The Four Evangelists. Design for an unexecuted stained glass window above the western portal of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, 1948

This colorful, multi-figure scene, showing the Four Evangelists, was created by the painter Anton Kolig (1886–1950) as a draft for a detail for the unexecuted stained glass window above the western portal of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. The artist placed the authors of the gospels in the order of their texts in the Holy Scripture. They are depicted with their attributes: Mark with a lion, Matthew with a man, Luke with a bull, and John with an eagle. The evangelists are occupied with the presentation of their symbols, which appear as real beings. On the foremost level, we discern a series of small figures. Further themes Kolig intended to realize for the western window included the apocalypse, the pietà and the Sermon on the Mount, but also secular allegories, for instance of the arts and sciences, or the anecdotal scene The Sun Seekers.

AK, 2023