Antique & Vintage Postcards

Four somber Renaissance portraits fill this early German postcard in a two-by-two grid: Hans Luther and Margarethe Lindemann — the father and mother of the Reformer — gaze from the top row, while below them the broad, resolute face of Dr. Martin Luther himself is paired with his wife Katharina von Bora, all rendered after original paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder. The card is an official souvenir of the Lutherstube at Wartburg Castle, Eisenach — the very room where Luther translated the New Testament into German in 1521–22 — published by Verlagsanstalt Carl Jagemann, Eisenach, and authenticated with a circular blue official seal reading "Offizielle Ausgabe · Dr. M. Luther · Lutherhaus." This pre-linen artifact predates divided-back regulation changes and speaks to the early 20th-century German pilgrimage tourism around Luther heritage sites.