Biblical Scenes Research Articles

Black Women in the Rijksmuseum’s Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Collection

The few studies of the depiction of Black people in Western art have focused primarily on the rendering of Black men. This article discusses the depictions of Black women in the Rijksmuseum’s collection, specifically in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from the moment that Europeans and Africans met until about 1660, when representations became increasingly stereotyped. Black women in this period are depicted in a number of genres. The illustrations in travel journals and separate drawn records are concerned primarily with the differences in status between local inhabitants: the more clothes they wore, the higher their status. Yet the texts accompanying these depictions link nakedness to barbarity and lewdness. That nudity was retained as the way to represent allegorical Africa, in the form of a nearly naked Black female surrounded by wild animals, as was also prescribed in the iconographic manual by Cesare Ripa. When she was positioned in the company of the other continents, she was assigned a subordinate role as being less civilized and ripe for the taking. The Black woman also has a minor part as the allegory of Night or Darkness. In Biblical scenes the Black female is an individual character in some cases while in others she is a bystander, like white onlookers. There are no examples known of Black women who commissioned portraits themselves. There are, however, tronies that were intended to represent African facial features and a black skin, sometimes including an ‘exotic’ costume. Two etchings of Black females in everyday clothing might depict members of the Black communities that had settled in Antwerp, like they did in Amsterdam. Such illustrations made from life are too few in number, however, to express with subtlety the image of the Black woman countering the predominant image of her as an ‘exotic’, sexual apparition. It is possible that this analysis can be adapted on the basis of research into depictions in other – non-Northern-European – collections.

Figürliche Reliefs frühchristlicher Zeit in Kleinasien (4.-6. / 7. Jahrhundert n.Chr.)

In Asia Minor, only a relatively small number of reliefs with biblical depictions or images of saints from the early Christian period (fourth to sixth / seventh centuries AD) have been preserved. They represent an exceedingly small percentage of what was likely actually produced, with a substantial amount considered to be lost. This makes it difficult to classify the art based on geographic region, in comparison, for example, to the proliferation of the Roman grave reliefs of the second and third centuries. Nevertheless, Asia Minor was of an area of great importance for the theology of early Christianity. Numerous churches from the Early Byzantine period have been preserved or at least documented. Many were large and magnificent buildings, showing excellent masonry techniques, and some had unusual shapes. The churches were richly adorned with capitals, barrier plates, and ambons, as well as floor mosaics. Although only a few remnants of wall paintings and mosaics are preserved today, it can be assumed that most of churches possessed them. While there are portrait sculptures and busts of excellent quality, very few reliefs are based on the Bible. They are almost all very simple pieces, in terms of craftsmanship, with a few exceptions. The existence, not only, of the customary iconography, but also rare and unique character depictions of the reliefs of biblical scenes, illustrates the reach of the Byzantine Church in even the most remote areas of that region, shedding light on Late Antique art in Asia Minor as the heartland of the Byzantine Empire.

The Hebrew Bible in Ancient Jewish Education

After the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the end of the sacrificial service in 70 CE rabbis made Torah study and observance the basis of Jewish identity. Since no organised Jewish school system existed in Roman Palestine, only a very small proportion of the mostly male Jewish population would have been able to read, and few people had access to Torah scrolls. Rabbinic Torah experts set themselves up as intermediaries and advisers who helped ordinary people solve their daily life problems. In late antiquity, when urban rabbis served as role models and synagogues required Torah readers, Torah-reading skills may have slightly increased. At that time, rabbis’ Scripture-based public sermons and the depiction of biblical scenes on synagogue mosaic floors familiarised ordinary Jews, including women, with biblical rules and narratives. Rabbinic study and discussion would have largely depended on memorization of the biblical text rather than access to written scrolls. This phenomenon led to a creative use of the Bible, which enabled innovation, change, and adaptation to new circumstances.

