Maria, Johannes und Maria Magdalena unter dem Kreuz c. 1773 - 1774

Ignaz Günther made this pen and brown ink drawing, “Maria, Johannes und Maria Magdalena unter dem Kreuz,” in eighteenth-century Germany. As a visual representation of the Bible, this drawing and others like it helped reinforce the religious teachings of the Catholic Church, which was a powerful social institution in that time. Günther was a sculptor whose works adorned churches across southern Germany, helping to spread the messages of the Bible to a largely illiterate population. The way the figures are drawn, with their exaggerated expressions of grief, could be seen as a reflection of the emotional intensity of the Baroque artistic style that was popular during that time. It is worth asking whether the artist sought to reinforce the social status quo or whether the emotive style of the work and the graphic rendering of suffering challenges the religious institutions of the day. To understand this drawing better, we can explore its historical context by looking at church records, religious texts, and other artwork from the same time period.