This epitaph for Margarethe Wittinghoff was painted in Lübeck in 1552 by Hans Kemmer, who was also the artist behind the Hans Sonnenschein artwork. It has that slight Reformation-period tension where everyone is clearly trying to work out exactly what devotional art is now allowed to do as I can imagine that the rules weren’t exactly clear. I’m not sure why two faces are blurred out, but I suspect that it’s something to do with those rules not being very clear….. I’m genuinely fascinated about this period when everything changed and all the religious traditions were thrown in the air and it wasn’t clear how it would all settle.
The artwork came from St Mary’s Church in the city and was made at a time when old Catholic visual habits had not simply vanished, but were being carefully rearranged into something that could sit within the new Lutheran world. The painting shows Christ’s baptism, with John the Baptist standing beside him and a crowd of onlookers gathered on the right. Above, the Holy Spirit descends as a dove, while God the Father appears from the clouds, completing the theological arrangement rather nicely. Margarethe herself is shown kneeling in prayer at the lower left which feels a little bit self-indulgent to me.
As I’ve accused Margarethe of being self-indulgent, I thought I’d ask AI to draw a little something up for me. I must say that I quite like this, although I don’t drink tea so I must have words with it about that.