Fromme ønsker. Brugen af emblemer som personligt erindringsmedium i dansk kirkekunst

Resumé

Pious wishes. The Use of Emblems as Personal Media of Memory in Danish Church Art

In Scandinavia, many church venues are decorated with emblems, sometimes in extensive emblematic programs. These decorations address the congregation, expressing a specific type of Christian devotion. The individual emblems often display a human heart and its condition when chastened or enlightened by the word of God. These emblems are in most cases based on the Bible, the content of which is thus mediated to the viewer. To fulfil the intended use and effect, the messages must be fairly consistent.
    However, emblems are also encountered in other ecclesiastical and spatial contexts than in large instructive programs, i.e. on objects that refer to death and the afterlife. The awareness of the fragility and brevity of the human condition is communicated in messages that may articulate individual sentiments and create hope or motivate a stoic firmness in the belief in an existence beyond the hardships on earth. Emblems chosen for this purpose will therefore often have a personal or spiritual character. Dealing with messages of this kind, the article focuses on other emblematic sources than those most frequently used in 17th and 18th century churches and their decorations.