichte 1 (1994): 23?44. The most recent contribution is Christoph Weimer, Luther, Cranach und die Bilder: Gesetz und Evangelium: Schl?ssel zum reformatorischen Bildgebrauch (Stuttgart: Calwer, 1999). For a more complete bibliography of Law and Gospel scholarship, see Joseph Koerner, TTheMoment of Self Portraiture in German Art (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), 363?411, esp. 516? 17 n. 12. See also Ohly, Gesetz und Evangelium, 94-99 and n. 52. 29Bernhard Lohse, Martin Luther: An Introduction toHis Life andWork, trans. Robert Schultz (Phil adelphia: Fortress, 1986), 157. 1022 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

to unique understanding of the relationship of law gospel. The painting interprets in to the roles of law, good works, faith, and grace the human relationship God. Law and Gospel has inspired surprisingly varied interpretations. Earlier scholars as events have interpreted Law and Gospel typology, that is, the idea that of the Old Testament foreshadow those of the New Testament, or that events of the New Tes near at tament fulfill events of the Old. For example, the type of Isaac's death the his foreshadows death and the hand of father Christ's resurrection, antitype.30 Type are in and antitype equivalents different chronological periods. Unlike typology, not concern events or one however, Law and Gospel does that foreshadow fulfill concerns two another in time. Rather, Law and Gospel aspects of the relationship a on on one between humanity and God, relationship based human action the hand, on events and acceptance of unearned grace the other. Law and Gospel describes to throughout the Bible which reveal the dual aspect of God's relationship people. a to Luther's idea of law ismultifaceted and bears complex relationship his idea of gospel. In "How Christians Should Regard Moses" Luther succinctly defined Mosaic is for the importance of law for Christians. First, law the basis , and as such may be useful for secular rulers.31 Second, the Books of Moses contain It is is not written nat "promises and pledges of God about Christ. something that comes In contains the urally into the heart, but from heaven."32 other words, law promise of the gospel. And third, law contains within it "beautiful examples of faith, of love, and of the cross." Luther goes on to make very clear that law still condemns, even of and of faith. though it contains natural law, the promise gospel, examples are not "In turn there also examples of the Godless, how God does pardon the Most law makes it to sin unfaith of the unbelieving."33 important, possible identify never it and the necessity of grace. Though law alone will make salvation possible, as believer the of remains indispensable the way the recognizes sin, impossibility for true achieving salvation by good works, and the necessity of grace salvation. Law makes salvation possible by preparing the way for the apprehension of grace. on are In the Gotha Law and Gospel, the motifs the left side of the composition meant to law without will never make salva exemplify the idea that alone, gospel, tion possible. Christ sits in judgment asAdam and eat the fruit and fall from a a a man grace, and as skeleton and demon pursue desperate into eternal damna center tion. Moses beholds these events from his vantage point towards the of the out the saturated robe and picture, his starkly white tablets leaping against orange the deep green tree behind him, literally highlighting the association of law, death, law leads and damnation.Taken together, these motifs demonstrate that inescapably

as 30Ohly, Gesetz und Evangelium, is the most recent and thorough argument for Law and Gospel typology. 31 "Now this is the first thing that I ought to see inMoses, namely the commandments to which I am not bound except insofar as they are [implanted in everyone] by nature [and written in everyone's heart]"; Lull, Luther's Basic Writings,142. 32Lull, Luther's Basic Writings,142-43 33Lull, Luther's Basic Writings,141 Noble / Cranach's SchneebergAltarpiece 1023

to a to as we see damnation when mistaken for path salvation, with the damned naked man.34

The dichotomous composition suggests that the purpose of the picture is to a sets a contrast. clarify difference; bisected composition inevitably up Despite the visual the motifs on either of the tree are antithesis, however, side dividing engaged in a dialogue which modifies the visual dichotomy, suggesting concepts with rather than The dynamic, strictly contrasting, relationships.35 fundamental and highly regarded work of Donald Ehresmann presents Law and Gospel (which he calls Law as a and Grace) contrast, suggesting that the divided composition presents "two Ehresmann to set on opposing theologies."36 declares, "The way salvation forth the right side of the Allegory of Law and Grace panels is strikingly contrasted to the way to damnation on the left side."37 Though law and gospel are indeed distinct, their relationship in Lutheran contrast. two thought transcends simple Despite the antithetical composition, in are to motifs, Christ Judgment and the Brazen Serpent, intended mitigate the strict bisection. Christ in Judgment is the only New Testament motif on the law side of the In to equation.38 proximity Old Testament figures, and removed from the gospel by the dividing tree, God in Judgment becomes an element of law. In Cranach's versions as evangelical images including all of Law and Gospel, God in association Judge appears only with the law, and juxtaposed with the risen Christ.39 As the quintessence of a judging God, Christ in Judgment warns that human action not the to may bring believer God.40 Active righteousness, either

34Luther writes, "Thus I abandon myself from all active righteousness, both of mine own and of God's law, and embrace only that passive righteousness, which is the righteousness of grace, mercy, and forgiveness of sins"; Letter to the Galatians inMartin Luther: Selections from His Writings, ed.John Dillen berger (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor, 1961), 102. uses 35The Passional Christi andAnti-Christi of 1521 bisected compositions throughoutjuxtaposing ideas and images in a way similar to Law and Gospel. On the Passional see Groll, Das Passional Christi; Hildegard von Schnabel, ed., Lucas Cranach der Altere Passional Christ und Anti-Christi (Berlin: Union, 1972); and Bob Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981), as 148?58. Law and Gospel is interpreted antithesis by Urbach, "Eine unbekannte Darstellung," 39, and Ehresmann, "Brazen Serpent Motif." 36Ehresmann, "Brazen Serpent Motif," 41. 37Ehresmann, "Brazen Serpent Motif," 43. Law and Gospel is interpreted as a contrast by Meier, "Das Fortleben der religi?s-dogmatischer Kompositionen," 418: "Der Hauptgegensatz von Gesetz und Gnade wird illustriert durch Moses einerseits und die Verk?ndigung und Emph?ngnis anderseits" (The main contrast of Law and Grace is illustrated through Moses on the one hand, and the on and conception the other.); cf. Urbach, "Eine unbekannte Darstellung," 39. 38Craig Harbison, Hie Last Judgment in Sixteenth- Century Northern Europe (New York: Garland, 1976), 98-99, observes this mixing of the Old Testament and Christian law but does not examine the implications of this shift. 39For Luther, the idea of a covenant between humanity and God that allows Christians an active in role securing salvation parallels the covenant of the Old Testament. See Michalski, Reformation and the Visual Arts, 4-5. Ehresmann, "Brazen Serpent Motif," 42, contends that Christ in Judgment together with the Old Testament motifs suggests a basic similarity of Catholicism and Judaism, both contractual theol ogies: "Thus, in the left side of the Gotha panel, Cranach, under Luther's direction, has used traditional Christian subjects to give visual substance to Luther's attack on the Catholic doctrine of Good Works." 40Luther und die Folgen f?r die Kunst, cat. nos. 84-89, "Gesetz und Gnade," 210-16. For an alter native Law a reading of and Grace in painting by Holbein, see F.Grossmann, "A Religious Allegory by 1024 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

