Provost Melchior Pfinzing before the Virgin Mary on the crescent moon and Saint Luke as a Madonna painter.

The main stained-glass feature of the parish choir is the small, three-part stained-glass window donated to Melchior Pfinzing in the central window position (I,2a-c). The new glazing was installed as part of repairs commissioned by the new provost of St. Sebald shortly after 1512.

The window depicts the kneeling donor on the left, in adoration before the Virgin Mary. In the left panel of the triptych, Saint Luke is shown immortalizing the Madonna in the painting. The accompanying inscription tablet identifies the donor (in highly abbreviated form) as Provost of St. Sebald, a citizen of Nuremberg and Imperial Councilor, who commissioned the window in 1513:

MELCHIOR PFINCZ/ING PREPO(SITUS)

E(CCLESLAE) S(ANCTI) SEB/ALDI

C(IVITATIS) NVR(INBERGENSIS) CES

(ARIS) M(AIESTATIS) CONS (ILIARIUS)

F(IERI) F(ECIT) MDXIII.

(...)

The intimate character of the composition has always been emphasized, and—both in view of the donor's portrait-like features and because of the modern Renaissance decoration—it has probably been rightly assumed to be a design by Hans von Kulmbach. Also compelling is the interpretation by FRENZEL, who sees the patron saint of painters as a glass painter creating a grisaille panel, suggesting that the figure of St. Luke is a hidden self-portrait of the city glassmaker Veit Hirsvogel. (Gottfried FRENZEL, in Exhibition Catalog, Nuremberg 1961, No. 185)

Based on visions of the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:1-28) and in the Book of Revelation (4:1-11), the ox of Luke was depicted at the Evangelist's feet as his personal symbolic animal.

Hartmut Scholz: Masterpieces of Stained Glass, St. Sebald in Nuremberg, Freiburg i. Br., 2007

The incomplete inscription on Luke's palette is a quote from the Song of Songs, chapter 4, verse 6, and reads in full: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" (You are truly beautiful, my love, and there is not a blemish in you).

Provost Melchior Pfinzing before the Virgin Mary on the crescent moon and Saint Luke as a Madonna painter.

The main stained-glass feature of the parish choir is the small, three-part stained-glass window donated to Melchior Pfinzing in the central window position (I,2a-c). The new glazing was installed as part of repairs commissioned by the new provost of St. Sebald shortly after 1512.

The window depicts the kneeling donor on the left, in adoration before the Virgin Mary. In the left panel of the triptych, Saint Luke is shown immortalizing the Madonna in the painting. The accompanying inscription tablet identifies the donor (in highly abbreviated form) as Provost of St. Sebald, a citizen of Nuremberg and Imperial Councilor, who commissioned the window in 1513:

MELCHIOR PFINCZ/ING PREPO(SITUS)

E(CCLESLAE) S(ANCTI) SEB/ALDI

C(IVITATIS) NVR(INBERGENSIS) CES

(ARIS) M(AIESTATIS) CONS (ILIARIUS)

F(IERI) F(ECIT) MDXIII.

(...)

The intimate character of the composition has always been emphasized, and—both in view of the donor's portrait-like features and because of the modern Renaissance decoration—it has probably been rightly assumed to be a design by Hans von Kulmbach. Also compelling is the interpretation by FRENZEL, who sees the patron saint of painters as a glass painter creating a grisaille panel, suggesting that the figure of St. Luke is a hidden self-portrait of the city glassmaker Veit Hirsvogel. (Gottfried FRENZEL, in Exhibition Catalog, Nuremberg 1961, No. 185)

Based on visions of the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:1-28) and in the Book of Revelation (4:1-11), the ox of Luke was depicted at the Evangelist's feet as his personal symbolic animal.

Hartmut Scholz: Masterpieces of Stained Glass, St. Sebald in Nuremberg, Freiburg i. Br., 2007

The incomplete inscription on Luke's palette is a quote from the Song of Songs, chapter 4, verse 6, and reads in full: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" (You are truly beautiful, my love, and there is not a blemish in you).

Provost Melchior Pfinzing before the Virgin Mary on the crescent moon and Saint Luke as a Madonna painter.

The main stained-glass feature of the parish choir is the small, three-part stained-glass window donated to Melchior Pfinzing in the central window position (I,2a-c). The new glazing was installed as part of repairs commissioned by the new provost of St. Sebald shortly after 1512.

