Image Ordered

US_26: Welcome Panel Heinrich Mayer and Margarethe Meyer
(USA_LosAngeles_LACMA_US_26)

Contact Details

Please specify your first name.
Please specify your name.
Please specify your e-mail address.
The e-mail address is invalid.

Please provide as much information as possible (publication title, database, publisher, edition, year of publication, etc.).

The Vitrocentre Romont can only provide you with its own photographs. We regret that we cannot supply images from third parties to you. If your order concerns photographs from third parties, we will send you the contact address from which the images can be obtained.

The personal data you provide in this form will be used by Vitrocentre Romont exclusively for the processing of your image order. Correspondence regarding the order will be archived for internal reference. The data will not be used for purposes other than those listed here, nor will it be passed on to third parties. By sending the order form, you agree to this use of your personal data.

Should you have any questions, please send us an e-mail: info@vitrosearch.ch.

Title

Welcome Panel Heinrich Mayer and Margarethe Meyer

Type of Object
Dimensions
32.3 x 22.2 cm (13 ¼ x 9 in.)
Artist / Producer
Dating
1578
Location
Inventory Number
45.21.19
Research Project
Author and Date of Entry
Virginia C. Raguin 2024

Iconography

Description

The panel displays the traditional format of the “welcome” presentation, with the wife on the right, extending a beaker to her husband who stands on the left. Both husband and wife are dressed in similar style and color harmonies, neutral above the waist and red below. They both wear similar low, wide-brimmed black hats decorated with white plumes. He carries a halberd in his right hand and wears a sword, as well as the Swiss “dolch” at his waist. Over a white shirt, he wears a tight-fitting grey and black striped jacket with poufy black sleeves. The wife wears a grey bodice over a white ruffled shirt gathered at the neck. Her wide poufy sleeves become tight at the forearm. Her red skirt is open at the front to reveal a white underskirt. In the upper panel is a prosperous scene of farming; two farm workers employ a team of eight oxen to plow a field.

Iconclass Code
41C322 · mug, beaker, goblet
42D3 · marriage, married couple, 'matrimonium'
45C14(HALBERD) · helved weapons, polearms (for striking, hacking, thrusting): halberd
46A122(MAYER) · armorial bearing, heraldry (MAYER)
46A122(MEYER) · armorial bearing, heraldry (MEYER)
46A14 · farmers
Iconclass Keywords
Heraldry

Armso of Mayer: Azure on a triple mount vert a plowshare argent

Inscription

Klein heine Maÿer Zu Steien (Steten ?) Jm Rodorffer/ Ampt vnd Margett meÿerin sin Elliche husfroūw/ 1578 (Little Heinrich Mayer, of Stetten in the district of Rohrdorf / and Margaret Meyer his wedded wife 1578.)

Signature

none

Materials, Technique and State of Preservation

Technique

The bright yellow background and the border of the inscription plate are balanced against the bold, dark red in the man’s breeches, the woman’s skirt, and the arch. Thus, the bright, light blue of the shield draws the eye. The blue of the columns glimpsed behind the figures serves to reinforce the importance of the central heraldic display. The panel consists of pot metal and uncolored glass with silver stain and enamel. Flashed and abraded red glass is used for the heraldic shield, the husband’s breeches, the wife’s skirt, and the arch above the couple. Backpainting is used sparingly, appearing on the husband’s beard, hat, and sleeve and the shadowed edges of the woman’s puffy white sleeves. The warm tonality of the oxen and parts of the flesh areas are achieved with sanguine. Vitreous paint is used throughout, and with precise rather than free application. The striation of the feathers in the wife’s hat, and parallel strokes defining the curls of the hair of the couple and the husband’s beard, as well as the outline of the edges of their garments, show a practiced hand.

State of Preservations and Restorations

Considerable abrasion and paint loss has affected the legibility of the panel. The replacements, however, are relatively unobtrusive, in particular the area including the husband’s right leg and a triangular section in the lower right of the woman’s skirt and lower area adjacent to it. Both replacements are consistent with damage to the sides. Minor modern replacements appear in the animals plowing. The right side of the arch is new; stopgaps make up the architecture behind the woman. The considerable amount of heavy mending leads diminishes the iconographic and personal charm of the pieces. For example, the wife’s face is compromised and the cup she extends is difficult to see.

History

Research

The municipality of Stetten is today in the Canton of Aargau. As it is located less than 16 kilometers (10 miles) west of Zurich, it is possible that a stained-glass painter from Zurich would be the logical choice for commission. Exact comparisons have been elusive.

Cited in:
Garland sale, 1924, no. 324, illustration identical to present state
Hayward, 1989, p. 70.
Raguin, 2024, vol. 1 pp. 40, 154–56.

Dating
1578
Commissioner

Mayer, Heinrich · Meyer, Margarethe

Previous Location
Previous Owner

The panel was purchased from the Garland Collection by William Randolph Hearst in 1924. Hearst donated it to the museum in 1943; it was accessioned in 1945.

Bibliography and Sources

Literature

Garland sale (1924). Rare and Beautiful Works of Art Inherited and Collected by the Late James A. Garland [sale cat., American Art Galleries, 17-19 January], New York.

Hayward, J. (1989). Stained Glass before 1700 in American Collections: Midwestern and Western States. Corpus Vitrearum Checklist III, ed. and intro. Madeline H. Caviness and Jane Hayward (Studies in the History of Art, 28), Washington, 1989.

Raguin, V. (2024). Stained Glass before 1700 in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum, (Corpus Vitrearum United States IX). 2 vols. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols.

Unpublished Sources: Hearst Inventory 1943, no. 244; Hayward Report 1978: Sibyll Kummer-Rothenhäusler, notes, suggesting Zurich area, CV USA; Rolf Hasler and Uta Bergmann, CV Switzerland, 2016-2020, consultation and research for author.

Image Information

Name of Image
USA_LosAngeles_LACMA_US_26
Credits
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles CA, www.lacma.org
Link to the original photo
Copyright
Public Domain

Citation suggestion

Raguin, V., C. (2024). Welcome Panel Heinrich Mayer and Margarethe Meyer. In Vitrosearch. Retrieved June 4, 2025 from https://test.vitrosearch.ch/objects/2721055.

Record Information

Reference Number
US_26