Albrecht Altdorfer

Self-portrait

Bust of Altdorfers in the Munich Hall of Fame

Albrecht Altdorfer , also Albrecht Altdorffer (* around 1480 perhaps in Altdorf near Landshut or in Regensburg ; † February 12, 1538 in Regensburg), was a German painter , engraver and builder of the Renaissance . Along with Wolf Huber, he is an important representative of the so-called Danube School , a style movement along the Danube in Bavaria and Austria. The artists of the art direction are also known as "wild painters from the Danube". Together with Albrecht Dürer , whose student he is considered to be, he is seen as the founder of the Nuremberg Kleinmeister .

Life

Little is known about the artist's life. His father was probably the Regensburg painter Ulrich Altdorfer. Documents ensure that Altdorfer acquired Regensburg citizenship on March 13, 1505 .

In 1517 the respected citizen, who worked for Emperor Maximilian I , among others , was elected a member of the Outer Council of Regensburg. Albrecht Altdorfer was part of the delegation of the councilors who ordered the deportation of Regensburg Jews on February 21, 1519. He later made several woodcuts for the pilgrimage church “Zur Schönen Maria” built in this location , painted the church flag and illuminated the bull of indulgence.

In 1526 the artist became a member of the inner council and city architect of Regensburg . In this role he built a slaughterhouse (1527) and reworked the city's fortifications (1529/30). On September 15, 1528, he rejected the election of mayor in order to be able to accomplish an important work, probably the Battle of Alexander , for Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria . In 1533 his signature is found as one of 15 council members under an advertisement for a Protestant preacher . As envoy of the city of Regensburg, Altdorfer traveled to Vienna in 1535 to see Ferdinand I to deliver a letter of apology from the city, which had fallen out of favor because of those political and religious activities.

Appreciation

The prince-bishop's market in Wörth 1524, pen drawing in watercolors by Albrecht Altdorfer

The city of Wörth an der Donau honored his work by dedicating the street name "Altdorferstraße". Albrecht Altdorfer created, among other portraits of Wörth, the painting Danube Landscape with Wörth Castle and, as Regensburg's city architect, he played a key role in the renovation of Wörth Castle on the Danube. In Vienna's 10th district there is also an Altdorferstraße on Wienerberg near the Spinnerin am Kreuz . The writer Hans Watzlik honors him with the biographical poem 'Der Meister von Regensburg'. In 1998 the asteroid (8121) Altdorfer was named after him. Furthermore, the linguistic-humanistic as well as scientific-technological Albrecht-Altdorfer-Gymnasium in Regensburg is named after him.

Works

1506 is the earliest date that appears on Altdorfer's drawings and paintings . Two of his paintings are particularly well-known today: the Sebastian altar from 1509 to 1518 from St. Florian Monastery near Linz with its dramatic mannerist scenes and The Battle of Alexander (1528–1529), which was commissioned by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria . On a size of 158 × 120 cm, it shows the fight of Alexander the Great against the Persian king Darius in the battle of Issus in 333 BC.

Around 1522 he created his first pure landscape paintings and drawings. For the first time in European painting, Altdorfer made the landscape an actual and independent pictorial theme. Even in his religious paintings and altarpieces, people were only accessories to landscape painting. He captured the light in glowing colors and for the first time in German art he painted landscape pictures without figures.

Some of his 55 panel paintings are in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. 124 drawings and drafts (including the triumphal procession of Emperor Maximilian I ) have been preserved. His graphic work comprises around 200 sheets, mostly woodcuts and copperplate engravings , but also some etchings . In addition, a room painting by him in the Bishop's Court in Regensburg is known, but it was destroyed in a fire and subsequent renovations in 1887/88 and is now only preserved in museum fragments.

Exhibition and research

From May to October 1938 the memorial exhibition Albrecht Altdorfer and his circle , curated by Ernst Buchner , took place in the Munich State Gallery to mark the 400th anniversary of his death . The official catalog lists 56 paintings and approx. 270 drawings, engravings, etchings and woodcuts as well as a dozen frescoes by Altdorfer. As a recently rediscovered sensation of the so-called Old German panel painting , Altdorfer's Schöne Maria was presented at the time , which was exhibited in an altar frame. The latter was specially made according to the specifications of a corresponding Altdorfer print. In this context, the beautiful Maria is currently in the permanent exhibition of the Diözesanmuseum Regensburg .