The Cabinets of the Sacristy of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan and the Representation of Architecture

After Beatrice d’Este’s death in 1497, the duke of Milan, Ludovico il Moro, commissioned cabinets for the storage of sacred objects (‘armariis ... ad res sacras custodiendas’) for the sacristy of the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, where he planned to be buried. Although the archival sources are not unanimous, the cabinets are identifiable with those that nowadays occupy the eastern and western walls of the Dominican room, decorated with coats of arms and mottos of the Sforza family. Existing scholarship focuses on the cabinets’ unusual decorative technique and the general composition of the cycle, based on a calculated perspective, but their place within a broader architectural culture has largely gone unnoticed. Whilst the question of their attribution remains open, this paper argues that the buildings depicted in the background of the biblical scenes give us an insight into the architectural and figurative practice of the anonymous masters.

From Idols to Icons: The Emergence of Christian Devotional Images in Late Antiquity by Robin Jensen (review)

Reviewed by: From Idols to Icons: The Emergence of Christian Devotional Images in Late Antiquity by Robin Jensen Katherine Marsengill Robin Jensen From Idols to Icons: The Emergence of Christian Devotional Images in Late Antiquity Oakland: University of California Press, 2022 Pp. xv + 244. $65.00. Robin M. Jensen's latest monograph on the emergence and development of Christian images over the first six centuries c.e is a clear and informative presentation on an important topic. Across eight chapters, Jensen describes the rise of Christian art within a culture filled with images of the gods and the tension in the endeavor of church authorities to deny or justify the use of images in their own religious environments. Jensen begins with essential historiography, reasserting what scholars over the last few decades have come to understand: contrary to early historians like Edward Gibbon and biased churchmen of the Protestant Reformation who misinterpreted the earliest Christian writings, early Christians were not, in fact, categorically anti-art, nor aniconic; they did not adhere to nor cite Hebrew Bible/Old Testament law, nor follow a perceived Jewish precedent. Jensen goes through the early texts condemning idols, clarifying the nature of the apologiae on worshiping false gods. Early Christians objected to idolatry on the grounds that pagans worshiped non-existent deities and thus, by default, worshiped man-made objects fashioned out of stone, wood, and metal. Idols were images of beings who did not exist, or, if they had existed, were regular people, long-dead, and mistakenly elevated to divine status out of misguided fondness or grief. Although rife with hyperbole and simplifications of pagan practices, the apologiae were aimed at persuading Christians about the danger of engaging with paganism and its associated vices. Arguments against worshiping images of the gods were not uniquely Christian, since non-Christian philosophers of the second and third centuries also recognized [End Page 255] the dilemma. Jensen's discussion of the matter provides larger context for a belief system that imagined a divide between the physical and spiritual worlds and the supremacy of an invisible and incomprehensible deity who could not be represented. Some early Christian writers did indeed shun images, believing that the physical world did not find parallels in the spiritual world and thus that representations of it had no use as substitutes for spiritual things. And yet, as Jensen reminds us, early Christians did have images. Surviving examples date to the early third century, while texts point to possibly earlier images. By the fourth century, Christian pictorial art was displayed in churches, shrines, baptistries, tombs, and private homes, despite some protestations. One justification can be found already in ancient Greek and Roman texts: images of the gods provided the means for the less sophisticated to worship their gods. Images were meant to honor them and to inspire worship but were not meant to be "portraits" of them. Defenses of Christian images well into the fifth and sixth centuries often have similar arguments, claiming that images are useful for instruction, especially for those who needed visualization to aid them in mental contemplation. However, as Christian authorities noted, from Eusebius to Iconoclasm-era writers, a confusion between the image and that which was represented was to be avoided. Jensen then explains how Christians admitted into visual art the representation of the invisible divinity in the form of Christ. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament encounters with an otherwise invisible God could be understood in Christian terms and depicted in art if one recognized these appearances as the divine Logos and pre-Incarnate Word—Christ—whose Incarnation made the divinity visible to humans. This fundamental shift valued seeing with one's bodily eyes as a means of obtaining knowledge of God. Christian art transformed from symbols, to standardized figures placed in abbreviated biblical scenes, to portraits of Christ and the saints believed to be based on real appearances. This brings the reader to the advent of two-dimensional Christian portraiture (icons) in the fourth century and the accompanying criticism by church authorities of congregants who may have been too adoring of such images. Jensen describes the various contexts in which such portraits would have been found—at tombs, at martyria, and...