The window depicts the kneeling donor on the left, in adoration before the Virgin Mary. In the left panel of the triptych, Saint Luke is shown immortalizing the Madonna in the painting. The accompanying inscription tablet identifies the donor (in highly abbreviated form) as Provost of St. Sebald, a citizen of Nuremberg and Imperial Councilor, who commissioned the window in 1513:

MELCHIOR PFINCZ/ING PREPO(SITUS)

E(CCLESLAE) S(ANCTI) SEB/ALDI

C(IVITATIS) NVR(INBERGENSIS) CES

(ARIS) M(AIESTATIS) CONS (ILIARIUS)

F(IERI) F(ECIT) MDXIII.

(...)

The intimate character of the composition has always been emphasized, and—both in view of the donor's portrait-like features and because of the modern Renaissance decoration—it has probably been rightly assumed to be a design by Hans von Kulmbach. Also compelling is the interpretation by FRENZEL, who sees the patron saint of painters as a glass painter creating a grisaille panel, suggesting that the figure of St. Luke is a hidden self-portrait of the city glassmaker Veit Hirsvogel. (Gottfried FRENZEL, in Exhibition Catalog, Nuremberg 1961, No. 185)

Based on visions of the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:1-28) and in the Book of Revelation (4:1-11), the ox of Luke was depicted at the Evangelist's feet as his personal symbolic animal.

Hartmut Scholz: Masterpieces of Stained Glass, St. Sebald in Nuremberg, Freiburg i. Br., 2007

The incomplete inscription on Luke's palette is a quote from the Song of Songs, chapter 4, verse 6, and reads in full: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" (You are truly beautiful, my love, and there is not a blemish in you).

Provost Melchior Pfinzing before the Virgin Mary on the crescent moon and Saint Luke as a Madonna painter.

The main stained-glass feature of the parish choir is the small, three-part stained-glass window donated to Melchior Pfinzing in the central window position (I,2a-c). The new glazing was installed as part of repairs commissioned by the new provost of St. Sebald shortly after 1512.

The window depicts the kneeling donor on the left, in adoration before the Virgin Mary. In the left panel of the triptych, Saint Luke is shown immortalizing the Madonna in the painting. The accompanying inscription tablet identifies the donor (in highly abbreviated form) as Provost of St. Sebald, a citizen of Nuremberg and Imperial Councilor, who commissioned the window in 1513:

MELCHIOR PFINCZ/ING PREPO(SITUS)

E(CCLESLAE) S(ANCTI) SEB/ALDI

C(IVITATIS) NVR(INBERGENSIS) CES

(ARIS) M(AIESTATIS) CONS (ILIARIUS)

F(IERI) F(ECIT) MDXIII.

(...)

The intimate character of the composition has always been emphasized, and—both in view of the donor's portrait-like features and because of the modern Renaissance decoration—it has probably been rightly assumed to be a design by Hans von Kulmbach. Also compelling is the interpretation by FRENZEL, who sees the patron saint of painters as a glass painter creating a grisaille panel, suggesting that the figure of St. Luke is a hidden self-portrait of the city glassmaker Veit Hirsvogel. (Gottfried FRENZEL, in Exhibition Catalog, Nuremberg 1961, No. 185)

Based on visions of the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:1-28) and in the Book of Revelation (4:1-11), the ox of Luke was depicted at the Evangelist's feet as his personal symbolic animal.

Hartmut Scholz: Masterpieces of Stained Glass, St. Sebald in Nuremberg, Freiburg i. Br., 2007

The incomplete inscription on Luke's palette is a quote from the Song of Songs, chapter 4, verse 6, and reads in full: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" (You are truly beautiful, my love, and there is not a blemish in you).

Provost Melchior Pfinzing before the Virgin Mary on the crescent moon and Saint Luke as a Madonna painter.

The main stained-glass feature of the parish choir is the small, three-part stained-glass window donated to Melchior Pfinzing in the central window position (I,2a-c). The new glazing was installed as part of repairs commissioned by the new provost of St. Sebald shortly after 1512.