or a can never performing good works fulfilling the obligations of covenant, lead to are salvation.41 Rather than ensuring salvation, good works the evidence of divine that God has moved the believer to do Law and mercy, already good.42 not versus or or Gospel presents Old Testament New Testament, type and antitype, even law against gospel, but rather the distinct and simultaneous relationship of God to humanity, both judging and merciful. The Brazen Serpent (Num. 21:6-9), which appears on the law side of the in a to Gotha panel, complicates the division between law and gospel way similar Christ in Judgment. Although the Brazen Serpent appears in the law side in the Law Gotha panel, in all subsequent versions of and Gospel, including the Schneeberg on In Altarpiece, the Brazen Serpent consistently appears the gospel side.43 the story of the Brazen Serpent, God sends serpents to punish the Israelites fleeing from Egypt for their aspersions against God. To be rescued from this plague of serpents, the Isra on a cross. elites need only look at the serpent which Moses has elevated T-shaped as to Luther interprets this looking the key salvation for those who simply believe. so man "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, must the Son of be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3:14-15). more with Because it exemplifies faith, the Brazen Serpent belongs properly Christ than with Moses.44 The inclusion of the story on the gospel side in the SchneebergAltarpiece and in all post-1529 versions of Law and Gospel emphasizes that grace exists in both the Old and New Testaments, just as judgment exists in both on Testaments. Moreover, because it appears the grace side of the composition, it even demonstrates that the law and gospel coexist throughout Scripture, though are they distinct. Following the familiar typological tradition, in which the Brazen Serpent sig a an nified type and the Crucifixion antitype, Cranach placed the Brazen Serpent on the law side in the earliest versions of Law and Gospel. In Cranach's later work, to in the new model however, the motif migrated the gospel side accordance with on Law of salvation. The inclusion of the Brazen Serpent the gospel side of and circum Gospel indicates the way familiar motifs evolved under changed theological a to a stances. The Brazen Serpent changed from type symbol of evangelical grace.

sees Hans Holbein the Younger," Burlington Magazine 103 (1961): 491-94. Grossmann the Catholic influence on the law side of Law and Gospel, but still asserts that Holbein's Weltbild is about a contrast between the Testaments. as 41The defining and interlocking Lutheran notions of sola gratia, sola scriptura, and sola fides, Luther defines them in his groundbreaking treatises of 1520, form this notion of law and gospel. The Babylonian Captivity of the Church attacked the Catholic , esp. the mass; LW 36:11-57. The Freedom of a Christian explains and defines Christian faith; LW 31.333?77. To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation calls upon the German rulers to reform the church; LW 44:115-217; cf. Dillenberger, Luther: Selections, xiii. 42Dillenberger, Luther: Selections, xix. Cf. McGrath, Reformation Thought, 67-71. see 43For a thorough discussion of significance of the Brazen Serpent in Cranach evangelical art, Ehresmann, "Brazen Serpent Motif," 32-47. See also Harbison, Last Judgment, 98. 44In a drawing in Dresden, the Brazen Serpent appears on the gospel side; Ehresmann, "Brazen Serpent Motif," 37.This might suggest that the Dresden drawing dates from after the first two panels were completed and functioned as a preparatory drawing for subsequent paintings of Law and Gospel. Noble / Cranach's SchneebergAltarpiece 1025

meant to as a of Law and Gospel is function visual capsule evangelical doctrine, to indicate the essential paradox of judgment and mercy, the interlocking aspects of to one God's relationship humanity. On the hand, the bisected composition threat ens to obfuscate this dynamic between Christ's mercy and judgment. Conceivably not the bisected composition redefines what is being divided?law from gospel, and or type from antitype the Old from the New Testament?rather than actually soft ening or inflecting the actual division. The divided composition of Law and Gospel to contrast so makes it difficult grasp the idea of interrelationships, because the is insistent. Nonetheless, despite the difficulties of conceptually traversing the dividing in tree, the arrangement of motifs, particularly the Brazen Serpent and Christ Judg meant to two to ment, is imply the dynamic coexistence of distinct ideas, reveal the

fugue-like coexistence of law and gospel throughout Scripture, simultaneously as as emphasizing the differences between gospel and law well their connections.

Principle of Law and Gospel in Schneeberg

As the first evangelical polyptych, the SchneebergAltarpiece exploits the iconography of Law and Gospel but adapts it to the more traditional form of a polyptych.45 The a com Schneeberg Altarpiece expands Law and Gospel into format that explores the patibility of evangelical iconography and theology with the traditional, Catholic a polyptych form, incorporating declaration of confessional identity with the prac tice of public devotion. version Law in Most of the elements of the Gotha of and Gospel appear Schnee berg.46 On the far left, the devil pursues or the naked man into the fires of next hell, with Christ in majesty above. In the scene, eat the forbid

den fruit in the background, while Moses and other prophets stand and gesture a towards the figure of death. On the gospel side, second naked man stands with on cross. John the Baptist before Christ the At the far right, the risen Christ stands over triumphant in front of the tomb, victorious both the devil and death. In the a background appears motif not present in the Gotha prototype, but which does in on appear subsequent versions of the subject. Directly top of the tomb, the Virgin receives the unborn Christ while shepherds in the fields look heavenward.47 Like its ancestor the Gotha Law and the Gospel, Schneeberg Altarpiece contains biblical