Moral Injury and the βασιλικός of John 4:46–54

Abstract Still emerging from infancy, the developing field of trauma theory called “moral injury” (MI) has opened fresh vistas for biblical studies. Scholars are now beginning to employ MI theory as an interpretive frame of reference to biblical scenes depicting high intensity scenarios where moral values are challenged. Surprisingly, engagement of MI theory to the Fourth Gospel has yet to be done despite its specified portrayal of individual scenes of mental suffering. Attempting to fill the void, this article examines and appropriates recent MI research to propose a fresh reading of a significant, yet often overlooked, Johannine narrative of trauma: the βασιλικός (“royal official”) of John 4:46–54. Perhaps plagued by parental guilt over his dying son and tensions caused by a career forcing him to hold in balance conflicting Jewish and gentile sensibilities, the article engages insights borrowed from MI theory, posing a horizontal reading of the text that sheds light on this father’s inner trauma. In doing so, it invites similar sufferers today to rely on the Jesus in whom the βασιλικός sought relief.

Two Danish Artists—Two Not So Divergent Paths: C. C. A. Christensen, Carl Bloch, and the Evolution of Latter-day Saint Art and Aesthetics

Two Danish Artists—Two Not So Divergent Paths: C. C. A. Christensen, Carl Bloch, and the Evolution of Latter-day Saint Art and Aesthetics

Ikony Bogarodzicy otoczone kultem w prawosławnych parafiach Białegostoku

One of the essential elements of Orthodox sacred architecture is elements of the temple's equipment. Some, related to interior design, are utilitarian, while others have a sacral feature, constituting objects of worship. Icons play a significant role in the equipment of Orthodox churches. Their location in the church is associated with elaborate schemes and rules. Those in the iconostasis separate the nave from the presbyterium. Each of them, depicting biblical scenes or figures of God and saints, has its specific place. There also are icons in the central nave, on frescoes, and on polychromes. This article focuses on showing icons outside the iconostasis. They designate new places of worship in the central nave of the Orthodox churches. These are locally revered icons associated with a specific temple or town. Among them, the most common are images of the Virgin Mary. On the example of the extensive parish network of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Bialystok in Podlaskie Voivodeship, the author attempts to show the diversity of iconographic images as well as will try to find elements connecting various types of icons of the Virgin Mary present in Orthodox churches in Bialystok. The author decided to concentrate on those iconographic representations that apart from architectural and artistic value carry a sacral charge, i.g. subjects of a unique cult in local communities. The aim of this article is to present the icons of the Mother of God from Orthodox churches in Bialystok which are locally venerated and to try to systematize the elements of this cult manifested in services, individual worship and inspirations and references.

Material Analysis of the Remains of a Wooden Chest from the 4th Century and a Proposal for Its Reconstruction

A stone chest found in 1971 near one of the largest early Christian basilicas in Northern Dalmatia (Croatia) contained brass tiles decorated with various biblical scenes. An archaeological study confirmed the thesis that the fragments of brass tiles are most likely the remains of a wooden chest made in the 4th century AD, and that this is one of the best preserved archaeological finds of its kind in the world as one of the biblical scenes shows Mary, together with a record of her name (Maria). Based on the preserved brass tiles, a reconstruction of the wooden chest was made in 1973 with tiles glued onto a plastic frame. Subsequent studies have shown that such a reconstruction was not adequate, as some of the brass tiles were destroyed (disintegrated), and they were not connected properly into a whole that could represent the original. For the new reconstruction of this archaeological object it was necessary to carry out a material analysis, including the chemical composition of the brass tiles, as well as to find a solvent for the glue which could be used to remove the brass tiles from the plastic framework without any additional destruction. Based on extensive investigations and material analyses including the following techniques (SEM, EDX, FTIR, DSC), the starting points for the restoration process of the wooden chest with brass tiles were set, as well as the proposal for the appearance of the new chest.

