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Kaufbeuren Town Museum
Ewiger Kalender (1768/1768) by Johann Jakob RumpeltOriginal Source: Stadtmuseum Kaufbeuren
Perpetual calendar
This perpetual calendar made using the reverse glass technique was made in 1768 by the Kaufbeuren weaver and woodblock cutter Johann Jakob Rumpelt, as evidenced by his signature on the bottom right-hand edge of the picture.
In the middle and the lower half of the painting there are openings—changeable signs written on paper displaying the month, week, day, and season are placed here.
In the upper half of the picture, four cartouches depicting the seasons can be seen on a black background. The allegories hark back to a copperplate series by the Augsburg publisher and copperplate engraver Martin Engelbrecht (1684-1756).
On the lower edge of the picture, there is an additional picture slot for showing the position of the moon.
Knabe im Garten (1740/1790)Original Source: Stadtmuseum Kaufbeuren
Boy in the garden
This image of a boy in a baroque garden with fountains is one of the less vulgar motifs among the Kaufbeuren reverse glass paintings from the 18th century. The painting is supplemented by numerous lines of verse from a work by the Enlightenment-era fabulist Magnus Gottfried Lichtwer. It tells the story of a boy in a garden reveling in the beauty of nature. This is a symbolic allegory of youth.
Allegorie des Frühlings (1740/1788) by Johann Matthäus Bauhoff (zugeschrieben)Original Source: Stadtmuseum Kaufbeuren
Allegory of spring
Seasons are an extremely popular topic in reverse glass painting from the 18th century. One famous example of reverse glass painting from Kaufbeuren is a complete series of allegorical depictions of the seasons. A young woman with spring flowers in a shallow basket and a wreath of flowers in her pinned-up hair symbolizes spring.
Allegorie des Sommers (1740/1788) by Johann Matthäus Bauhoff (zugeschrieben)Original Source: Stadtmuseum Kaufbeuren
Allegory of summer
The summer allegory holds a bundle of golden-yellow ears of corn in her arm, with three stems of corn adorning her flowing hair. Cereals are ready for harvest between the middle of June and end of August and so are used to symbolize summer.
Allegorie des Herbstes (1740/1788) by Johann Matthäus Bauhoff (zugeschrieben)Original Source: Stadtmuseum Kaufbeuren
Allegory of autumn
The figure symbolizing autumn wears a woven straw hat on her head. In her hands are a basket with juicy, yellowy-orange apples. The ripe fruit symbolizes autumn.
Allegorie des Winters (1740/1788) by Johann Matthäus Bauhoff (zugeschrieben)Original Source: Stadtmuseum Kaufbeuren
Allegory of winter
The allegory of winter wears an elegant blue dress and a jacket with pink trim on the lapels and sleeves. She is wearing pink gloves and a fur muff to keep the cold away. On her head is a matching three-cornered hat.
Madame Law (1700/1750) by niederländischOriginal Source: Stadtmuseum Kaufbeuren
A Dutch copperplate engraving used as a template
An elegantly-dressed woman served as a template for the Kaufbeuren reverse glass painting depicting winter from a series based on the seasons. With a bit of artistic license, the background shows St Mark's Square in Venice on which a harlequin and other commedia dell’arte figures dance.
Ansicht der freien Reichsstadt Kaufbeuren (1763)Original Source: Stadtmuseum Kaufbeuren
The free imperial town of Kaufbeuren
There are only two known pictures of the free imperial town among the reverse glass paintings from Kaufbeuren with secular motifs. This one shows a view of the free imperial town of Kaufbeuren in 1763.
The ring of the city wall is clearly recognizable with its armed turrets and city gates, and the parish church of St. Martin (2) in the center looms over everything. In front of the church is the Holy Ghost Hospital (17).
The river Wertach flows in front of the town, and the left-hand side half of the picture shows the "long bridge" which crosses it.
On the right-hand side of the picture are long strips of white cloth for bleaching.
Two cherubs in the center hold a cartouche with the inscription: "Die Freye Reichs Statt KAUFFBEUREN [The free imperial town of Kaufbeuren] 1763," with the old town coat-of-arms on the right and the imperial coat-of-arms with the half imperial eagle on the left. In a white footer, a legend identifies the numbered buildings in the town.
Die freye Reichs Statt Kauffbeyren (1700/1750) by Elias BaeckOriginal Source: Stadtmuseum Kaufbeuren
Die freye Reichsstatt Kauffbeyren [The free imperial town of Kaufbeuren] according to Elias Böck
The copperplate engraving by the painter and engraver Elias Böck (1679–1747) provided an excellent template for the reverse glass painting and depicts the free town of Kaufbeuren from the south, as it would have looked in the first half of the 18th century. A legend identifies 24 important buildings. Four cherubs in the foreground hold the old and new coats-of-arms on a cartouche.
Learn who the Kaufbeuren reverse glass painters were in this story.
Text and photos: Kaufbeuren Town Museum
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