The Bible in a Bedroom: Paul Lautensack's Paintings for Ursula Gundelfingerin (c. 1538).

In 1538 the Nuremberg painter Paul Lautensack (1477/78-1558) wrote an open letter to Ursula Gundelfingerin, in whose house he had decorated a bedroom with paintings supposed to show the true meaning of the Bible. This text, in which he defended his paintings against the claim that they were incomprehensible, was printed in 1619 but hitherto ignored by scholars. It is here identified as the first known Programme, in which an artist explained his own creation (thus predating Vasari's Ragionamenti). The article reconstructs the lost scheme based on the Programme, contemporary Nuremberg interiors and Lautensack's manuscripts, especially Nuremberg,GNM, Hs. 3147. It explains its elements such as references to the Biblical text, alphabets, the Genealogy of Christ and images of celestial prodigies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]