Anabaptists in Münster

The theme Anabaptists in Münster was of crucial importance in Schwaiger’s oeuvre. In 1887, the work was introduced in three different versions and as numerous preparatory studies at the artist’s first one−man show held at the Ruch gallery operated by Alois Wiesner. This drawing was made in 1886 as a direct commission from Wiesner and is a modified version of the first, large−format rendition (1883), now in the Muzeum Sztuki in Lodz. Neither of these large watercolours depicts a specific event from the brief history of the Münster community. In a single pictorial space, this history is summed up in what is a swarming and disquieting whole, where the individual groups of figures represent episodes of general decline and anarchy. Whereas the first version sought inspiration in a Bruegel−esque bird’s−eye perspective, the second variant is more clearly organized owing to the figures’ arrangement into several groups and especially due to its lower bird’s−eye view that contributes to greater realism (but also conventionality) of the depicted space.