Christof Murer (1558–1614) was the most important and successful designers and glasspainters of his time in Switzerland. His drawing for the panel is both signed with the monograph CM and dated, 1598 (Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, no. 1510280002). An unidentified glasspainter followed the design closely as testified by the expressive image of the physiognomy of St. Benedict and the vigorous sculpting of the image of the evangelists. The three–dimensional presence of the bull of St. Luke is striking. The donor was the abbot of a wealthy monastery close to Zurich, motivating his patronage of both designer and glasspainter. There are a few notable changes between the design and the finished panel, however. The Evangelist symbols are all slightly reconfigured, as seen in the kneeling figure of Matthew, and the open, rather than closed books of Luke and John. Both Gabriel and Mary are in slightly different positions in the Annunciation panel. The painter, however, strives to bring the distinctly expressive energetic features of the saints and animals.
The Benedictine monastery of Reinau, founded in 778, was one of the most distinguished in Switzerland. It is situated on a bend in the Rhine River on the German/Swiss border of the Canton of Zurich. Closed in 1529 at the beginning of the Reformation, it was re-established in 1532 and became a center for Counter-Reformation activity. The site’s present configuration, repurposed for expanded usage, reflects the rebuilding in the first half of the eighteenth century in the Baroque style pioneered by Abbot Gerold II Zurlauben and the great Benedictine master builder of Switzerland, Caspar Moosbrugger.
The importance of the Abbey ensured that numerous testimonials in glass would be designed as gifts. Several, like the Walters’ panel, show saints Fintan and Benedict. St. Fintan (803/804–878) was a priest born in Leinster, Ireland. After a pilgrimage to Rome in 845, he eventually entered the monastery of Rheinau in 851. Benedict (480–543) is revered as the founder of Western monasticism (Butler, 1846, vol. 1, pp. 630–637; Ryan, 1993, vol. 1, pp. 186–93). In 1560, Abbot Michael Hester of Reinau gave a panel to the Monastery of Wettingen showing on the left St. Benedict, and on the right St. Fintan (West XVa; Hoegger, 2003, pp. 142, 336–37). In 1623, Abbot Eberhard van Bernhausen dedicated a panel showing on the right, St. Fintan and an unidentified saint on the left (SouthVIIb; Hoegger, 2003, pp. 158, 357). The dove sits on Fintan’s right shoulder, the area renewed in the Baltimore panel. Benedict is shown holding a glass cup, a Renaissance mark of status, with a serpent within it. The legend recounts that Benedict was called from his hermetic life to be abbot of a monastery whose abbot had died. Within a short time, the monks rejected his rule and attempted to poison him but the poisoned wine glass shattered (Butler, 1846, p. 631, Ryan, 1993, vol. 1, p. 187). Benedict survived and then returned to Subiaco where he was joined by others who wished to follow his example. The legend of the poisoned cup, with the poison appearing as a serpent (a description not in the Golden Legend), is inspired by the widely circulated iconography of St. John holding a poisoned cup. Numerous examples of the Benedict’s cup appear in Swiss glass, repeatedly in the Cloister of Wettingen, West XIIIb, XIVb, XVa, XVa, and North Va (Hoegger, 2003).
Cited in:
Hayward, Kummer-Rothenhäusler, & Raguin, 1987, p. 66.
Hayward, Kummer-Rothenhäusler, & Raguin, 1989, p. 311.
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