Law and Grace ('Gotha type')

The subject, usually identified as ' Law and Grace (or the Gospel)', visualises the doctrine of justification as characterized by Luther, who in 1529 developed the iconographic execution together with Cranach. From this time onwards numerous versions of the subject were produced in the Cranach workshop as drawings, panel paintings, printed material and in three cases (Berlin, Dessau, Jena) as minatures within the context of royal ornamented bibles. The sheet in the ThULB Jena is related to the so-called 'Gotha type' (after a painting by Cranach in Gotha, Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein, see DE_SMG_SG676). The composition is divided by a tree, creating a side for sin (left) and one for grace (right): left Adam and Eve beneath the tree of knowledge; Adam is driven into the fires of Hell by Death and the Devil, where Eve, among others, already is; Moses with the ten commandments and three men; above the Judge of the World with angels; on the right are St John the Baptist with Adam, who is showered with Christ's blood; Christ defeating Death and the Devil; the brazen serpent; the expectant Virgin; the annunciation to the shepherds; Christ's feet as he ascends to heaven. The artist's insignia and the date '1543' are in the cave at the right . Above the image are the Biblical passages most relevant for Luther's doctine of justification, above all from the Letter to the Romans.

[Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Jena, revised 2014]

see also: http://archive.thulb.uni-jena.de/hisbest/receive/HisBest_cbu_00023632