Design for a Marriage Window with the Seasons Spring and Summer Gm-00031801

Daniel Lindtmayer (Swiss, 1552–about 1607) To commemorate their marriage, wealthy patrons often commissioned designs for stained-glass windows to decorate their local church. The frame of this window contains personifications of Spring on the left, holding a basket of flowers, and Summer on the right, holding a bundle of wheat. In the corners below, a putto holding an anchor represents Hope, and one carrying a broken column represents Fortitude.

Daniel Lindtmayer used black ink lines to outline the forms with care and precision and then added gray wash to model them and create volume. He later sketched in the husband and wife's coats of arms and an inscription at the base that gives their names, although it is difficult to read: Hans Conradt von Pforburg and Anna von Pforburg.

Lindtmayer probably produced this design as a cartoon for a glass painter to copy; it was never intended for the patrons to see. He left empty spaces for the coats of arms and only lightly sketched them in later in brown ink. He also left various areas incomplete on the right side when they mirrored the symmetrical elements on the left. Notations in black chalk throughout the design give color instructions.