Founding of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit_ Study for the main fresco on the ceiling in the nave of the hospital church Heilig Geist in Munich c. 1727

Cosmas Damian Asam made this drawing as a study for a fresco in the Heilig Geist Hospital Church in Munich. Here, he is working out how to depict the founding of the hospital within the visual language of the Catholic Baroque. The fresco, and this study for it, create meaning through specific cultural and historical references. The Holy Spirit Hospital was an important institution in Munich, and its church was meant to inspire piety, but also to convey the power and grandeur of the Catholic Church in Bavaria. The architecture of the Baroque period, like the art, was often used to promote the Counter-Reformation following the Council of Trent. The period was one of immense social change, and the church used art and architecture to promote its values and message. In viewing this work, the historian turns to records of the time to more fully understand the social and institutional context from which it emerged.