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“Zum Andenken und zur Ehre Gottes” : Kunst und Frömmigkeit im frühneuzeitlichen Luthertum

Through its emphasis on justification by faith alone, the Reformation destroyed the chief reason for donating works of art to churches. Good works could no longer earn salvation, yet Lutheran patrons continued to give to their local churches. This article asks why, drawing on visual, printed and archival evidence to reveal that although Lutheran images have usually been described as didactic and commemorative, the motives that lay behind their donations were as rich and varied as in the pre-Reformation period. Donors of course sought representation, but they also sought to formulate and express their relationship with God through material means