What Did Ulrich Zwingli Look Like?

The Internet has made it easy to discover what a person from the past looks like. Simply image search their name, and "poof!" there it is. I don't recall ever questioning or doubting what Ulrich Zwingli looked like. Famous people in the past often sat for a portrait.  However, I came across an interesting tidbit from secular historian Will Durant's massive volume on the Reformation. Durant says, 

"We have no portrait of him from life, but his contemporaries described him as a handsome, ruddy-faced, full-blooded man, with a melodious voice that captured his congregation."

Interesting. Google's A.I. makes the following admission:

While it's true that contemporary portraits from Zwingli's lifetime are scarce, we do have some depictions, primarily created after his death, notably prints by Conrad Meyer in the 17th century, based on earlier (though sometimes imagined) sources like Hans Asper, giving us recognizable images, even if their absolute accuracy is debated. So, you have to look for later engravings or paintings rather than immediate photos or sketches from the 1520s-30s.

If Google A.I. is correct, the popular on-line paintings of Zwingli seem to be based on the work of Conrad Meyer (1618-1689). He based it on work from the sixteenth century by Hans Asper which Meyer had in the form of a wood cut. Google A.I states "The woodcut is a reverse copy of an original oil-on-parchment painting created by Hans Asper in 1531, the same year Zwingli died." Below, here is Asper's rendering / woodcut and the painting created later by Conrad Meyer:

 Church historian Philp Schaff states, 

Zwingli was also a devoted pastor, cheerful, kind, hospitable and benevolent. He took great interest in young men, and helped them to an education. He was, as Bullinger says, a fine-looking man, of more than middle size, with a florid complexion, and an agreeable, melodious voice, which, though not strong, went to the heart. We have no portrait from his lifetime; he had no Lucas Kranach near him, like Luther; all his pictures are copies of the large oil painting of Hans Asper in the city library at Zurich, which was made after his death, and is rather hard and wooden.

This is simply a curiosity to me... that sometimes certainty on a detail from the past isn't all that certain when you do a deeper deconstructive dive. A fascinating web article takes a look at the way Zwingli was thought of after his death in the war of Kappel.  

[Zwingli's death in battle] was an image problem for Zurich, which had regained its strength after the War of Kappel. Therefore the Council of Zurich sponsored a magnificent edition of Zwingli’s complete work on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death... With these books, the people of Zurich wanted to prove that Zwingli’s teachings were still being followed and that his Reformation had thus been successful. This means that the Council reinterpreted Zwingli’s death: the man who died wasn’t a heretic but a martyr.

This is exactly what the dedication of this work tells us. It reads “To the Holy and Catholic Church of all believers, the beloved bride of our King and Priest Christ, and to all believing future generations, the vindication of Mister Huldrich Zwingli and his works through their publication by Rudolf Gwalther from Zurich.”

Gwalther had held the position as the highest official of the Zurich state church since 1575. He had a personal interest in Zwingli’s rehabilitation. He was married to Zwingli’s daughter Regula. His daughter was to marry the son of Heinrich Bullinger, his predecessor. The

Zurich state priesthood established itself as a closed caste.

The vignette of the dedication perfectly illustrates how Zurich wanted Zwingli to be perceived. It depicts Christ cleansing the church from the merchants.

Through his writings against the Anabaptists, Zwingli justified the actions of the Zurich Council against this group of Reformed who were not willing to accept the authority of the city council in matters of faith.

To this day, the historical image of Zwingli is obscured by various images that were created for various purposes. With dwindling numbers of churchgoers, a Reformed church has to present a tolerant founding father. The holy warrior Huldrych Zwingli no longer fits our age.