45Steche, Beschreibende Darstellung, 44-46; Thulin, Alt?re, 35-36; and Schuchardt, Lucas Cranach des Aeltern, 2:116?17, discuss the parallels of single-panel Law and Gospel images and Schneeberg. Cf. Magir "Der as ius, Cranachaltar," 300-301. On the Schneeberg Law and Gospel the first example of this subject a see in polyptych, Aller Knecht und Christi Untertan: Der Mensch Luther und sein Umfeld, Katalog der Aus zum stellungen 450 Todesjahr 1996 (:Wartburg-Stiftung Eisenach), cat. no. 215a, p. 258. 46Steche, Beschreibende Darstellung, 44-46; Thulin, Alt?re, 35-36; and Schuchardt, Lucas Cranach des Aeltern, 2:116-17, discuss the parallel of the Gotha Law and Gospel and Schneeberg. Cf. Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 300-301. as a 47On the role of the Virgin paradigm of grace, see JanWittmann, "Die Bedeutung des Mari enbildes im Schaffen Cranachs,"in Unsichtbare Meisterzeichnungen, ed Sandner, 169-80. 1026 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

are to texts, many of which identical the excerpts in both the Gotha and Prague versions Law of and Gospel.^ in two The Law and Gospel panels the Schneeberg Altarpiece raise basic questions: in to con How does Law and Gospel change relationship the other panels; and scenes on to versely, how do the the other panels change in relation Law and Gospel? center more Because Law and Gospel occupies the of the monument, prominent rear than the panels but less holy than the feast day position, it mediates the viewer's I scenes on rear experience of the other panels. propose that the panels exemplify on the concept of law and those the feast day position clarify the meaning of gospel. art assume new Subjects familiar from earlier Christian meaning and function by to virtue of their proximity Law and Gospel. The ubiquitous retable was the defining format for public religious paintings to a up the Reformation.49 A general and theoretical definition of retable would account. A take several functions into retable adorned and designated the holiest or an a parts of the church, either the high altar altar in side chapel. In either case, an altarpiece marked the focus of ritual and helped define, identify, and guide the in a religious experience of worshipers. It instructed theology, either by illustrating or an ven point of dogma, depicting the object of veneration, marking object of as a eration, such holy . an As evangelical variation of this tradition, the Schneeberg Altarpiece redefined ten these varied functions. Only years after the invention [construction? comple tion? development?] of Law and Gospel, itwas still crucial to use this familiar format to Law instruct and edify the viewer. and Gospel in the heart of the retable becomes to the key proper interpretation of the other panels. By 1539 evangelical Christian an more a ity had become established and independent faith in Saxony, far than

48Steche, Beschreibende Darstellung, 43. Adam: Sie sind alle zumal sunder: und mangeln das sie sich gottes nicht rhumen mugen. Rom. III. die sunde ist des todes spies: aber das gesetz ist der sunde krafft. 1 Cor. 15. Death: Das gesetz richtet nur zorn an. Rom. IIII Durchs gesetz kompt erkentnis der sunde. Rom. III. Das gesetz und alle Propheten: gehen bis auffjohannis zeit. Matthei XI. Adam and John der T?ufer: Der gerecht lebt seines glaubens. Rom. I.Wir halten das der mensch gerecht werde durch den glauben: on des gesetzs werk. Rom. III. Sihe das ist gottes lamb: welches der weit sunde tregt. Jo. I. In der heiligung des teistes auferstandene Herr: zum gehorsam und besprengung des blutes Jesu Christi. 1 Petri 1. Der tod ist verschlungen ym sieg: Tod wo ist dein spies Helle wo ist dein sieg. Gott aber sey danck: unsern der uns den sieg gibt: durch Jhesum christum Herrn. 1 Cor. 15. Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 300, correctly notes that these citations are not in Lutherdeutsch, but in a local dialect of German. 49For a taxonomic definition of the altarpiece and religious images in general, see Martin Kemp's introduction in The Altarpiece in theRenaissance, ed.Martin Kemp and Peter Humffey (Cambridge: Cam see bridge University Press, 1990), 1-20. For further discussion of the altarpiece in northern Europe, Barbara Lane, The Altar and Altarpiece (New York: Harper & Row, 1984); Carol J. Purtle, The Marian Paintings ofJan van Eyck (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982); Hans Belting, The Image and Its Public in theMiddle Ages, trans. Mark Bartusis and Raymond Meyer (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Aristide D. Caratzas 1990), 23 and n. 39. See also Lynn Jacob s's superb article, "The Triptychs of Hieronymus Bosch," Sixteenth Century Journal 31 (2000): 1009-41. Jacobs explores Bosch's innovative retables and demonstrates the versatility of the retable as a pictorial form. Noble / Cranach's SchneebergAltarpiece 1027

mere course detour in the of history. Nonetheless, the traditional new polyptych still served the needs of the teaching. an The Schneeberg Altarpiece performed the basic functions of altarpiece in so a innovative ways. It designated holy space, but it did for ritual where clergy and not laity together, clergy alone, celebrated the ; it guided the religious viewers not a or experience of the by housing relic, working miracles, inspiring visions, but rather through the teaching of evangelical salvation. Most important, the image was itself not holy; itwas a pedagogical tool, and not itself an object of veneration.50 As Luther himself declared:

Here we must we we admit that may have images and make images, but must not if are worship them, and they worshiped, they should be put and away destroyed....51

