Interieur van de Sint-Sebalduskerk te Neurenberg 1850s

Gustav Seeberger made this print of the interior of the Saint Sebaldus Church in Nuremberg, Germany, sometime in the 19th century. We see a moment of quiet devotion as a woman kneels in prayer. Churches like this one served as important sites of social gathering, religious practice, and cultural identity, especially in the context of a newly unified Germany seeking to redefine itself. The print itself suggests something of the institutional history of art. Prints like these were often commissioned or collected by figures of authority such as King Ludwig II, as suggested by the inscription on the print, and so, were used as ways of communicating a sense of cultural prestige. By studying the cultural and political history of 19th-century Germany, and examining the social functions of religious institutions, we can see how Seeberger’s print reflects and shapes the values of its time.