There are three completed paintings and two unfinished drawings by Theodor Kern depicting religious subjects in the collection of Salzburg Museum (see the last three posts). Two of the paintings, both of them from 1929 and both depicting scenes from the life of Christ, are quite traditional in style, which leads me to wonder whether they were originally commissioned for religious buildings.The first is yet another version of one of Kern’s favourite scenes, the adoration of the newborn Christ by the three kings:
Theodor Kern, ‘Die Anbetung der heiligen drei Könige im Stall’ (1929), Salzburg Museum
This depiction is much more conventional, and in my view less appealing, than (for example), this later representation by Kern of the same scene:
Theodor Kern, ‘Anbetung der Heiligen Drei Könige’ (c.1950), Museum der Moderne, Salzburg
The second painting is a scene from the Passion of Christ: Veronica offering Jesus a linen cloth with which to wipe his face. Once again, the style is quite traditional and puts one in mind of Kern’s mural of the aftermath of Christ’s death, on the arch over the Franziskanergasse in Salzburg:
Theodor Kern, ‘Das Schweißtuch der Veronika’ (1929), Salzburg Museum
The third painting, depicting the Madonna and Child, another of Kern’s favourite subjects, is undated, but seems to belong to a later period in the artist’s career. It has some similarities with, but is certainly not as accomplished or ‘finished’, as his iconic red and gold representation of the same subject from 1950:
Theodor Kern, ‘Madonna mit Kind’, Salzburg Museum
Theodor Kern, ‘Madonna mit Kind’ (1950)
The Virgin Mary features in one of the two religious drawings in the collection. Entitled ‘Maria einer Verkündigung’ – which could be translated as ‘Mary, from an Annunciation’ – it is obviously a sketch for a painting of that familiar scene, which Kern portrayed in various forms elsewhere. This sketch captures the Virgin’s surprise in a very physical way – she seems literally taken aback by the angel’s salutation:
Theodor Kern, ‘Maria einer Verkündigung’ (Salzburg Museum)
The other religious drawing in the Salzburg Museum collection, from 1926, shows a novice being received into a convent. Although obviously incomplete, the roughly sketched figures manage to convey the devotion and drama of the occasion and are further confirmation that Theodor Kern’s interest in spiritual matters, and in the religious life, predated his dramatic conversion at a Parisian monastery in 1930:
Theodor Kern, ‘Aufnahme ins Kloster’ (1926), Salzburg Museum
Theodor Kern 