Joachim von Sandrart in seiner Schrift „Teutsche Academie der Edlen Bau-, Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste“ über d...

Time and again, Queen Germania saw her palaces and churches with their magnificent paintings go up in flames, and her eyes were so dimmed by smoke and tears that no desire or strength remained to her to pay heed to this art, which now seemed to desire only to fall asleep in a long and eternal night. … It thus passed into oblivion, and those who made it their profession fell into poverty and contempt: they put away their palette and instead of the brush perforce took up a pike or beggar’s staff, and even gentle people were ashamed to prentice their children to such despised folk.