The window depicts the kneeling donor on the left, in adoration before the Virgin Mary. In the left panel of the triptych, Saint Luke is shown immortalizing the Madonna in the painting. The accompanying inscription tablet identifies the donor (in highly abbreviated form) as Provost of St. Sebald, a citizen of Nuremberg and Imperial Councilor, who commissioned the window in 1513:

MELCHIOR PFINCZ/ING PREPO(SITUS)

E(CCLESLAE) S(ANCTI) SEB/ALDI

C(IVITATIS) NVR(INBERGENSIS) CES

(ARIS) M(AIESTATIS) CONS (ILIARIUS)

F(IERI) F(ECIT) MDXIII.

(...)

The intimate character of the composition has always been emphasized, and—both in view of the donor's portrait-like features and because of the modern Renaissance decoration—it has probably been rightly assumed to be a design by Hans von Kulmbach. Also compelling is the interpretation by FRENZEL, who sees the patron saint of painters as a glass painter creating a grisaille panel, suggesting that the figure of St. Luke is a hidden self-portrait of the city glassmaker Veit Hirsvogel. (Gottfried FRENZEL, in Exhibition Catalog, Nuremberg 1961, No. 185)

Based on visions of the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:1-28) and in the Book of Revelation (4:1-11), the ox of Luke was depicted at the Evangelist's feet as his personal symbolic animal.

Hartmut Scholz: Masterpieces of Stained Glass, St. Sebald in Nuremberg, Freiburg i. Br., 2007

The incomplete inscription on Luke's palette is a quote from the Song of Songs, chapter 4, verse 6, and reads in full: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" (You are truly beautiful, my love, and there is not a blemish in you).

Provost Melchior Pfinzing before the Virgin Mary on the crescent moon and Saint Luke as a Madonna painter.

The main stained-glass feature of the parish choir is the small, three-part stained-glass window donated to Melchior Pfinzing in the central window position (I,2a-c). The new glazing was installed as part of repairs commissioned by the new provost of St. Sebald shortly after 1512.

The window depicts the kneeling donor on the left, in adoration before the Virgin Mary. In the left panel of the triptych, Saint Luke is shown immortalizing the Madonna in the painting. The accompanying inscription tablet identifies the donor (in highly abbreviated form) as Provost of St. Sebald, a citizen of Nuremberg and Imperial Councilor, who commissioned the window in 1513:

MELCHIOR PFINCZ/ING PREPO(SITUS)

E(CCLESLAE) S(ANCTI) SEB/ALDI

C(IVITATIS) NVR(INBERGENSIS) CES

(ARIS) M(AIESTATIS) CONS (ILIARIUS)

F(IERI) F(ECIT) MDXIII.

(...)

The intimate character of the composition has always been emphasized, and—both in view of the donor's portrait-like features and because of the modern Renaissance decoration—it has probably been rightly assumed to be a design by Hans von Kulmbach. Also compelling is the interpretation by FRENZEL, who sees the patron saint of painters as a glass painter creating a grisaille panel, suggesting that the figure of St. Luke is a hidden self-portrait of the city glassmaker Veit Hirsvogel. (Gottfried FRENZEL, in Exhibition Catalog, Nuremberg 1961, No. 185)

Based on visions of the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:1-28) and in the Book of Revelation (4:1-11), the ox of Luke was depicted at the Evangelist's feet as his personal symbolic animal.

Hartmut Scholz: Masterpieces of Stained Glass, St. Sebald in Nuremberg, Freiburg i. Br., 2007

The incomplete inscription on Luke's palette is a quote from the Song of Songs, chapter 4, verse 6, and reads in full: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" (You are truly beautiful, my love, and there is not a blemish in you).

Provost Melchior Pfinzing before the Virgin Mary on the crescent moon and Saint Luke as a Madonna painter.

The main stained-glass feature of the parish choir is the small, three-part stained-glass window donated to Melchior Pfinzing in the central window position (I,2a-c). The new glazing was installed as part of repairs commissioned by the new provost of St. Sebald shortly after 1512.

The window depicts the kneeling donor on the left, in adoration before the Virgin Mary. In the left panel of the triptych, Saint Luke is shown immortalizing the Madonna in the painting. The accompanying inscription tablet identifies the donor (in highly abbreviated form) as Provost of St. Sebald, a citizen of Nuremberg and Imperial Councilor, who commissioned the window in 1513:

MELCHIOR PFINCZ/ING PREPO(SITUS)

E(CCLESLAE) S(ANCTI) SEB/ALDI

C(IVITATIS) NVR(INBERGENSIS) CES

(ARIS) M(AIESTATIS) CONS (ILIARIUS)

F(IERI) F(ECIT) MDXIII.