Rear Panels

The rear of the extend the panels Schneeberg Altarpiece law side of the Law and Gospel equation. The panels displaying the Flood (Genesis 6:5?8:22) and Lot and His Daughters (Genesis 19:1?38), demonstrate the consequences of human sin. In the of the cities of Sodom Gomorrah burn in as story Lot, and the background pun ishment for human debauchery, while the opposite panel shows the dead and flooded earth in the story of Noah.52 The SchneebergAltarpiece highlights the essen tial feature of these two the human to narratives, responses divine judgment. The Last on the center at Judgment back panel represents divine wrath the end of Christian the event case history, ultimate where humanity is judged. This Christian of divine retribution follows a paradigm similar to the judgments of the Noah and Lot and all three narratives a moment must panels, represent when humanity account for itself. scenes on rear saw These appear the of the altarpiece, which the congregants as took communion. In an they evangelical service the laity and clergy alike received the Eucharist in both in contrast to kinds, Catholic practice of denying the the After the at laity chalice.53 receiving bread the left of the altarpiece, the believer then circled around the back, past Lot, the Last Judgment, and Noah, to receive the wine of the Eucharist on the side of the saw right altar.54 Because the participants

a recent use 50For discussion of the of the retable in sixteenth-century evangelical painting, see Walburg Toermer-Balogh, "Zur Entwicklung des protestantischen Altars in Sachsen w?hrend des 16. und 17. beginnenden Jahrhunderts. Versuch einer Typologie der Aufbaukonzepte," in Denkmalpflege in Sachsen, 1894-1994, ed. Heinrich Magirius and Angelica D?lberg (Weimar: B?hlau, 1997), 2:411-36. 51Martin Luther,Third Sermon,Tuesday after Invocavit, 11March 1522; LW, 51:82. Cranach 52The workshop also produced individual panels of Lot andHis Daughters ranging in date to from 1528 1533.The composition of these single panels is almost exactly the same as the composition in the Schneeberg version. See Friedl?nder and Rosenberg, Paintings, cat. nos. 204-7. a 53For concise explanation of Luther's insistence that the laity partake of the Eucharist in both see kinds, McGrath Reformation Thought, 119. Luther supported the laity's receiving the chalice, as he stated in numerous treatises and sermons, for instance in the Babylonian Captivity, in Lull, Luther's Basic Writings, 275. 54Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 298-99, explains that these panels were visible to the congregants as in a a they stood circle around the altar, practice that was already established in the sixteenth century. 1028 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

scenes as saw these they partook of communion, they the effects of law, in both Old

and New Testament motifs, from the standpoint of saving grace. The very fact of in sacrament a state participating the implied of grace predicated upon right under a not standing of Law and Gospel, and realization that mercy, merit, formed the basis of the relationship between humanity and divinity. Evangelical believers did not participate in the sacrament because their actions made them worthy, but because to receive to they recognized their obligation and believe. Were the believers rely on own as as their efforts and actions, they would be lost the people burning in or in or in Sodom and Gomorrah, drowning the flood, damned the Last Judgment. Moving from the back to the front of the Schneeberg Altarpiece forces us to scenes on rear on wonder about the relationship among the the panels, the weekday on How move side, and the feast day side. did the viewer conceptually from Judg to ment, Lot, and Noah through Law and Gospel the Crucifixion? The specific rela scenes not a tionship between interior and exterior does involve simple, sequential to or a shift from Old Testament New Testament, sequential passage through stages

of Christian history. Nor is the organizing principle strictly hierarchical, separating human and divine. Although the defining Christian subject, the Crucifixion, stands are not in the heart of the monument, the donors, that is, the least holy figures, to on scene relegated the weekday side but appear the feast day side, buttressing the on cross. not of Christ the Chronological, sequential, and typological paradigms do scenes in the adequately explain the sequence of Schneeberg Altarpiece. in The conceptual relationships among the panels the Schneeberg Altarpiece monument make this unique. The principle of Law and Gospel? the central theo and of Luther's as well? logical principle of Cranach's evangelical painting writings scenes on defined the pictorial program. The Law and Gospel the weekday panels scenes on scenes on bridge the of judgment the back and the of salvation the feast a rest day position, creating conceptual scaffolding for the of the retable. Like all the version in s Law and Gospel images, this the retable intermediate position begins the viewer's visual journey with motifs exemplifying law. The depictions of Noah, Lot, as conceit action can Adam and Eve, and Christ judge denounce the that human ensure to the sinful human condition. salvation, but also lead apprehension of true, The Crucifixion responds to both the recognition of human sin and the futility of action unearned human with the promise of grace.55 on rear and on the side The repetition of the Last Judgment the panels weekday epitomizes this principle of Law and Gospel. The proximity of both Last Judgments to their new in the context of this Law and Gospel emphasizes meaning quintessen as an extension of the law and tial evangelical principle. On the exterior, paradigm, in the context of Noah and Lot, the Last Judgment portrays the reality of damnation. the Last not On the weekday panels, however, Judgment appears only physically

My thanks also to Professor Magirius for his explanation of the custom of walking around the altar in zu to his letter of 5 July 2000. See also Meinel, Altar Schneeberg, 36, 72.Thanks also Minister Meinel for our on his explanations of sixteenth-century practice in discussion 21 June 2000. 55Cf. Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 299-301. Noble / Cranach's SchneebergAltarpiece 1029

that defines closer to the allegory of grace, but also becomes part of the very system Last becomes grace. Through its dialogue with the paradigm of grace, the Judgment a viewer need not works to foil for evangelical salvation. The Christian perform in instructs the become deserving of heaven. On the contrary, this Christ Judgment not viewer that such actions accomplish nothing. The fear of judgment does disap no pear in evangelical teaching, but the remedy for avoiding damnation longer or an effort and merit. hinges upon pleasing appeasing angry deity through scenes in Yet another iconographie feature of the of Last Judgment Schneeberg a In traditional scenes of from marks departure from earlier tradition. Judgment, to oversees and sal Romanesque tympana , Christ both damnation vation.56 Yet in the Schneeberg Law and Gospel panels, Christ in Judgment presides over not fulfills his exclusively damnation. The issue becomes whether the sinner or trusts in actions obligations well poorly, but whether he the strength of human at all. Rather, through the vanity of his efforts he should recognize the necessity of a on of striv grace. The Last Judgment becomes pronouncement the futility human an event at ing for salvation rather than merely the end of time.57 In addition to Christ in Judgment, all the other subjects in the orbit of Law and new rear Gospel acquire meaning. The panels emphasize punishment. Sodom and we not Gomorrah burn, and Lot accepts drink from his daughters. With Noah, do see a the ark but seascape of floating dead animals, which overpowers the meek rear to to presence of the dove. The panels thus prepare the viewer respond the

remaining series of images.

