The Fountain of Life

One of the three central images on the ceiling in Eksjö old church. The motif depicts people beneath Christ on the Cross, receiving Grace through His blood. The imagery is often known as “Fons Pietatis” or “Fons Vitae”, i.e. the fountain of piety or the fountain of life. At the side, a black clad man wearing a beret or a Doctor’s hat holing a scroll with a text in German: “What I cannot understand with my senses, I take away.” Beneath the image a scroll with a text in Swedish: “Christ is the right sacrifice; His blood will cleanse us from sin.” The painting is made by Jürgen Kunkel in 1687, probably based on an unknown engraving.