Leaders of the Reformation with Nuremberg in Background

Giant woodcut, 5 plates, old coloring. This giant woodcut centers on one of the key scenes of the New Testament: Christ's baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. But in this 1559 portrayal, the event from the Biblical narrative of salvation has been relocated, with the Pegnitz standing in for the Jordan and Nuremberg portraying Jerusalem. The baptism takes place as though in a vision, witnessed by the principal political and military patrons of the Reformation (on the left), with Jan Hus, Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon facing them on the right. Above the whole scene, the heavens open to reveal God the Father. Shortly after the historic Peace of Augsburg of 1555, Nuremberg is shown here as a home of Protestantism. Surrounded by its famed walls, protected by the powerful rulers of Brandenburg and Saxony, and watched over by the most significant figures of the Reformation, the free imperial city seems safely girded for a splendid Protestant future.