Arms of husband and wife are set within an elaborate baroque architectural frame. The shields are surmounted by barred helms with rich mantling of the heraldic colors. Their crests are silhouetted against white and yellow ribboned grounds. At the sides, framed by columns, are the name saints of the donors. To the left is Balthazar, one of the Three Magi. To the right is St. Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary who holds the Christ Child in her arms while the Virgin Mary, shown as a child, is at her feet. At the top, over the lintel, on either side of a large central boss, putti hold an hour glass and a skull. The lower third of the panel is occupied by the inscription panel. Angels flank a rectangular text on uncolored glass within a three-dimensional decorative border of blue embellished with yellow scroll work.

The leading is extremely fragile. When examined by the author in 2009, the many cracks and loose glass had been patched with conservator’s tape. Several segments have been lost to the left of the inscription.

Between 1662 and 1669, a series of panels was apparently created for the Lucerne Rathaus by Jakob Geilinger the Elder (1611–1677), a prominent painter in mid-seventeenth century Lucerne (Lehmann, 1942, pp. 200–210, figs. 285, 286; Habegger, 2001, pp. 103–106). Despite the repeated format, they are lively and varied. The donors are honored by the display of lineage, and at the same time invoke piety through the presence of patron saints. The inscription names the man as a member of the Inneren Rhats (Inner Council) of the Praiseworthy City of Lucerne and a number of the families appear to be interrelated. Melchior Schumacher (1598–1661) was governor of the county of Willisau, located about thirty-five kilometers west of Lucerne. He was married four times. In 1621 with Johanna Marbacher, he fathered a son, Nicholas, who died in 1668, with Barbara an der Allmend, whom he married in 1637, he fathered a daughter who lived until 1714. A marriage entered into in 1648 with Maria Jakobea II. Segesser von Baldegg lasted for ten years. In 1658 he subsequently married the sixty-year-old Anna Petermann. The intermarriages of the notable families of the city are evident in the lineages displayed in the four shields from the Grosse Ratssaal now in LACMA.

King Melchior, the name saint of Melchior Schumacher, stands on the left in a pose and with attributes similar to the representation of the Magus in the panel honoring Melchior Balthasar (US_22). Here, he carries a slightly different chalice, one without a finial, and wears yellow boots with a blue trim. On the right, St. Ann is also nimbed in gold and wears a white wimple and gold mantle over a white skirt. She holds the Christ Child, who is dressed in regal purple. At her side, the Virgin Mary appears as a young girl, dressed in her characteristic blue hue. Anne’s position as the grandmother of Christ and her influence on the childhood of Mary were popular themes of piety of the time (Réau, 1955–59, II/2, pp. 141–46 and III/1, pp. 90–96; Herder Lexikon, 1968–76, 5, cols. 168–90). Piety is invoked not only by the patron saints but by allegorical figures of memento mori association. Above the architrave on the right, a youthful figure carries a torch and rests his hand on a death’s head; the companion figure to the left touches an hour glass. Both symbolize meditation on the transience of life. Below the central scene, a blue and gold cartouche with youthful supporters on either side frames the inscription.

Cited in:
LACMA Quarterly, 1945, pp. 5–10.
Normile, 1946, pp. 43–44.
Hayward, 1989, p. 80.
Raguin, 2024, vol. 1, pp. 246–51, 258–59.