Reformation altarpiece [central panel]: The Last Supper (recto), The Trinity (verso)

Recto: depiction of the Last Supper. According to the bible Christ sat together with his disciples on the evening before he was betrayed and arrested. The composition draws on a design completed in the Cranach workshop for a project commissioned Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg (1490-1545). A group of men is seated around a round table with a white tablecloth in a stately room. The apostles have taken their places on an oval stone bench, while Christ is seated on a separate square block at the right edge of the image. His favorite disciple John rests his head on his chest. Above the group two arched openings in the wall reveal an expansive landscape. The windows are without glass and framed either side by pilasters. Through the left window a partially withered tree is visible, and through the right-hand window a high white mountain can be seen. It is crowned by a town with a large building, recalling the Wittenberg castle. The Passover lamb and the unleavened bread are shown on the table [...]. A cupbearer wearing red knight's robe can be seen at the right edge.

The image records the moment described in St John's Gospel when Christ announced at the supper: '[...] one of you is going to betray me.' (Joh 13, 21). [...] The picture shows him stretching over to offer Judas a piece of bread. [The disciple on the far right has been identified as Martin Luther. In contrast to the representation on the predella this figure recalls that of 'Junker Jörg'. [...] The disciple beside him is a portrait of the Wittenberg printer and publisher Hans Lufft (1495-1584).

Verso: a depiction of the Trinity. The risen Christ stands at the centre of the image triumphant over death, sin and the devil, framed by clouds and numerous heads of putti. The savior holds the victory banner in his right hand, the Holy Ghost represented as a dove hovers over his head and God's hand is visible on the right. A quotation from St Mark's Gospel is inscribed on the front side of the sarcophagus (Mt 28, 18-20): "Mir ist gegeben alle gewalt im himel und erden Darum gehet hin und leret alle / volcker vnd teuffet sie / im namen des Vaters und des sons und des Heiligen / geists und leret sie halten alles was ich euch befohlen habe. Und sihe ich bin Bey euch alle tage bis an der welt ende. Matthei. XXVIII" (Jesus drew near and said to them, 'I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.')[...]

[Zdunczyk, in: Harasimowicz, Seyderhelm 2015, 81, 83, 86]