bavarikon4UProtestant Reverse Glass Paintings
The Stadtmuseum Kaufbeuren (Kaufbeuren Municipal Museum) owns an extraordinary collection of almost 80 reverse-glass paintings, featuring Protestant iconography. Most of the paintings were produced between 1740 and 1790 in the bi-confessional imperial city of Kaufbeuren. A few pictures can be dated to c.1817 and are therefore connected to the 300th anniversary of the publication of Luther's theses.
Instead of images of saints or landscapes, in Kaufbeuren many portraits of the reformer Martin Luther (1483–1546) may be found as well as portraits of secular rulers who converted to Protestantism, such as the Swedish king Gustav Adolf (1594–1632) or the Prussian king Frederick the Great (1712–1786). In addition, religious events such as the delivery of the Confessio Augustana were depicted on glass as were local jubilees. Further to these specifically Protestant motifs, reverse-glass paintings were created with biblical scenes, with a few secular depictions and with so-called "Spruchbilder" (images connected to scriptural text). These house blessings and wedding reminiscences served as popular wall decorations in the houses of Protestant Kaufbeuren families. In many of Kaufbeuren's reverse-glass paintings, inscriptions and banners play an important role which can be attributed to the special role of the word in the Protestant faith.
For four of the reverse-glass painters exists archival proof that they were once citizens of Kaufbeuren. Two other signatures have not yet been definitely identified. Among the most prolific painters were Johann Jakob Rumpelt (1706–1782) and Johann Matthäus Bauhoff (1716–1788). In contrast to their colleagues elsewhere, all of these reverse-glass painters exercised their craft exclusively as a sideline. Thus, Kaufbeuren reverse-glass painting differs fundamentally from other production centres in eighteenth-century southern Germany such as Raimundsreut, Seehausen, Murnau, Oberammergau or Augsburg.
Protestant reverse-glass paintings may still be found today in the old-established Kaufbeuren families and have been preserved in the museums of former Protestant imperial cities such as Augsburg, Kempten, Memmingen and Lindau. In contrast to reverse-glass paintings with Catholic and secular motifs, glass panels with Protestant iconography, as those produced in Kaufbeuren, are a rarity. In total, only a few such paintings exist. In addition to the panels of the Stadtmuseum Kaufbeuren, 61 additional paintings from other museums and collections are known.
>> This collection is part of the inventory of the Stadtmuseum Kaufbeuren (Kaufbeuren Municipal Museum).