On the 450th year of his death, Altdorfer's drawings, opaque color paintings and prints were exhibited in Berlin and Regensburg. In February 2011 the University of Regensburg organized an art history symposium entitled Albrecht Altdorfer. Art as second nature . The exhibition Fantastic Worlds. Albrecht Altdorfer and the Expressive in Art around 1500 took place from November 2014 to February 2015 in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt and from March to June in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Works (selection)

image	title	year	Size / material	Exhibition / collection / owner
	Penitent St. Jerome , left part of the diptych with The Stigmatization of St. Francis	1507	23.5 × 20.4 cm oil on panel	Berlin: Picture Gallery
	The stigmatization of St. Francis , right part of the diptych with The stigmatization of St. Francis	1507	23.5 × 20.4 cm oil on panel	Berlin: Picture Gallery
	Rest on the flight into Egypt	1510	57 × 38 cm oil on wood	Berlin: Picture Gallery
	Deciduous forest with St. George or the dragon fight of St. George	around 1510	28 × 22 cm oil on parchment, mounted on linden wood	Munich: Alte Pinakothek
	Sebastian altar (left inner wing, scenes above: Christ on the Mount of Olives, Christ being captured , scenes below: crowning of thorns, hand washing of Pilate )	around 1509–1516	112 × 95 cm oil on wood	Augustinian Canons of St. Florian near Linz
	Sebastian altar (right inner wing, scenes above: Christ before Caiaphas, flagellation of Christ , scenes below: carrying the cross, crucifixion of Christ )	around 1509–1516	112 × 95 cm oil on wood	Augustinian Canons of St. Florian near Linz
	Sebastian Altar (right outer wing, scene above: Martyrdom of St. Sebastian )	around 1509–1516	128.5 × 94.3 cm oil on panel	Augustinian Canons of St. Florian near Linz
	Sebastian altar (right outer wing, scene below: recovery of the body of St. Sebastian )	around 1509–1516	128.5 × 94.3 cm oil on panel	Augustinian Canons of St. Florian near Linz
	Sebastian Altar (outside of the left predelle wing: Resurrection of Christ )	1518	70.5 × 37 cm	Kunsthistorisches Museum , Vienna
	Sebastian altar (outside of the left wing of the predella: burial of Christ )	1518	70.5 × 37 cm	Kunsthistorisches Museum , Vienna
	St. Florian altar, scenes from the legend of St. Florian : St. Florian says goodbye to the monastery	1530	79.5 × 64 cm oil on panel	Florence : Uffizi
	St. Florian Altar, scenes from the legend of St. Florian: The arrest of St. Florian	around 1516-1518	79.5 × 64 cm oil on panel	Nuremberg: Germanisches Nationalmuseum
	St. Florian Altar, scenes from the legend of St. Florian: Presentation of St. Florian	around 1520	oil on wood	Nuremberg: Germanisches Nationalmuseum
	St. Florian altar, scenes from the legend of St. Florian: Martyrdom of St. Florian	between 1510 and 1519		Prague: National Gallery
	St. Florian altar, scenes from the legend of St. Florian: Martyrdom of St. Florian	1530	76 × 67 cm oil on wood	Florence: Uffizi
	St. Florian Altar, Scenes from the Legend of St. Florian : Finding St. Florian	around 1516-1518	79.5 × 64 cm oil on panel	Nuremberg: Germanisches Nationalmuseum
	crucifixion	1512	101.5 × 116 oil on panel	Kassel: Picture gallery
	Victory of Emperor Charlemagne before Regensburg	around 1518	81.4 × 67 cm painting on linden wood	Nuremberg: Germanisches Nationalmuseum
	Landscape with a jetty	around 1518–1520	41.2 × 35.5 cm oil on parchment, laid on limewood	London: National Gallery
	Virgin Mary's birth	around 1520	140.7 × 130 cm oil on wood	Munich: Alte Pinakothek
	Birth of Christ	around 1520/1525	44.5 x 36.1 cm	Kunsthistorisches Museum , Vienna
	Danube landscape with Wörth Castle	around 1522	30 x 22 cm oil on wood	Munich: Alte Pinakothek
	crucifixion	around 1526	29 × 21 cm linden wood	Berlin: Picture Gallery
	The Battle of Alexander	1529	158 × 120 cm oil on wood	Munich: Alte Pinakothek
	mountain range	1530	53.1 × 45.1 cm oil on panel	Hachiōji : Tokyo Fuji Art Museum
	Susanna and the two old people	1526	74.8 × 61.2 cm oil on panel	Munich: Alte Pinakothek
	Calvary	1526	41 × 33 cm oil on wood	Nuremberg: Germanisches Nationalmuseum