(...)

The intimate character of the composition has always been emphasized, and—both in view of the donor's portrait-like features and because of the modern Renaissance decoration—it has probably been rightly assumed to be a design by Hans von Kulmbach. Also compelling is the interpretation by FRENZEL, who sees the patron saint of painters as a glass painter creating a grisaille panel, suggesting that the figure of St. Luke is a hidden self-portrait of the city glassmaker Veit Hirsvogel. (Gottfried FRENZEL, in Exhibition Catalog, Nuremberg 1961, No. 185)

Based on visions of the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:1-28) and in the Book of Revelation (4:1-11), the ox of Luke was depicted at the Evangelist's feet as his personal symbolic animal.

Hartmut Scholz: Masterpieces of Stained Glass, St. Sebald in Nuremberg, Freiburg i. Br., 2007

The incomplete inscription on Luke's palette is a quote from the Song of Songs, chapter 4, verse 6, and reads in full: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" (You are truly beautiful, my love, and there is not a blemish in you).

Provost Melchior Pfinzing before the Virgin Mary on the crescent moon and Saint Luke as a Madonna painter.

The main stained-glass feature of the parish choir is the small, three-part stained-glass window donated to Melchior Pfinzing in the central window position (I,2a-c). The new glazing was installed as part of repairs commissioned by the new provost of St. Sebald shortly after 1512.

The window depicts the kneeling donor on the left, in adoration before the Virgin Mary. In the left panel of the triptych, Saint Luke is shown immortalizing the Madonna in the painting. The accompanying inscription tablet identifies the donor (in highly abbreviated form) as Provost of St. Sebald, a citizen of Nuremberg and Imperial Councilor, who commissioned the window in 1513:

MELCHIOR PFINCZ/ING PREPO(SITUS)

E(CCLESLAE) S(ANCTI) SEB/ALDI

C(IVITATIS) NVR(INBERGENSIS) CES

(ARIS) M(AIESTATIS) CONS (ILIARIUS)

F(IERI) F(ECIT) MDXIII.

(...)

The intimate character of the composition has always been emphasized, and—both in view of the donor's portrait-like features and because of the modern Renaissance decoration—it has probably been rightly assumed to be a design by Hans von Kulmbach. Also compelling is the interpretation by FRENZEL, who sees the patron saint of painters as a glass painter creating a grisaille panel, suggesting that the figure of St. Luke is a hidden self-portrait of the city glassmaker Veit Hirsvogel. (Gottfried FRENZEL, in Exhibition Catalog, Nuremberg 1961, No. 185)

Based on visions of the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:1-28) and in the Book of Revelation (4:1-11), the ox of Luke was depicted at the Evangelist's feet as his personal symbolic animal.

Hartmut Scholz: Masterpieces of Stained Glass, St. Sebald in Nuremberg, Freiburg i. Br., 2007

The incomplete inscription on Luke's palette is a quote from the Song of Songs, chapter 4, verse 6, and reads in full: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" (You are truly beautiful, my love, and there is not a blemish in you).

Provost Melchior Pfinzing before the Virgin Mary on the crescent moon and Saint Luke as a Madonna painter.

The main stained-glass feature of the parish choir is the small, three-part stained-glass window donated to Melchior Pfinzing in the central window position (I,2a-c). The new glazing was installed as part of repairs commissioned by the new provost of St. Sebald shortly after 1512.

The window depicts the kneeling donor on the left, in adoration before the Virgin Mary. In the left panel of the triptych, Saint Luke is shown immortalizing the Madonna in the painting. The accompanying inscription tablet identifies the donor (in highly abbreviated form) as Provost of St. Sebald, a citizen of Nuremberg and Imperial Councilor, who commissioned the window in 1513:

MELCHIOR PFINCZ/ING PREPO(SITUS)

E(CCLESLAE) S(ANCTI) SEB/ALDI

C(IVITATIS) NVR(INBERGENSIS) CES

(ARIS) M(AIESTATIS) CONS (ILIARIUS)

F(IERI) F(ECIT) MDXIII.

(...)

