bavarikon4UDescription
This stained-glass picture was created in 1748 on the 100-year jubilee of the Peace of Westphalia which was also celebrated solemnly in Kaufbeuren. The Church of the Holy Trinity was decorated in style and so-called "Ehrenpforten" (triumphal arches) erected around the altar. The picture shows an altar behind which stands a large crucifix. Around the altar, four floral pyramids as well as garlands and cartouches form the triumphal arch. Inscriptions state the occasion for the celebration. The portraits show the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand III (1608-1657) on the left and the Swedish King Gustav Adolf (1594-1632) on the right. In 1630, Gustav Adolf intervened in the war and thus turned the tide in favour of the Protestants; Ferdinand formally ended the Thirty Years War. In a frame above the crucifix, the envoys who negotiated the Peace of Westphalia are depicted. In the centre of the foreground kneels a personification of the church, while on the left time personified, Chronos, is shown on an ashlar with scythe and hourglass. Johann Jakob Rumpelt, one of the few known Kaufbeuren stained-glass painters, who had created the image in 1750, signed the ashlar’s front, underneath the municipal coat of arms. During the early modern period, Kaufbeuren was one of the bi-confessional imperial cities. Numerous conflicts between the Catholic and the Protestant population left their mark on the city’s atmosphere. From the mid-eighteenth century onwards, therefore stained-glass pictures were created against this background with a Protestant imagery and message intention.
Author
Susanne Sagner / Petra Weber