• Two counterparts, winged doors from a small side tarpaulin.
  • The birth of christ.
  • The circumcision.
  • The announcing angel.,
  • The kneeling St. Virgin.
• A cup with its lid, which the latter represents a tower. (On paper), 1520

literature

For Altdorfer's 500th birthday: special postage stamp of the German Federal Post Office from 1980 , etching landscape with two spruce trees

• Christoph Wagner , Oliver Jehle (Ed.): Albrecht Altdorfer. Art as second nature (Regensburg Studies on Art History, 17), Schnell & Steiner Verlag, Regensburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-7954-2619-4 .
• Christoph Wagner: Inventio and mimetic politics. On Albrecht Altdorfer's pictorial imagination. In: Albrecht Altdorfer. Art as second nature (Regensburg Studies on Art History, 17), ed. by Oliver Jehle and Christoph Wagner, Schnell & Steiner Verlag, Regensburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-7954-2619-4 , pp. 9-25.

• Wilhelm Schmidt :  Altdorfer, Albrecht . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, pp. 356-358.
• Ludwig Baldass :  Altdorfer, Albrecht. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , pp. 208-212 ( digitized version ).
• Otto Benesch : The painter Albrecht Altdorfer . Anton Schroll, Vienna 1938.
• Ernst Buchner: Albrecht Altdorfer and his circle. Catalog for the commemorative exhibition on the 400th year of Altdorfer's death, Munich 1938.
• Dieter Henrich  : Albrecht Altdorfer and his time . Lecture series of the University of Regensburg, 2nd edition Regensburg 1992, ( online ), ISBN 3-921114-54-3 .
• Max Seidel and Edwin Maria Landau : Altdorfer, Leidensweg - Heilsweg, the Passion Altar of St. Florian. Belser, Stuttgart 1983.
• Christopher S. Wood: Albrecht Altdorfer and the origins of landscape . Chicago 1993.
• Volkmar Greiselmayer: Altdorfer's “Schöne Maria” in the criticism of Martin Luther and Albrecht Dürer . In: Karl Möseneder (Ed.): Dispute about images. From Byzantium to Duchamp . Reimer, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-496-01169-6 , pp. 73-94.
• Friederike Hauffe: Architecture as an independent subject in Albrecht Altdorfer. Weimar 2007.
• Mathias F. Müller : The Historia Friderici et Maximiliani. A contribution to the development of Albrecht Altdorfer's drawing style around 1515 . In: Communications from the Austrian State Archives . 51, 2004, ISSN  0078-3676 , pp. 9-28.
• Mathias F. Müller : Albrecht Altdorfer. The rapid development of his figurative style from 1514 to 1516, during the years of implementation of the Miniaturentriumphzugs for Emperor Maximilian I . In: Achim Gnann, Heinz Widauer (ed.): Festschrift for Konrad Oberhuber . Electa, Milan 2000, ISBN 88-435-6703-9 , pp. 239-254.
• Mathias F. Müller : Albrecht Altdorfer's Alexander triumph for Emperor Maximilian I . In: Early Modern Information. 17, 2006, ISSN  0940-4007 , pp. 94-116.
• Mathias F. Müller : The Mocking of Christ in the Archbishop's Cathedral and Diocesan Museum in Vienna. A previously unnoticed panel painting by Albrecht Altdorfer from around 1507/08 and some additional remarks on his early work . In: Communications from the Society for Comparative Art Research in Vienna . 61, No. 1/2, 2009, ISSN  1013-6800 , pp. 1-22.
• Mathias F. Müller : The saints of the House of Austria and the ancestral line of Emperor Maximilian I - Three codices and a parchment scroll by Albrecht Altdorfers from around 1514/15 and 1516/17 - A style-historical commentary on the Regensburg master's share in the imperial art projects. In: Our home. (Journal for Regional Studies of Lower Austria) 80/3 (2009), pp. 196–246.
• Mathias F. Müller : The Aggstein Castle in Albrecht Altdorfer's drawing 'The Sacrifice of Abraham' - a supplementary observation for his Danube journey in 1511. In: Our home. (Journal for Regional Studies of Lower Austria) 80/4 (2009), pp. 345–348.
• Mathias F. Müller : Albrecht Altdorfer's miniature triumph for Emperor Maximilian I - considerations on the development of his figurative style from 1514 to 1516 and the share of his employees in the overall execution. In: Negotiations of the historical association for Upper Palatinate and Regensburg. 150 (2010), ISSN  0342-2518 , pp. 397-433.
• Thomas Noll : Albrecht Altdorfer in his time. Religious and profane themes in art around 1500 . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-422-06454-0 .
• Mathias F. Müller : The Historia Friderici et Maximiliani. Albrecht Altdorfer and the visual staging of the Habsburg dynasty. In: Communications from the Society for Comparative Art Research in Vienna. 62 / 2–3 (2010) pp. 11–19.
• Christoph Wagner, Oliver Jehle (Ed.): Albrecht Altdorfer. Art as second nature . (= Regensburg Studies on Art History, Volume 17). Schnell & Steiner Verlag, Regensburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-7954-2619-4 .
• Mathias F. Müller : The portrait of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Matthäus Cardinal Lang von Wellenburg. A portrait painting by Albrecht Altdorfer around 1528 . In: Negotiations of the historical association for Upper Palatinate and Regensburg , 151 (2011), ISSN  0342-2518 , pp. 109–119.
• Mathias F. Müller : The drawings in the so-called memorials or memorial book of Emperor Maximilian I. Two works by Albrecht Altdorfer from around 1514 . In: Yearbook of the Association for the History of the City of Vienna , 64/65 (2008/2009), ISSN  1027-8788 , pp. 151–170.
• Jochen Sander, Stefan Roller, Sabine Haag , Guido Messling (eds.): Fantastic worlds. Albrecht Altdorfer and the expressive in art around 1500 . Exhib. Cat. Frankfurt, Städel Museum, November 5, 2014–8. February 2015; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, March 17–14. June 2015. Hirmer, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-7774-2266-4 .

