Moses and the Brazen Serpent,

ca. 1560

Tobias Stimmer was one of the most influential artists and designers working in the Rhine Valley in the second half of the sixteenth century. He made drawings for works in many different media, including glass paintings, prints, book illustrations, and decorated objects such as plates and clocks. This drawing is from a series of designs for small, round glass paintings of biblical scenes. During the Protestant Reformation these works were considered less idolatrous than large-scale religious paintings. The painted glass panels would have beenplaced within larger, clear glass windows, probably in a church or other religious building.