Valentin Peter Feuerstein (1917–1999), also known as Peter Valentin Feuerstein, was a German painter and stained-glass artist who created windows for major churches in Germany, including the Ulmer Münster, the Freiburger Münster and the

Überwasserkirche Überwasserkirche () is the common name of a Gothic architecture, Gothic hall church in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a ''Liebfrauenkirche'' (Church of Our Dear Lady), dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, St. Mary. Officially St. ...

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

Career

Born in Neckarsteinach, Valentin Peter Feuerstein was the son of a commercial painter and grew up in a Catholic family. After he completed his apprenticeship to be a painter like his father, he was drafted into the Arbeitsdienst in 1938, and afterwards into the ''

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

''. He was posted to Munich, where he was able to study at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München. When he spent time in Italy during World War II, he was inspired to focus on artistic painting instead of taking over his father's business. After the war, he first worked as a restoration artist. In 1948, he rediscovered an altar in Windsheim which he was able to attribute to Tilman Riemenschneider. Feuerstein focused on stained-glass windows for churches, making his first window in 1955 for a funeral chapel in his hometown, titled "Die Engel des Jüngsten Gerichts" (The angels of the Last Judgment). In a long career, he created around 840 windows in 139 locations, including five windows for the Ulmer Münster (19791986) and a rosette at the Freiburger Münster (1971). A 1985 window in the Ulmer Münster depicts the mathematicians and physicists

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

Johannes Kepler Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best know ...

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...

and

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

. Feuerstein produced a cycle of windows at the ''Dom des Frankenlandes'' in Wölchingen, another for the , and a third in the

. The seven windows in Münster are mostly in the

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

of the Gothic church and focus on biblical themes. Feuerstein created windows in the Protestant in Bahlingen. In in

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the ...

, which was destroyed in World War II, he created windows related to the history of the town. In 1990, Feuerstein was awarded the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

. He died in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

References

External links

Chorgemälde von Peter Valentin Feuerstein
St. Georgen, Tennenbronn {{DEFAULTSORT:Feuerstein, Valentin Peter 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German stained glass artists and manufacturers Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1917 births 1999 deaths Painters from Hesse Reich Labour Service members Luftwaffe personnel of World War II