Design for a stained glass window, for the Convent of Hohenberg (Odilienberg), drawn by Hans Baldung Grien, about 1508

This is a drawing in pen and ink and red chalk. It shows a group of six nuns kneeling under a Gothic canopy. There is a coat of arms in the bottom right corner. An inscription is written in German along the bottom of the drawing. Previously the drawing was folded once in each direction. A loss to the very bottom right corner has been repaired.

This drawing is part of a design for a stained glass window for the Convent at Hohenberg (Odilienberg), Alsace. It is thought to have been commissioned by Veronica of Andlau when she became Abbess of the convent, in about 1508 (although Butts and Hendrix date the drawing to about 1510). Veronica of Andlau is identified as the woman at the fore of the group, holding a rod-like object. The window does not survive, having been destroyed in a peasant's revolt of 1525 or in a fire some decades after that.
A partner to this drawing is in the colllection of Gottingen University (Koch, cat. 72). It shows kneeling male donors, led by Knight Veltin of Andlau. It is difficult to know how the two designs fitted into the greater scheme for the window.

Historical significance: Hans Baldung trained under Durer and is regarded as one of his most talented followers. Many of Baldung's stained-glass designs survive. This drawing, and its partner in Gottingnen, are among the few that relate to large windows.

The designer and glass-painter were two separate roles. The designer, Baldung, would have passed this drawing to the glass-painter in order for the latter to carry out the work. Certain details are drawn very clearly and there are written instructions and colour notes to assist the glass-painter. The red chalk lines indicate the position of the leads. These are the elements the designer felt he needed to specify to the glass-painter. At the same time, the upper right section of the drawing has been left unfinished. This is because this section would be a direct mirror of that on the left. Such economy is typical of drawings produced by designers for makers, and shows a working-familiarity between the two: the glass-painter would never have been in any doubt about what was intended to fill the blank section.

Between 1507-9 Baldung worked in Nuremberg, Halle and Strasbourg.

Hohenberg (now Odilienberg) and Strasbourg are in modern-day France.

This design for a stained glass window is the work of at least two different hands. The first was an artist from the glass workshop, who drew the architectural framwork, shields and the red chalk outline which lays out the general shape of the design. Working within these pictorial guidelines and the written instuctions below, Hans Baldung then executed the figures of the nuns.

D.199-1888