The Appearance of Hans and Jaan. A 17th Century Epitaph Painting Donated by Estonian Peasants

The epitaph donated by Hans and Jaan, two peasants from Türi parish, is evidence of the acceptance of ecclesiastic values and religious devotion among the Estonian peasantry. Other examples of this tendency from the Swedish era also exist. For instance, the grand wheel crosses, typical for North Estonia, that were once located in the Türi churchyard; and a chandelier (1659) donated by a peasant in the Keila church, the size of which exceeds those gifted by manor lords. From a later period, the stained-glass coats of arms of the peasantry in the Ilumäe chapel (1729) are also an example of this heightened sense of self-awareness and its display in houses of worships.Along with the hundreds and hundreds of works donated to churches by nobles, the epitaph painting depicting the Adoration of the Shepherds is a rare example of a painting gifted to a church by farmers, which also commemorates them. Hans and Jaan have now earned a place in Estonian (art) history: the pictures of the two simple men are the first known portraits of peasants whose names we know

INIURIA, IUSTITIA, PASSIO, PATIENTIA ET VICTORIA. ZUM FRÜHNEUZEITLICHEN BILD- UND TEXTPROGRAMM AUF DEM MITTELALTERLICHEN ALTARRETABEL IN DER KIRCHE VON PÖNAL (EST. LÄÄNE-NIGULA), 1598

The article focuses on the Early Modern pictorial and textualprogramme of the late medieval altarpiece of Lääne-Nigula Church.The study examines the new iconographic programme of the 1598altarpiece, its textual and pictorial models. The relationship betweenthe text and image is also analysed. The article looks at how theimages of virtues and female saints, as well as Latin verses, arerelated to the Biblical scenes and the German-language text.The analysis takes a closer look at potential donors, who weremembers of influential Baltic-German noble families (the Uexkülls,Tittfers, Hoesedes and Farensbachs). The Early Modern iconographyof the altarpiece, inspired by Christian humanism and contemporaryFlemish engravings, points to the potential female donors. Therefore,the article takes a closer look at the family history of the donors in thecontext of the complicated political history of Livonia in the secondhalf of the 16th century and its direct relationship to the renewedpictorial and textual programme of the altarpiece