Klaipėdos universitetas

The appearance of portrait miniature is traditionally dated back to the 16th century when the miniature became a portrait genre. The Reformation processes occurring in Europe at the time also influenced the genesis of forms, technique and style of portrait miniatures. This paper focuses on the factors (related to the Reformation) which affected the formation of new images embodied in H. Holbein’s and N. Hilliard’s works. The rise of the portrait miniature as a new type of portrait, its features, and uniqueness of its properties are explained through the study of certain political, social, and cultural aspects of the Reformation movement in the context of English art.

The article analyzes the links between the hymnals of Prussian Lithuanians (M. Mažvydas, B. Vilentas, A. F. Šimelpenigis and others) and local German publications until 1750. It is assumed that the Prussian Lithuanians prepared their official hymns by using books relied on indigenous Germans. The main conclusion was that Prussia and all diferent national groups had a common treasure of hymns, which could be freely adjusted and supplemented.

He was a tutor for the Radvilas (Radziwiłłs) at Biržai, a student at Oxford, headmaster of a gymnasium in Leszno, and court preacher in Königsberg and later Berlin. Of all the stages in the life of Daniel Ernst Jablonski (1660–1741), his contribution, together with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, to the establishment in 1700 of the Kurfürstlich Brandenburgische Societät der Wissenschaften, the predecessor of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, is emphasised the most. However, his efforts to achieve ecumenical communication between evangelical churches of various hues were no less significant. The article deals with the development of Jablonski’s views leading to these efforts as a result of his family history: the experiences of his childhood and youth. Manifestations of efforts in East Central Europe, especially in the Commonwealth of the Two Nations, are presented through Jablonski’s activities in pursuing ecclesiastical unity, defending the rights of religious minorities, engaging in Hebrew studies, and in the ecclesiastical controversy in Russia.

How were the Reformation and a variety of different confessionalisations manifested in material culture? The article discusses this issue by presenting a dozen examples of works of art relating to the present territory of Latvia. In 1521, when urban citizens there responded to the ideas of the Reformation for the first time, a large part of present-day Latvia belonged to a conglomerate of various holdings called the Livonian Confederation. The religious polarisation of society characteristic of the early period of the Reformation (the 1520s) is represented in works of art discussed in the first chapter. The second chapter discusses works from the period of political instability caused by the First Northern War (1558–1583). It is characterised by Livonia’s political, cultural and confessional division, of which representations can also be seen in many examples of the visual arts.

In the Late Medieval and Early Modern period, tile stoves not only heated premises, but also decorated the homes of those who could afford them. The scenes and figures depicted on the tiles changed according to the broader changes that took place in culture. Images relevant to the Protestants appeared on tiles in the course of the development of the Reformation in Europe, in addition to religious motifs representing Catholic values. But what can the information encoded in the decoration of private spaces tell us about the owners’ religious beliefs and moral values? The article explores the issue by examining the case of a stove made of tiles with ambiguous signs: some of them had a meaning in Catholic culture, others spread after the introduction of Lutheranism, and one tile portrayed an authority relevant to the Anabaptists. Archaeologists have found all these tiles in a closed site on a single plot, a house in a former suburb of Memel (Klaipėda), which itself (and hence the stove) dates back to the 17th century. Not only were contemporaneous tiles used to build the stove, but tiles with symbols from previous periods were also reused. The article provides an interpretation of the contradictory religious signs that appeared on a single stove built in a suburb of Memel.