Swiss School, 17th Century

Over a century after Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses, a continued interest in accessibility to religious texts persisted among the growing sects of Protestantism. The Piscator Bern Bible of 1684, prominently depicted in the present lot, was printed by the Canton of Bern out of a sort of defiance to the latest, modern translation produced out of Zurich. From Bern's perspective, they believed people should have access to different translations of holy scriptures. Around 6,000 copies were produced in the first edition and was documented as being last printed in 1848. 

The small piece of paper that reads Verbum Dei manet in aeter[num] translates from Latin as The Word of the Lord Endures, which is the Lutheran motto, further situating the painting within a Swiss or German context.