Art in the Heart of Biblical Reading: The Biblia Pauperum and Cranach’s 1550 Law and Gospel Painting

Martin Luther’s 1522 translation of the New Testament, which contained 21 woodcuts in the book of Revelation, is an early example of the way that he endorsed the use of the visual arts for the sake of Bible reading. Luther utilized Lucas Cranach the Elder and other artists for this task of unfolding the Scriptures in images as well. The chief example is that of Cranach’s schematic treatment of Law and Gospel found in woodcuts and paintings. Traditionally, among art historians, it has long been held that Cranach, influenced by Luther, reduced art to pedestrian illustrations of biblical and theological concepts while medieval and renaissance artists contributed to a deeper relationship between image and text. Rosebrock argues against this misconception, by showing that Cranach’s work was in many ways much more closely aligned to medieval modes of thinking about images than is sometimes supposed. Most notably, in the so-called Biblia Pauperum (“The Bible of the Poor”) tradition, a creative use of allegory and typology join Old and New Testament scenes with Latin inscriptions. Though the exact uses of such books cannot be easily discerned, it is consonant with Mary Carruthers’ work in The Craft of Thought where she argues that the medieval practices of meditation on the Scriptures were closely tied to image-making for the sake of remembrance in the mind’s eye. Lucas Cranach the Elder’s 1550 Law and Gospel painting at Lutherhaus in Wittenberg is a primary example that defies common modern view about images during the Lutheran Reformation. To date, not nearly enough research has been devoted to this small painting (25 cm x 19 cm) with Latin translations of Scripture that imply that it was created for an educated client. Because all the extant examples of Cranach’s Law and Gospel paintings and woodcuts used German for two decades prior to its creation, this work indicates that the images and accompanying text were not merely received as tools for teaching the uneducated but served the purpose of imprinting the Word in the hearts of all people. Cranach’s work is not completely novel nor a reduction of art to mere illustration but in many ways a furthering of devotion on the Scriptures through medieval and monastic conventions demonstrated in the Biblia Pauperum. However, the distinction of Law and Gospel does not merely refer to Old and New Testaments, but God’s two words in both testaments. Cranach’s painting provides a visual and memorable framework by which one can see how all the Scriptures fit together and point to Christ. Moreover, there is a renewed emphasis on the Gospel of Christ’s righteousness freely given to sinners by faith alone. Consequently, when we consider the examples of Law and Gospel paintings with German inscriptions on large altarpieces for the whole laity, this is an example of how Luther did not believe that the life of prayer and meditation on the Word of God should be cloistered by religious vows, but infused into the lives of all Christians in their holy and everyday vocations. This paper has implications for our modern understanding of the use of images alongside the reading of Scripture. Text and image can reside together. They are both forms of communication to be used in the art of holding onto Christ in the heart