Musical Motifs in Graphic Decorations of Nicolas Vallet’s Lute Tablatures (1615–1616)

The National Museum – Czech Museum of Music holds an important source – a bundled collection of three printed sets of lute tablature by Nicolas Vallet, which contains parts I and II of Le Secret des Muses (1615, 1616) and the psalm collection Vingt et un pseaumes de David (1615). In our examination of graphic motifs, we focused on musical motifs worked into the decorating of initials and especially on depictions of the Biblical figure of King David with a lute, of lutenists, and of the lutes themselves. The schematic depictions of the instrument did not provide any new organological discoveries, but instead confirmed the popularity of the lute as a symbol. Vallet’s tablatures were printed from original full-page copper engraving plates and not from individual blocks, as was customary. It is also for this reason that the initials, decorated with genre pictures and Biblical scenes, have merited extraordinary attention.

The Pictorial Compositions on the Cross Stelae in Georgia (Fifth-Ninth Centuries)

In the Gogarene region, the period of peak production of the area’s stone crosses - the mid-sixth century through the seventh - was particularly favorable for local governors. This paper investigates the practice of incorporating real persons into devotional images, focusing on many depictions of local personages included in Gogarene crosses’ pictorial compositions amid biblical scenes, with local saints, and in symbolic imagery. The desired effect of this practice was to guarantee the commemoration of these persons in prayers said before the crosses. In the case of the cross at Mtskheta, comparison between the Georgian Lectionary’s content and information surrounding the stational liturgy of Jerusalem confirms that, besides prayers, biblical texts were also read before such crosses.

La creación del mundo

La creación del mundo

Christ’s Racial Origins: Finding the Jewish Race in Victorian History Painting

ABSTRACT What was the race from which Christ sprang? Victorian artists, ethnographers, and theologians were preoccupied with locating Christ’s racial origins. Evidence of this religiously motivated genealogical search can be found in portrayals of the so-called Jewish race in nineteenth-century paintings of biblical scenes, such as William Holman Hunt’s The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple (1854–55) and Edward Poynter’s Israel in Egypt (1867). A close examination of these artworks, along with the theological and scientific texts that informed them, uncovers an image of Christ as a temporal and racial hybrid, standing at the uneasy juncture of the Orient and Occident, Judaism and Christianity, the Semitic and Anglo-Saxon races.

Tales of Royalty: Notions of Kingship in Visual and Textual Narration in the Ancient Near East ed. by Elisabeth Wagner-Durand and Julia Linke