Predella Last Supper

The Last Supper in the predella is visible in both the weekday and feast day positions serves as a on to a of the altarpiece and visual foundation which build theological In context interpretation of the other panels. the of both Law and Gospel and explicit in evangelical patronage and setting, the predella becomes the first an a part of equation that defines critical point of evangelical theology?Luther's notion of the real presence, in contradistinction to Catholic transubstantiation. The Last Supper in Scripture (Matt. 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:7-23) raises at to least three separate topoi pertaining the Schneeberg Altarpiece. The first is Passover as the actual meal, when Christ distributes bread and wine blood and body. The second is the Crucifixion, that is, the literal shedding of Christ's blood. In this now an event not regard the Passover meal, the Last Supper, celebrates that has yet

occurred. Third, the Last Supper prophesies future commemorations of the Last which the ser Supper, Luther calls Lord's Supper, the climax of the evangelical

56Two famous examples are the twelfth-century Last Judgment tympanum at the Church of atV?z?lay and the fifteenth-century Last Judgment Altarpiece at the Hospice de Beaune by Rogier van derWeyden. ^"Glaubensentscheidung"Magirius,"Der Cranachaltar," 301. 1030 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

vice.58This complex subject thus occupies several different points between past and future.

In his commentary on Psalm 111, Luther wrote:

Whoever is to on to inclined put pictures the altar ought have 's of is Supper Christ painted.... Since the altar designated for the adminis tration of one not a the Sacrament, could find better painting for it. Other or can pictures of God Christ be painted somewhere else.59

to Luther's proclamation that "the altar ought have the Lord's Supper of Christ a to painted" explains tendency among scholars associate the Last Supper with the Reformation retable.60 Nonetheless, very few artists and patrons heeded Luther's the Elder's call.61 Among Cranach surviving retables, only the Schneeberg Altarpiece and theWittenberg Altarpiece depict the Last Supper.62 of whether the Last was or Regardless Supper typical atypical in evangelical art, in Schneeberg the Last Supper predella proclaims evangelical doctrine in condensed form. The claims Last of the Schneeberg Supper parallel the arguments in the Baby lonian Captivity, which attacked the Catholic doctrine asserting Christ's real pres ence in was an the mass.63 Luther rejected transubstantiation utterly because it

58Luther uses the term "Lord's Supper" throughout his writings.The terms mass and Eucharist are often used generically to signify the ritual of bread and wine that occurs at a Christian altar. Lane, Altar and Altarpiece, 148. For further discussion of the relationship between the mass and the altarpiece, see also Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, s.v. "Eucharistie." ^Commentary on Psalm 111 in LW 13:375. Cf.Thulin,Alt?re, 34."Wer hier Lust h?tte,Tafeln auf den Altar malen zu lassen, der solle lassen das Abendmahl Christi malen"; WA 31:415. Quoted in Bar baraWelzel, Abendmalsalt?re vor der Reformation (Berlin: Mann, 1991), 7,151. See Hermann Oertel,"Das fr?hprotestantische Abendmahlsbild inWittenberg und Dresden," Kirche und Kunst 3 (1972): 39. See also Brigitte Riese,"Der Einflu? der Reformation aufMalerei und Graphik in der ersten H?lfte des 16.Jahr hunderts, dargestellt am Beispiel der Wittenberger Reformation" (Ph.D. dissertation, Universit?t Leipzig, 1983), 84. Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 299, claims that a source for the predella may be a drawing by Cranach theYounger in Berlin dating from 1535. 60Welzel, Abendmalsalt?re, 150. 61 According toWelzel, Abendmalsalt?re, 29, the Last Supper appeared only rarely as the subject of an altarpiece well into the fifteenth century. Before the Reformation, the Last Supper tended to appear in amonastic context and mainly as a part of a larger narrative of the Passion of Christ, becoming familiar in monastic refectories beginning in the fourteenth century; in the second half of the fifteenth century the Last Supper begins to appear on altars commissioned by lay brotherhoods. Italian Last Supper refec tories are part of a different tradition entirely; see Herman Oertel, "Das Protestantische Abendmahlsbild im niederdeutschen Raum und seine Vorbildger," Niederdeutsche Beitr?ge zur Kunstgeschichte 13 (1974): 223-70, esp. 225-26. On representations of the Last Supper in refectories, see also Creighton E. Gilbert, "Last Suppers and Their Refectories," in In Pursuit ofHoliness in Late Medieval and Renaissance Religion, Studies inMedieval and Reformation Thought, vol. 10 (Leiden: Brill 1974), 365-406. to zu was com 62According the chronicle Observationes Torgau by Tilemann Stella, who the travel panion (Reisebegleiter) of Duke Johann Albrecht I in 1560 on a trip to Torgau, a Last Supper triptych, painted in 1544, adorned the Torgau castle chapel. See Johannes Erichsen, "Zwei Schweriner Doku mente zu Lucas Cranach," Kunstchronik 2 (1997): 49-53; esp. 51, where the excerpt from Stella's manu script is reproduced.The Dessau Altarpiece (1565) and the Kemberg Altarpiece (1565), both by Cranach the Younger, also depict the Last Supper. 63In the Babylonian Captivity, Luther points out the three important ways in which the church holds the sacraments captive: (1) through the doctrine of transubstantiation, (2) by withholding the chai Noble / Cranach's SchneebergAltarpiece 1031

to a a matter attempt explain rationally miracle, of faith. Despite his rejection of the doctrine, Luther asserted and vehemently defended the real presence of the blood and in the Eucharist.64 For Luther, the real presence in the bread a matter to and wine is of pure faith, analogous acceptance of grace, which cannot or be explained justified rationally.65 The biblical Last Supper not only marked the initiation of the Passion, but also initiated first In was a new com the Christian community. 1539, Schneeberg also and in this the status of as munity, respect, Schneeberg Altarpiece the first evangelical as retable becomes particularly important. Just the Last Supper instituted the Chris tian community during Christ's lifetime, the picture of the Last Supper in Schnee berg established the legitimate continuation of the first Christian community in this new evangelical territory. The depiction of the Last Supper in the predella in to Schneeberg paralleled (according Cranach's understanding of Luther) the histor ical Last Supper in the first community of Christians.66

Donors

In the feast day position, the donors appear amid three different manifestations of Christ. On the lower half of the left panel a bust-length portrait of John Frederick with a scene of Christ in Gethsemane and the appears three sleeping apostles, Peter, and in the of the The center James, John, upper portion panel.67 panel displays the on Crucifixion, and the right panel, John the Serious stands below the risen Christ and the astonished at guards the tomb. The following discussion will demonstrate the in which the donors' ways motivation for and function in the Schneeberg Altar to piece interpreted and responded evangelical doctrine.

