At times, Reformation scholars and art historians are confused about Luther's attitude toward the visual arts which depict saints as intermediaries between God and humanity. Rarely do they thematize the issue in relation to the deësis, i.e. Christ enthroned, with Mary and John the Baptist as intercessors. After a review of the wide-spread motif of the deësis, light is being shed on Luther's statements of the 1530s which reflect his rejection of the motif