Reviewed by: Tales of Royalty: Notions of Kingship in Visual and Textual Narration in the Ancient Near East ed. by Elisabeth Wagner-Durand and Julia Linke Andrew Knapp elisabeth wagner-durand and julia linke (eds.), Tales of Royalty: Notions of Kingship in Visual and Textual Narration in the Ancient Near East ( Berlin: de Gruyter, 2020). Pp. ix + 325. $114.99. Tales of Royalty: Notions of Kingship in Visual and Textual Narration in the Ancient Near East derives from a workshop at the Sixty-First Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, in Bern and Geneva in 2015 (with some additional contributions not presented there). Proceedings from RAI workshops have an advantage over many other collected studies volumes because they are not haphazardly assembled but carefully constructed around certain themes, and we see that here. The editors focus on two things—narrative/narratology and ancient Near Eastern royal legitimation—and they particularly want to tie the two together. The volume is organized around the royal "topoi of 'the builder,' 'the wise man,' and 'the successful fighter' … because they are formulas of royal legitimation … that materialize in narrative media" (p. 280). While reading, though, I found myself often reading about either one topic or the other—there were numerous definitions of "narrative" provided among the essays and discussion of the subject, and several treatments of legitimation, but it was not always obvious how the two intersected. I write this not to diminish any of the contributions or the volume as a whole, but to encourage the editors to continue their pursuits and provide further illumination. A secondary concern of the editors is to draw more attention to visual media as presenting narratives, a phenomenon often ignored (even in this volume texts receive more attention). As Wagner-Durand notes in her final essay, "the workshop in Bern has (painfully) shown that visual and other material forms of narration are still not commonly accepted in our fields" (p. 269). In "Bound by Stories?! Narration as a Strategy of Royal Legitimation: An Introduction," the volume editors provide a preface to the volume. They explain their interest in narration and legitimacy, outline the dual (visual and textual) media they cover, and provide abstracts of the articles in the book. Elisabeth Wagner-Durand follows this with "'Pious Shepherd' and 'Guardian of Truth': In Search of the Narrative Visualization of the Kings' Piety and Righteousness," in which she searches for visual narratives illustrating the ruler's piety in Mesopotamian [End Page 717] iconography. Guiding the reader on a tour from the fourth millennium to the first b.c.e., Wagner-Durand concludes that many pieces often regarded as visual narratives, such as the Uruk Vase, are more aptly described as "normative description[s] of reality" (p. 29)—and because such royal qualities as wisdom and righteousness were deemed omnipresent, "it is hardly astonishing that those qualities were bound in non-narrative images" (p. 41). In "The Literate King Reconsidered: Self-representation, Wisdom, and Learnedness," Nicole Brisch explores the four main examples of Mesopotamian kings (Šulgi of Ur, Lipit-Eštar of Isin, Ashurbanipal, and Nabonidus) who drew attention to their literacy in inscriptions. She moves the discussion from the "ultimately irrelevant" question of authenticity of these claims to the "more interesting" (p. 58) question of why they were included, offering some speculative reasons but acknowledging that we cannot know with certainty. Frauke Weiershäuser provides a brief reaction to the previous two works in "Response: Das Narrativ vom guten König" (pp. 65–73). Responding to Brisch, she concurs that, while wisdom was indeed a primary characteristic of a king's self-representation and an indicator of his special proximity to the gods, literacy was not a prerequisite for wisdom. She also observes that the king was never represented artistically in the role of a scribe. Responding to Wagner-Durand, Weiershäuser questions whether having background knowledge would affect our understanding of whether narratives are depicted visually, using the example of medieval art depicting biblical scenes that do not show a sequence of action but do present part of a story to the knowing viewer. The volume's focus shifts to royal building activities with Julia Linke's "Building, Arts, and Politics...

Nowo odnaleziony autograf Tomasza Tretera. Notatnik z projektem księgi emblematów

A Newly Discovered Autograph by Tomasz Treter: A Notebook with a Design of a Book of Emblems The goal of the paper is to present the attribution and codicological analysis of a manu- script currently stored at Biblioteca civica Angelo Mai in Bergamo (sign. MM 378). The paper describes the manuscript codicologically, also hypothesizing as to its presence in the Bergamo library. Based on a manuscript annotation on the codex’s upper pastedown, I argue that it was intended as a gift for one of the Załuski family. On the basis of the printed correspondence between Józef Andrzej Załuski and Angelo Maria Querini, it may be assumed that Codex MM 378 was among the parcels containing manuscripts from the circle of Stanisław Hosius that the Italian librarian intended to send to Załuski. The boxes with the codices never reached the Polish librarian due to the tardiness of the messenger, Jacques David Frédéric Perard. It is claimed here that both the inscriptions and images in the code are authored by Tomasz Treter. The manuscript’s attribution was based on palaeographic analysis (comparing the handwriting with Treter’s epistolography stored in the archives in Kraków and Olsztyn). According to the dates included in the code, the inscriptions were made between 20 June 1569 and 2 March 1575. The manu- script thus represents the earliest known evidence of Treter’s artistic activity. The auto- graph contains some previously unknown emblems by Treter, and a preliminary design of the emblem work Symbolica vitae Christi meditatio (published 1612). As many as 51 sketches in the manuscript overlap with the emblematic icons of the 1612 printing, all of which are more symbolic (hieroglyphic) representations of Christian virtues known from Treter’s printing, while there are no sketches of icons in the printed book refer- ring to specific biblical scenes. Therefore, there is still uncertainty about the authorship of these compositions, which also differ in the quality of rendition from the previously mentioned ones. Comparing the autograph with the artist’s later published work offers insight into his technique. The drawings in the manuscript show very clear inspiration of Claude Paradin, Gabriel Syméon, Aneau Barthélemy and Andrea Alciato, which is not always conspicuous in the printed version. The analysis includes the final note, mention- ing imprese with the painter Lorenzo Lotto, which explains correspondences between this artist’s work and the emblems from Symbolica vitae Christi meditatio.

