Peeking Through the Trees!

Ohhhh, we've got something new on the easel and it will be a little different to my usual landscapes. What’s that peeking through the trees …. Yes it’s a church spire! 

Started a painting which is a view from up around my house, looking down through apple trees towards our village with the vineyards as backdrop. In the past I have done pastel paintings of buildings but never in combination with the landscape. This for example is the famous Town Hall in the city of Bremen. The actual building is spectacular in so-called ''Weser Renaissance'' style and this is the view by night. Our local church isn’t quite as spectacular but it builds the starting point for the village which then grew up around it. 

Rural Bavaria is filled with memories of its deeply religious past; chapels, shrines, crucifixes and conciliation crosses …..! Here’s one of them spotted while out hiking.

These conciliation crosses were usually set up (often on crossroads) as atonement by the family of murderers or those who had committed manslaughter. A seemingly strange idea that you could literally ''get away with murder'' by planting a stone cross but this was the case, the stone cross was often part of a ''deal'' with the family of the victim which often included financial compensation in the form of wine, wax for candles, masses for the soul of the dead and of course money. 

Those coming across the cross should stop and pray for the soul of the dead who died without receiving the last rites and as a result landed in purgatory. The crosses are often carved with weapons like axes or knives which may represent the murder weapon. There is a registry for these crosses in Bavaria and the historical background is listed too, this cross which is about  3km from my house is registered but its history isn’t known. Interestingly, if you look very carefully you can see a Templar cross on it but it is very weathered, I would love to know more about it but unfortunately the story behind it is lost in the mists of time. 

Let’s hope that my painting develops and that church spire won’t have to disappear, not into the mists of time but into the foliage of the tree in front of it. You see, I have a cleverly laid plan to make history disappear too!