ice from the laity, and (3) by the belief that the priest makes an offering or performs a good work or sacrifice when he celebrates the mass. Luther dismissed all three of these claims as unscriptural and see therefore untenable; McGrath, Reformation Thought, 119-20. On the representation of see transubstantiation and the power of the priest, Marilyn Aronberg Lavin, "The Altar of Corpus Domini in Urbino: Paolo Ucello,Joos van Ghent, Piero della Francesca," Art Bulletin 49 (1967): 1?24. See also Oxford Encyclopedia of theReformation (1996), s.v. "transubstantiation." 64Article 10 of the Confession declares "Of the Supper of the Lord they teach that the and blood Christ are are to body of really present, and distributed those who feed at the Lord's Supper, and they disapprove of those teaching otherwise";^ Melanchthon Reader, trans. Ralph Keen, American University Studies series 7,Theology and Religion, vol. 41 (New York: Peter Lang, 1988), 102. "They" to refers the churches (indicated in article 1, "Of God"), that is, the evangelical churches whose beliefs and practices the document defends; ibid., 100. n. 65McGrath, Reformation Thought, 120 and 4: Luther, Babylonian Captivity in Three Treatises, 2d rev. ed. In (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1970), 155-56. the Babylonian Captivity in Lull, Luther's Basic Writings, Luther "You seen mass 303, proclaims: have that the is nothing else than the divine promise or testament of Christ, sealed with the sacrament of his body and blood. If that is true, you will understand that it cannot a possibly be in any way work; nobody can possibly do any thing [sic] in it, neither can it be dealt with in any other way than by faith alone. However, faith is not awork, but the lord and life all works." The and 66Erwin Panofsky, Life Art ofAlbrecht D?rer, 4th ed. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, D?rers as an 1955,1971), 222, interprets Last Supper of 1523 evangelical image, proposing that the relatively barren table and the prominent chalice set off by a yawning, empty space suggests Luther's insistence that the laity receive both the bread and the chalice. 67Matt. 26:36-46. Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46;John 18:1. 1032 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

Fig. 5. Lucas Cranach, Altarpiece of George the Bearded, Mei?en. Reprinted by permission.

The donors' proximity to the holy figures signified a critical feature of the altar's evangelical function. Inmany polyptychs of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen a turies, hierarchy of and secular prevailed. As the least holy figures, the on or in the lower locations donors frequently appeared the outside panels registers, typically exposed on weekdays and during Lent. On Sundays and feast days the holy on were figures the inner panels typically visible. Cranach's Altarpiece ofGeorge theBearded of 1534 inMeissen offers a clear exam ple of this hierarchy of human/holy and opened/closed (fig. 5). The two patrons are George the Bearded from the Albertine branch of the Saxon rulers, and Duchess Barbara (d. 1534), daughter of King Kasimir IV of Poland. The donors kneel in the corners as to Man lower of the wings their patron direct them the of Sorrows flanked by theVirgin and John in the central panel.68 The Schneeberg Altarpiece epitomizes deceptive appearance of continuity between Catholic and evangelical art. Superficially, the presence of the donors in a a fifteenth- and six retable is utterly traditional, indeed characteristic feature of semantic teenth-century retables. This formal similarity, however, belies profound context and functional differences. Only in the of the Schneeberg donors' evangel can ical faith the significance of their presence become apparent. Traditional Catholic donors such as the George the Bearded and Duchess Bar art bara of Meissen earned their representation in works of with pious donations, acts or in of in with of , philanthropy the hopes salvation, short, good of art as a works. Broadly speaking, Catholic donors commissioned works good secure own did work to their salvation. However, the Schneeberg donors exactly

68See Friedl?nder and Rosenberg, Paintings, cat. no. 219. pp. 112-13, for a short description of the altarpiece. Cranach's portraits of George the Bearded include Friedl?nder and Rosenberg, Paintings, cat. no. 340B. Noble / Cranach's SchneebergAltarpiece 1033

a work of whatever the the opposite. Though donating large public art, motivation, the commission of the did would always aggrandize the patron, Schneeberg Altarpiece not a or merit. The of constitute good work enhance the donors' spiritual presence and the Serious the John Frederick the Magnanimous John hinged upon evangel to an arose ical notion that their very desire commission altarpiece from and

declared their faith, which alone promised their salvation. They appear physically to close Christ in the retable's feast day position because evangelical theology allowed them to assume that their faith would justify them. This changed motivation for and significance of patronage exemplified the new art an see in the function of in evangelical environment. The donors Crucifixion own as new in the promise of their salvation, guaranteed by the theology. Salvation more than in the evangelical thought became universal pre-Reformation period, on action on of faith and As Luther and depended less than passive reception grace. mine own wrote, "Thus I abandon myself from all active righteousness, both of and of God's law, and embrace only that passive righteousness, which is the righteous ness of grace, mercy and forgiveness of sins."69 The inextricability of faith and sal a vation provided John and John Frederick place within the visual narrative. some art in art in In examples of Catholic general, and Cranach's Catholic par no ticular, patrons commissioned images depicting human and holy figures with and physical separation. However, the basis for the fluid boundaries between holy human derives from different motivations and justifications in Catholic and evangel to ical environments. A prominent and important Catholic counterpart the Schneeberg Altarpiece is Cranach's painting of Albrecht of Brandenburg with a , circa 1520 in an in 25 in Munich.70 In this panel, Albrecht kneels otherwise empty landscape a turns the presence of looming crucifix. His face away from Christ, and his unfo vacant cused, expression typifies late medieval representations of Christians experi an In encing individual, spiritual vision.71 both the Schneeberg and Albrecht panels, access once the donor has direct to Christ. Nonetheless, again the formal similarities art a between Catholic and evangelical belie universe of theological difference. John the Serious and John Frederick in Schneeberg appear physically close to not Christ because of their faith and the gift of . The point is whether see a they actually Christ through spiritual vision, but rather the notion that their faith in places them in the company of the saved, indeed the company of the savior him as a self. In contrast, Albrecht portrays himself in the presence of divinity result of his own as efforts, part of the world of late-medieval piety and visionary experience. in The subject of visions late-medieval piety has received extensive scholarly in recent as attention decades. Scholars such Craig Harbison and James Marrow have in demonstrated that late-medieval images which human figures intrude into