Декоративна система и иконографска програма в напрестолните кръстове на Иван Костов

The paper examines the decorative system and iconographic program seen in Ivan Kostov‘s miniature fretwork. Themes and settings of various biblical and historical scenes presented in the crosses created by the artist are analysed. A relation between classical examples of the ecclesiastical objects and the creative interpretations of the artist has been looked for.

Old statues, new meanings. Literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence for Christian reidentification of statuary

Abstract This article examines literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence for the Christian reidentification of statuary and reliefs as biblical scenes and protagonists, saints and angels. It argues that Christian identifications were promulgated, amongst others by local bishops, to make sense of imagery of which the original identity had been lost and/or was no longer meaningful. Three conditions for a new identification are discussed: the absence of an epigraphic label, geographical and/or chronological distance separating the statue from its original context of display, and the presence of a specific attribute or characteristic that could become the prompt for reidentification. In their manipulation and modernization of older statuary, Christians showed a much greater appreciation of the statuary medium than generally assumed.

Introduction

In this introduction to Part 1 of “Contextualism—the Next Generation: Symposium on the Future of a Methodology,” the editor of Common Knowledge, a “journal of left-wing Kuhnian opinion,” reports that the new symposium responds to contextualist criticism of the previous CK symposium, which was on xenophilia. The content of the earlier symposium met with objections, from contextualists, on the grounds of methodology, and the new symposium questions the methodology of contextualism for the limits that it places on content as well as on normative aims and degree of focus. Tracing the origins of contextualism to Kuhn and his theory that paradigms of scientific knowledge are incommensurable, this essay then argues that Kuhnian method is formal, with scant concern for content, and that Kuhn’s work was vatic, more than philosophical or historical. Kuhn’s depiction of his sudden, blinding realization that Aristotelian physics is correct in its own context is assessed as an ironic application of biblical scenes of revelation to what is, essentially, a process of scrupulous, piecemeal scholarship. What Kuhn unknowingly wanted, the essay concludes, was a combination of contextualism and phenomenology, as a means of knowing what it was like to believe in Aristotelian, as opposed to modern, concepts of matter, quality, space, void, position, change, and motion. The essay then introduces the first contribution to the new symposium: a monograph retrieving geometrical and taxonomic—Euclidean and Theophrastan—idioms of discourse about fictional characters and inquiring into their changing affective content.

Painting 1 Enoch: Biblical Interpretation, Theology, and Artistic Practice

This article inaugurates a new approach to biblical interpretation that involves close collaboration on a particular text between a biblical interpreter (Philip Esler) and a practicing artist (Angus Pryor), culminating in the production of works of art that generate a new understanding of the text in question. This approach reflects the recent scholarly interest in how artists who paint biblical scenes are active interpreters of biblical texts. Here the text selected is 1 Enoch, while the artworks in question are four 2 x 2 meter paintings, in oil on canvas, that depict pivotal scenes from that text. The collaboration draws on Ethiopian tradition reflecting the scriptural status and widespread influence of 1 Enoch in Ethiopia and the fact that the complete text of the work was only preserved there until its rediscovery in modern times. The interpretative process includes a focus on the original meaning of 1 Enoch, which then influences the creation of artworks laden with theological meaning. This approach is equally available to interpreters more interested in the contemporary (rather than the historical) meaning of other biblical and extra-biblical texts where the connection with national traditions, if present, may be quite different.

