Painting

John Valentine Haidt (1700–1780)

John Valentine Haidt (1700-1780) was the most important painter in the history of the Moravian Church. After meeting Count Zinzendorf in 1740, he became the Church's first official painter, and was sent to Bethlehem where he created divinely inspired oil painting to be hung in public worship spaces where they could be used as a tool to communicate the Church’s theological ideas to visitors when language was a barrier.

In the painting "Christ Scourged", "Jesus Scourged" or "The Mocking of Christ" Valentine Haidt illustrates the Bible passage, “Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and striking him on the face.” John 19:1-3. This painting depicts Christ partially draped in a robe with a crown of thorns on head and dripping blood on his shoulder stands with hands crossed and bound, holding a crude scepter. On the floor lays the cross and in the background stands a pillar. Haidt depicts Christ as the "Man of Sorrows" with graphic detailed wounds. This is one of six paintings Haidt made dealing with the death and resurrection of Christ, for the Saal in the Manor House in Nazareth. 

In “Haidt’s Christ Before Herod" or "Jesus before Herod" (also sometimes called "Christ before Pilate”), he llustrates the Bible passage, Luke 23:8-10. In this painting, Jesus is brought before King Herod, who questions him. Queen Herodias, dressed in fine clothing, looks on from the foot the throne. This is one of four paintings Haidt made showing the events of Passion Week for the Saal of the single sisters' house in of Nazareth. The Moravian Historical Society of Nazareth has two others from the set "The Betrayal of Christ" and "Christ before the Mob".

Additionally, in Haidt’s “Lamentation over the Body of Christ" or "At the Foot of the Cross" he illustrates the bible passage, ""Joseph of Arimathea, … went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph." Mark 15: 43-45.

In the painting, Jesus' body has been removed from the cross. Mary Magdalene kisses his feet. The grieving apostle John and Mary, Jesus' mother, gather near the body, supporting the head and holding the removed crown of thorns. The removed nails lay on the earth in the foreground. Blood issues from the five wounds of the crucifixion and from the cuts on his head made by the crown of thorns.

This is one of six paintings Haidt made dealing with the death and resurrection of Christ, for the Saal in the Manor House in Nazareth. The Moravian Historical Society has all six in the collection, " Christ in Gethsemane", "Christ Scourged", "The Crucifixion", "Adoration of the Shepherds", and "Thomas Doubting".

John Valentine Haidt also painted many portraits of prominent church members, which were similarly made for public display, and served to identify important individuals within the church, communicate the hierarchy, and unite community members around a shared sense of history relating to these individuals. Many of these painting can be found today hanging in the reading room of the Moravian Archives, Northern Provence, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.