69Letter to the Galatians in Dillenberger, Luther: Selections, 102. 70Friedl?nder and Rosenberg, Paintings, cat. no. 183. 71 a See fascinating discussion of holy visions depicted in Netherlandish painting of the fifteenth century in Craig Harbison, "Visions and Meditations in Early Flemish Painting," Simiolus 15, no. 2 (1985): 87-118. 1034 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

or holy spaces (the Crucifixion the Nativity, for instance) display the inward, spir in tradi itual experience of the donor.72 Cranach's Albrecht panel participates this to tion. Such visionary experiences testified both effort and accomplishment. or donors Through ascetic practice, zealous and passionate prayer, pious donation, to contact with rested visually claimed experience holy visions. Such divinity upon a visionary experience earned through pious effort. In contrast, the Schneeberg to donors' proximity the Crucifixion resulted from faith and grace. as The absence of saints acting intercessors marks another decisive feature of in In Cranach's the relationship between donors and Christ the Schneeberg Altarpiece. a scene such as the Catholic religious paintings, the donors peering into Nativity a or Crucifixion often appear in the company of patron saint.73 In such images, the patron saint or intercessor mediates between the human and the divine and pleads a remote In no intercessors for mercy from and judging Christ. Schneeberg, however, are visible anywhere.74 a to Cranach's Altarpiece of George the Bearded furnishes pertinent counterpoint The the Elder and the independence of evangelical donors.75 patron saints, James Peter, stand in the left wing with George the Bearded. Paul with his sword and Andrew with the cross accompany the deceased Barbara in the opposite wing. In this Catholic altarpiece, the donors witness the suffering of Christ through the contact patron saints' mediation. The between humanity and God, via traditional channels, is indirect and abides by an established hierarchy linking humanity and divinity. The direct relationship between donors and holy figures in Schneeberg retables. In exemplifies the differences between donors of evangelical and Catholic Saxon the encounter between the Christian the evangelical universe of the electors, must same but the between the human and the and Christ bridge the distance, path of nor a holy involves neither the protocol formal introductions, spiritual vision, nor the charity of intercessors, but the direct path of justification by faith. in As the civic and religious leaders of Schneeberg, the donors stand proxim to as of Their above the Last ity the Crucifixion model receivers grace. position their in the sacrament which reenacts this Supper predella, implies participation scriptural event. Their proximity to Law and Gospel and the Last Supper identifies as as the Christian ini them evangelical leaders of, and participants in, community tiated at the Last Supper. They continue a story that begins with the Old Testament on rear and moves Law and to the establishment of evan the panels through Gospel event gelical practice. The story culminates with the defining of Christianity, the Crucifixion.

means 72Harbison, "Visions and Meditations," 91, succinctly states that artists managed "to find the to visualize, subtly and fully, the chief religious ideal of the time, lay visions and meditations." 73For example, Rogier van derWeyden, Crucifixion (ca.1440) and Bladelin Nativity (Berlin, 1452-55). 74Thulin,/l/i?re, 50. an 75See Friedl?nder and Rosenberg, Paintings, cat. no. 219, for illustration of this image. Noble / Cranach's SchneebergAltarpiece 1035

Crucifixion

saw And when the centurion, who stood facing him, that he thus man was breathed his last, he said, "Truly this the !" (:39)

Through the warnings of Lot, Noah and the Last Judgment on the back panels, in first the viewer encounters and the explication of gospel the opened position, The between scenes of the Crucifixion with considerable preparation. correlations reiterate judgment and salvation in the Schneeberg Altarpiece parallel and the relation two Law as and Christ in ship between the sides of and Gospel. Just Noah, Lot, Judg ment in the develop the law side of the balance, the feast day panels, culminating Crucifixion, extend the gospel side. The pictorial shift from Law and Gospel to the Crucifixion demonstrates the relationship between the initial and critical acceptance of faith to participation in the evangelical sacrament and the blood and body of the Eucharist. The Last Supper and the Crucifixion signify the alpha and omega of the evan sacrament as a as as gelical and of evangelical theology whole. Visually well theo logically, evangelical faith and the blood of the Crucifixion refer back to the ver Eucharist, whose biblical source, the Last Supper, appears in the predella. The Last creates a tical relationship between the Supper and the Crucifixion visual analog to the biblical origins of the Eucharist and the real presence. Only the evangelical Lord's Supper and the law and gospel model of salvation explain the meaning of the Crucifixion in the heart of the retable. The Schneeberg Crucifixion, as well as Cranach's other Crucifixions of the 1530s, have similar composition and iconography, which depart markedly from versions of this In the two thieves Cranach's preevangelical subject.76 Schneeberg, center a frame Christ in the of densely populated composition. In the middle on on swarm ground, soldiers and curious onlookers horseback and foot about. In on a women the foreground Christ's right, the Virgin and group of cry and grieve, across on a men while from them Christ's sinister side, mob of brawl, pulling hair and drawing swords.

76Th.ulin, Alt?re, 36-46 and nn. 23-24, claims the Schneeberg Crucifixion as well as other versions from the late 1530s draw upon earlier medieval models. Cranach the Younger also painted a crowded panel style Crucifixion in the Kemberg Altarpiece (1565). On Cranach's Crucifixions of the 1530s, see also Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 299; Kunst der Reformations zeit, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ausstel lung im Alten Museen, Berlin-Ost (1983), 366; Linzenzausgabe, Berlin West (1983), cat. no. E60, pp. 365-66. Some of Cranach's Crucifixions contemporary with Schneeberg include the single panel in the Art Institute of Chicago (1538), Friedl?nder and Rosenberg, Paintings, cat. no. 377; a panel inMadrid, Friedl?nder and Rosenberg, Paintings, cat. no. 377D; the Altarpiece of the Crucifixion of the Castle in Han no. a nover, Friedl?nder and Rosenberg, Paintings, cat. 377E; version in Nuremberg Thulin, Alt?re, 46 nn. and 23-25. Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 299-300; and two versions in Dessau, dating from before 1537, Kunst der Reformations zeit catalog, cat. no. E58, pp. 364-65. One of the Dessau panels was for merly inW?rlitz; see Kunst der Reformations zeit, 364. See also Friedl?nder and Rosenberg, Paintings, cat. nos. 377B-C. 1036 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4 (2003)

