Entwurf für einen Kalender für das Stift St. Moritz in Augsburg c. 1760

Matthäus Günther designed this calendar for the St. Moritz monastery in Augsburg using pen and brown ink with gray wash. This is a preparatory design which would have fulfilled a public role for the St. Moritz monastery. We can think of it as a piece of propaganda, associating the institution with power and authority. Note how the architecture of the calendar mimics that of a triumphal arch. The Holy Family appears in the clouds, surrounded by saints and figures with banners. Allegorical figures recline on clouds below. At the bottom of the image is a depiction of the monastery itself. Günther was working in Bavaria, a Catholic region of Southern Germany in the eighteenth century. He worked for religious institutions and the ruling elite. To understand the work of artists like Günther, we need to examine the history of these institutions and their relationship to art. Research into the archives of the monastery and the history of Augsburg would shed light on this image and its public function.