House zum Ritter
Location, Object
City of Schaffhausen, Canton of Schaffhausen, Old town, Vordergasse 65, Haus zum Ritter. Four-storey Renaissance townhouse, built 1492, enlarged 1566 for the patrician Hans von Waldkirch. The fully frescoed main facade is a copy of the original decoration of c. 1568/70 by the Swiss painter Tobias Stimmer (1539–1584), including scenes from classical mythology, allegories and portraits, all expressing humanistic ideals of civic conduct and self-sacrifice. Renovated and painted over in oil several times between the 17th c. and 1935, when the murals were removed (now in the Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen) before the facade was completely repainted in 1938/39 based on the original by Carl Roesch (1884–1979); last restored 2013.
Emblems (1)
Context
The emblem is above the middle window of the 2nd floor. The neighbouring scenes show Marcus Curtius’ heroic leap into the chasm in the Roman Forum (above), and Ulysses overcoming the enchantress Circe (left) and stopping his companions from eating from the lotus tree (right), as examples of patriotic self-sacrifice and prudence. The latter two were originally accompanied by Latin inscriptions (see Schmid 1919: 20) and are also featured in Alciato 1550: 84 and 125.
Authorship, Date
Originally painted by Tobias Stimmer (1539–1584), c. 1568/70; repainted in 1938/39 by Carl Roesch. Stimmer also created the illustrations for Holtzwart’s Emblematum Tyrocinia (1581), in which the Ulysses/Circe scene reoccurs (no. 26).
Significance
Humanistic ideal of civic duty and altruism, as exemplified by Marcus Curtius.
Source
Unidentified; mentioned as the impresa of Alfonso IX de León in Melanchthon 1536; occurs in Reusner 1581, Camerarius 1596, Typotius 1601/03, etc.
Literature
Kdm SH 1: 294–299; KF 1: 545; Graf 1974: 165; Schmid 1919; Bendel, ‘Ritterfresken’, 1940; Bendel, Tobias Stimmer, 1940: 34–52; Ganz 1940; Tobias Stimmer 1984: 35–96.
view from north-west.
The decorations of the western facade were added in 1943.
view from east.
frescoed facade (detail).
A pelican feeding its young with its own blood (‘the pelican in her piety’).
PRO LEGE ET PRO GREGE.
Piece of original murals, removed in 1935 (Museum zu Allerheiligen Schaffhausen, Depositum Bundesamt für Kultur, Bern, Inv. A 2035).
main facade, watercolour by Johann Matthias Neithardt, 1873.
main facade, after the renovation of 1870.
view from north-west, before 1903.
main facade, after the renovation of 1918–1919.
repainted main facade, 1939
Copyright note: Added 2016, revised 2026. All colour photos taken by the author, July 2016, except photo of original murals ,courtesy of Museum zu Allerheiligen Schaffhausen (Depositum Bundesamt für Kultur, Bern, Inv. A 2035). Reproduction of watercolour of 1873 taken from Tobias Stimmer 1984: 41; historic photographs taken from Bendel, Tobias Stimmer, 1940: 188–189, and Ganz 1940: plates 45–46.