Szpitale gdańskie XVI–XVIII w. a duchowość protestancka

Gdańsk hospitals of the 16th to 18th century and the protestant spirituality Hospitals of the Middle Ages and the Modern era adopted the rule of helping people in need as their basis of operations, especially in the scope of social care over orphans, the poor, widows, the crippled and the elderly. This article aims at sketching the phenomenon of changes undergoing in the sphere of spiritual life in protestant hospitals with the hospital foundations in Gdańsk of the 16th to the 18th century as example. In the Modern era, hospital foundations in Gdańsk constituted a continuation of basic moral values propagated in the hospitals of the 14th and the 15th centuries. Similarly to the Medieval period, the resident of a protestant hospital should be pious, humble and not incite strife. Basic instruments serving the creation of proper models included: community prayer and pastoral service. Providers managing the hospitals were depicted as persons looking after their mentees as well as executing obedience to the rules of hospital laws from the residents. Significant changes in the spiritual life comprised a withdrawal from the importance of prayers said by the poor hospital residents on behalf of the donors, following the notion of negating the participation of good deeds in the act of salvation of humans. It was accompanied by the phenomenon of desacralisation of poverty, which from then on did not constitute any value in itself. The effect of it was the sacralisation of work presented as one of the most important moral precepts. Preachers serving in hospitals did not occupy any prominent positions in the structures of protestant Gdańsk, although working in hospitals would sometimes become a starting point for further career. It seems that a person of beliefs guaranteeing the nurture of orthodox protestant teachings would rather be chosen for the position of a hospital priest. It may be indicated, for instance, by the opposition of a number of hospital preachers against pietistic novelties in the 18th century. It is also important to note the fact that in certain cases (the House of Charity and Orphans or the Institute of the Poor) both the protestant and catholic care existed there. The hospital community was characterised by certain conservatism, which indicated, among others, by preserving pre‑reformation relics in terms of hospital shrines decor. A new decorum, in the reformed spirit, would often be adopted by those churches only after significant devastation resulting from random events (wars, fires). In such cases, the iconography focused on the figure of Christ and biblical scenes known from the lecture of the Holy Script during church services. It indicates the role of paintings in hospital churches, which constituted a visual foundation for sermons enriching the residents spiritually. However, works thematically referring to the virtue of compassion were sparse. It probably resulted from the didactic functions of the art of hospital shrines, which was directed mostly towards the residents and not the potential donors. Influence of the reformation was also indicated by reorienting the shrine space, due to which the pulpit became the place focusing the attention of believers, just like in other protestant churches. Field pulpits established outside were distinctive elements of hospital shrines (at the churches of: the Lazaret, All God’s Angels and Corpus Christi). Intervention of the secular factor (the city council) in hospital life resulted from the sense of responsibility of the city authorities for propagating the model of a good Christian. More broadly speaking, the expectations of hospital community members were identical with those of the city council towards urban community members. The rhetoric used in hospital ordinances was therefore the same as the rhetoric of hospital ordinances issued for the whole of Gdańsk by the city council. Still, the need to constantly call for the authorities to participate in church services and the permanent detailed mentioning the forbidden acts in hospital ordinances constitutes the basis for the assumption that hospital communities did not fully follow the propagated moral precepts. Similarly, maintaining remuneration for as long as to the 19th century (admitting to hospitals for money), steeply criticised in the reformation period as a manifestation of particular pathology of hospital functions, demonstrates the discord between protestant ideals and the realistic possibility of implementing them.