Altarpiece by German Artist Installed in Vatican’s Teutonic Cemetery Church

A new altarpiece by German artist Michael Triegel has been installed in the Church of the Teutonic Cemetery, a quiet and historic sanctuary nestled behind the Vatican walls. The painting, on loan from Naumburg in eastern Germany, will remain on display for two years. More than a work of art, it carries a deeply human story and serves as a symbol of faith, compassion, and ecumenical dialogue.

The altarpiece depicts the Madonna and Child surrounded by ten saints, among them the Apostle Peter, whose face bears the likeness of a German homeless man named Scheffler. The man, once a stranger on the streets of Rome, became an unexpected source of inspiration for Triegel and is now buried only steps away from where the painting stands.

Triegel, a Catholic painter from Leipzig known for blending classical Renaissance style with modern spirituality, first met Scheffler in 2018 on a street in the Trastevere district of Rome. The encounter proved transformative. “I realised that by giving him money, I was trying to ease my own conscience,” the artist recalled in an interview with Vatican media. “But when he looked at me, there was something in his eyes, a depth of life and suffering that stayed with me.”

Moved by the encounter, Triegel asked Scheffler to pose for him, choosing to paint him from below a perspective traditionally reserved for popes, kings, and saints. That decision gave Scheffler’s image a quiet dignity that would later become central to Triegel’s work.

In 2020, the artist incorporated Scheffler’s likeness into an altarpiece commissioned for Naumburg’s Evangelical Cathedral, which also included fragments of an unfinished piece by Reformation-era painter Lucas Cranach. The juxtaposition of old and new reflected Triegel’s long-standing effort to bridge Catholic and Protestant artistic traditions.

However, controversy followed. The altarpiece was eventually removed from the Naumburg Cathedral due to UNESCO heritage restrictions, which prohibited alterations to the historic interior. For Triegel, the setback felt disheartening until the Vatican opportunity emerged.

Now, in a profound twist of fate, the painting has found a new home near Scheffler’s final resting place. The man who once slept under the colonnades of St Peter’s Basilica died of exposure in 2022. Though a Lutheran, he was laid to rest in the Teutonic Cemetery, a site maintained by the German Archconfraternity for pilgrims and clergy connected to the Vatican.

“For me, this borders on the miraculous,” Triegel said during the installation ceremony. “What began as a small act of human connection has come full circle. A man who died forgotten now has a name, a grave, and his image beside him a reminder of the dignity every person carries.”

Church officials say the display of the altarpiece at the Teutonic Cemetery holds special significance for ecumenical dialogue. It represents a meeting point of Catholic and Protestant traditions, as well as a testament to art’s power to heal and unify.

Visitors to the small church will find the painting illuminated by soft light, its colors echoing both reverence and realism. For Triegel, the work now stands as a quiet tribute to faith, humanity, and the unseen stories that shape sacred spaces.