The intimate character of the composition has always been emphasized, and—both in view of the donor's portrait-like features and because of the modern Renaissance decoration—it has probably been rightly assumed to be a design by Hans von Kulmbach. Also compelling is the interpretation by FRENZEL, who sees the patron saint of painters as a glass painter creating a grisaille panel, suggesting that the figure of St. Luke is a hidden self-portrait of the city glassmaker Veit Hirsvogel. (Gottfried FRENZEL, in Exhibition Catalog, Nuremberg 1961, No. 185)

Based on visions of the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:1-28) and in the Book of Revelation (4:1-11), the ox of Luke was depicted at the Evangelist's feet as his personal symbolic animal.

Hartmut Scholz: Masterpieces of Stained Glass, St. Sebald in Nuremberg, Freiburg i. Br., 2007

The incomplete inscription on Luke's palette is a quote from the Song of Songs, chapter 4, verse 6, and reads in full: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" (You are truly beautiful, my love, and there is not a blemish in you).

Provost Melchior Pfinzing before the Virgin Mary on the crescent moon and Saint Luke as a Madonna painter.

The main stained-glass feature of the parish choir is the small, three-part stained-glass window donated to Melchior Pfinzing in the central window position (I,2a-c). The new glazing was installed as part of repairs commissioned by the new provost of St. Sebald shortly after 1512.

The window depicts the kneeling donor on the left, in adoration before the Virgin Mary. In the left panel of the triptych, Saint Luke is shown immortalizing the Madonna in the painting. The accompanying inscription tablet identifies the donor (in highly abbreviated form) as Provost of St. Sebald, a citizen of Nuremberg and Imperial Councilor, who commissioned the window in 1513:

MELCHIOR PFINCZ/ING PREPO(SITUS)

E(CCLESLAE) S(ANCTI) SEB/ALDI

C(IVITATIS) NVR(INBERGENSIS) CES

(ARIS) M(AIESTATIS) CONS (ILIARIUS)

F(IERI) F(ECIT) MDXIII.

(...)

The intimate character of the composition has always been emphasized, and—both in view of the donor's portrait-like features and because of the modern Renaissance decoration—it has probably been rightly assumed to be a design by Hans von Kulmbach. Also compelling is the interpretation by FRENZEL, who sees the patron saint of painters as a glass painter creating a grisaille panel, suggesting that the figure of St. Luke is a hidden self-portrait of the city glassmaker Veit Hirsvogel. (Gottfried FRENZEL, in Exhibition Catalog, Nuremberg 1961, No. 185)

Based on visions of the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:1-28) and in the Book of Revelation (4:1-11), the ox of Luke was depicted at the Evangelist's feet as his personal symbolic animal.

Hartmut Scholz: Masterpieces of Stained Glass, St. Sebald in Nuremberg, Freiburg i. Br., 2007

The incomplete inscription on Luke's palette is a quote from the Song of Songs, chapter 4, verse 6, and reads in full: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" (You are truly beautiful, my love, and there is not a blemish in you).

Provost Melchior Pfinzing before the Virgin Mary on the crescent moon and Saint Luke as a Madonna painter.

The main stained-glass feature of the parish choir is the small, three-part stained-glass window donated to Melchior Pfinzing in the central window position (I,2a-c). The new glazing was installed as part of repairs commissioned by the new provost of St. Sebald shortly after 1512.

The window depicts the kneeling donor on the left, in adoration before the Virgin Mary. In the left panel of the triptych, Saint Luke is shown immortalizing the Madonna in the painting. The accompanying inscription tablet identifies the donor (in highly abbreviated form) as Provost of St. Sebald, a citizen of Nuremberg and Imperial Councilor, who commissioned the window in 1513:

MELCHIOR PFINCZ/ING PREPO(SITUS)

E(CCLESLAE) S(ANCTI) SEB/ALDI

C(IVITATIS) NVR(INBERGENSIS) CES

(ARIS) M(AIESTATIS) CONS (ILIARIUS)

F(IERI) F(ECIT) MDXIII.

(...)

The intimate character of the composition has always been emphasized, and—both in view of the donor's portrait-like features and because of the modern Renaissance decoration—it has probably been rightly assumed to be a design by Hans von Kulmbach. Also compelling is the interpretation by FRENZEL, who sees the patron saint of painters as a glass painter creating a grisaille panel, suggesting that the figure of St. Luke is a hidden self-portrait of the city glassmaker Veit Hirsvogel. (Gottfried FRENZEL, in Exhibition Catalog, Nuremberg 1961, No. 185)

Based on visions of the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:1-28) and in the Book of Revelation (4:1-11), the ox of Luke was depicted at the Evangelist's feet as his personal symbolic animal.