The composition and iconography of the Schneeberg Crucifixion divide the tree in Law a composition, much like the single-panel and Gospel images, creating tension that the surrounding panels buttress and underscore.77 In traditional Cru on cifixions, placement of the good and bad thieves the dexter and sinister sides of cross the respectively separates the composition into the damned and the saved.The

Schneeberg Altarpiece emphasizes this separation through arrangement of all motifs between dexter and sinister. The grieving Marys accompany the converted centu rion on on and the good thief the dexter side. Across the panel the sinister side, the a men evildoers accompanying the bad thief include group of rolling dice and plac ing bets for Christ's garment, and the gesturing, disbelieving high priests.78 at The converted centurion the left, also called , corresponds with at not Stephaton, right, the disbelieving soldier who does recognize Christ.79 These on on figures appear horseback either side of the cross, framing Christ in the middle as of the composition, do the thieves above. The converted Longinus and the dis believing Stephaton epitomize the relationship between law and gospel in precisely manner in the of the saved and condemned figures the Law and Gospel panels. The on a com relative positions of Stephaton and Longinus opposite sides of bisected two position make their association with Law and Gospel unmistakable. As with the in Law nude figures and Gospel, faith separates them: Longinus has faith, Stephaton not. does The translation of the nude figures into Longinus and Stephaton plants in structure the principle of Law and Gospel the of this evangelical Crucifixion, an as Law to implying analogous dynamic. Just and Gospel calls upon the viewer follow the example of the saved sinner, the Schneeberg Crucifixion asks the viewer to or on com model himself herself the Marys, Longinus, and the good thief by to on paring their salvation the evident sin the opposite side.This rearrangement of a a creates an familiar motif into composition rooted in Luther's teaching evangel ical image out of a familiar Catholic subject. same The Schneeberg Crucifixion reinvents pre-Reformation versions of the so subject. In these earlier versions, the elements tidily distinguished in Schneeberg a in Amster fuse into compositional whole. Cranach's Crucifixion Triptych, formerly makes a instructive Like dam and dating from c.1520, particularly comparison.80

77Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 300, observed that Schneeberg and the other Reformation to period Crucifixions are divided into sides corresponding to salvation and damnation analogous Law and Gospel, though this observation receives little explanation. 78See Kunst der Reformations zeit, cat. no. E58. In his discussion of Cranach's Crucifixions, Charles W. Talbot Jr. astutely remarks that despite the assembly line workshop production, Cranach makes his many versions of the same subject slightly different so that each one can claim originality; see Talbot, "The Interpretation ofTwo Paintings by Cranach in the Artist's Late Style," Report and Studies in theHis tory ofArt (Washington DC: of Art, 1967), 68-69. Magirius, "Der Cranachaltar," 300; in n. 17,Magirius refers to John 3:18, 36; 12:31-33, 45-48, and Eph. 1:22-23. 79For a concise discussion of Longinus and Stephaton, see James Hall, Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols, rev. ed. (New York: Harper & Row, 1979), 83. 80Friedl?nder and Rosenberg, Paintings, cat. no. 95. Other Cranach panels of the Crucifixion are a ca. actually the inverse of the Schneeberg Crucifixion; for example, panel in Frankfurt dating from 1515 on shows the grieving women on the dexter side, and the converted centurion appears the sinister side. Friedl?nder and Rosenberg, Paintings, cat. no. 92. See also Talbot, "Interpretation," 72. Noble / Cranach's SchneebergAltarpiece 1037

a in the Schneeberg Altarpiece, the Amsterdam triptych has Crucifixion the center, on on Christ in Gethsemane the left, and the Resurrection the right. Despite their two the identical subject matter, the composition of these retables reveals confes sional distance between them. In the earlier triptych, both the converted centurion on from and the good thief appear together the sinister side. Across the centurion, women swoon on the Virgin and the group of the dexter side along with the on unconverted thief, who conspicuously looks away from Christ. Also the dexter two side in the middle appear figures with grotesque caricatured faces, whose dis

torted features and snarling expressions remind the viewer of the brawling figures on who gamble for Christ's garment the sinister side of the Schneeberg Crucifixion. two to In the Amsterdam panel, the elements of the reactions the Crucifixion are not a unmistakable individual motifs, though their arrangement does abide by an clear division of the composition, but by alternating rhythm of desirable and structure undesirable responses. Without the didactic organization and theological must of the principle of law and gospel, the viewer voyage visually through the panel, interpreting each of these motifs independently. as The Crucifixion it appears in the heart of the Schneeberg Altarpiece becomes an in an evangelical subject evangelical environment.The patronage and proximity to to as an Law and Gospel would be sufficient designate it evangelical painting. more More interesting, and subtle, is the arrangement of traditional motifs accord to ing the principle of the paradigmatic evangelical painting, Law and Gospel. This

redeployment of familiar motifs underscores the essentially didactic function of the art Schneeberg Crucifixion and of evangelical in general. not Earlier evangelical paintings, only Law and Gospel but also the famous Four Holy Men (1525) by D?rer, eschewed the retable format, possibly because this tra new tra ditional form would too easily blur the and malleable distinctions between so was ditions early in the Reformation. Early evangelical painting concerned with new demonstrating key points of the theology in clear distinction from Catholic art, hence the excerpts from Luther's German Bible in the D?rer image and the new was declarative explication of doctrine in Law and Grace. Only after the faith proclaimed and established in both word and image did it become safe to place the new a as were. ideas in traditional frame?new wine in old skins, it The sophisti cated blend of evangelical thought and Catholic pictorial form in the Schneeberg reveals artistic ten Altarpiece dramatic theological and change in the intervening Law years since and Gospel. The SchneebergAltarpiece represents a major shift in evangelical painting from the declarative Law and to a more Gospel panels sophisticated and subtle pictorial form. The a sure Schneeberg Altarpiece perpetuated the ideals of religion enough of its own identity to employ the deeply Catholic polyptych as a vehicle for the expression of evangelical theology. While all the scenes in Schneeberg had been in earlier subjects art, Luther's hermeneutic and the pictorial function it supports proclaim the confessional character of this first evangelical retable.