Hartmut Scholz: Masterpieces of Stained Glass, St. Sebald in Nuremberg, Freiburg i. Br., 2007

The incomplete inscription on Luke's palette is a quote from the Song of Songs, chapter 4, verse 6, and reads in full: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" (You are truly beautiful, my love, and there is not a blemish in you).

Provost Melchior Pfinzing before the Virgin Mary on the crescent moon and Saint Luke as a Madonna painter.

The main stained-glass feature of the parish choir is the small, three-part stained-glass window donated to Melchior Pfinzing in the central window position (I,2a-c). The new glazing was installed as part of repairs commissioned by the new provost of St. Sebald shortly after 1512.

The window depicts the kneeling donor on the left, in adoration before the Virgin Mary. In the left panel of the triptych, Saint Luke is shown immortalizing the Madonna in the painting. The accompanying inscription tablet identifies the donor (in highly abbreviated form) as Provost of St. Sebald, a citizen of Nuremberg and Imperial Councilor, who commissioned the window in 1513:

MELCHIOR PFINCZ/ING PREPO(SITUS)

E(CCLESLAE) S(ANCTI) SEB/ALDI

C(IVITATIS) NVR(INBERGENSIS) CES

(ARIS) M(AIESTATIS) CONS (ILIARIUS)

F(IERI) F(ECIT) MDXIII.

(...)

The intimate character of the composition has always been emphasized, and—both in view of the donor's portrait-like features and because of the modern Renaissance decoration—it has probably been rightly assumed to be a design by Hans von Kulmbach. Also compelling is the interpretation by FRENZEL, who sees the patron saint of painters as a glass painter creating a grisaille panel, suggesting that the figure of St. Luke is a hidden self-portrait of the city glassmaker Veit Hirsvogel. (Gottfried FRENZEL, in Exhibition Catalog, Nuremberg 1961, No. 185)

Based on visions of the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:1-28) and in the Book of Revelation (4:1-11), the ox of Luke was depicted at the Evangelist's feet as his personal symbolic animal.

Hartmut Scholz: Masterpieces of Stained Glass, St. Sebald in Nuremberg, Freiburg i. Br., 2007

The incomplete inscription on Luke's palette is a quote from the Song of Songs, chapter 4, verse 6, and reads in full: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" (You are truly beautiful, my love, and there is not a blemish in you).

Provost Melchior Pfinzing before the Virgin Mary on the crescent moon and Saint Luke as a Madonna painter.

The main stained-glass feature of the parish choir is the small, three-part stained-glass window donated to Melchior Pfinzing in the central window position (I,2a-c). The new glazing was installed as part of repairs commissioned by the new provost of St. Sebald shortly after 1512.

The window depicts the kneeling donor on the left, in adoration before the Virgin Mary. In the left panel of the triptych, Saint Luke is shown immortalizing the Madonna in the painting. The accompanying inscription tablet identifies the donor (in highly abbreviated form) as Provost of St. Sebald, a citizen of Nuremberg and Imperial Councilor, who commissioned the window in 1513:

MELCHIOR PFINCZ/ING PREPO(SITUS)

E(CCLESLAE) S(ANCTI) SEB/ALDI

C(IVITATIS) NVR(INBERGENSIS) CES

(ARIS) M(AIESTATIS) CONS (ILIARIUS)

F(IERI) F(ECIT) MDXIII.

(...)

The intimate character of the composition has always been emphasized, and—both in view of the donor's portrait-like features and because of the modern Renaissance decoration—it has probably been rightly assumed to be a design by Hans von Kulmbach. Also compelling is the interpretation by FRENZEL, who sees the patron saint of painters as a glass painter creating a grisaille panel, suggesting that the figure of St. Luke is a hidden self-portrait of the city glassmaker Veit Hirsvogel. (Gottfried FRENZEL, in Exhibition Catalog, Nuremberg 1961, No. 185)

Based on visions of the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:1-28) and in the Book of Revelation (4:1-11), the ox of Luke was depicted at the Evangelist's feet as his personal symbolic animal.

Hartmut Scholz: Masterpieces of Stained Glass, St. Sebald in Nuremberg, Freiburg i. Br., 2007

The incomplete inscription on Luke's palette is a quote from the Song of Songs, chapter 4, verse 6, and reads in full: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" (You are truly beautiful, my love, and there is not a blemish in you).