Web links

Commons : Albrecht Altdorfer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Albrecht Altdorfer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Albrecht Altdorfer. Biographical data and works in the Netherlands Institute for Art History (Dutch)
• Albrecht Altdorfer in Google Arts & Culture
• Works by Albrecht Altdorfer in the Albertina
• Works by Albrecht Altdorfer at Zeno.org .
• ibiblio.org (with many images )
• The picture of Altdorfer Schauspiel with music about Albrecht Altdorfer in the Regensburg musical project
• Historical lexicon of Bavaria: To Altdorfer and Donaustil
• Albrecht Altdorfer (1482–1538): History cycle: Battle of Alexander (Battle of Issus) in the cultural portal bavarikon
• Albrecht Altdorfer and his Regensburg workshop: digitized collection in the culture portal bavarikon
• Daniel Hess and Oliver Mack, Between Perfection and Nonchalance for Albrecht Altdorfer's Painting

Individual evidence

1. ^ Franz Winzinger : Albrecht Altdorfer, in: Dieter Henrich : Albrecht Altdorfer und seine Zeit , Regensburg 1992, ( online ), p. 9.
2. ^ Günter Meißner: Albrecht Altdorfer. Biography . In: Walther Killy (ed.): The great biographical lexicon of the Germans. Rheda Wiedenbrück, Gütersloh 1999, DNB 958116016 , p. 9.
3. ^ Ludwig Baldass:  Altdorfer, Albrecht. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , pp. 208-212 ( digitized version ).
4. ^ Carl Theodor Gemeiner: Regensburgische Chronik Vol. IV, 1824, ND 1987, p. 356.
5. ^ Hans Mielke: Albrecht Altdorfer. Drawings, opaque paints, prints. Exhibition catalog of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the museums of the city of Regensburg. Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-496-01047-9 , pp. 20-22.
6. ^ Franz Winzinger : Albrecht Altdorfer graphics. Woodcuts, copper engravings, etchings. Complete edition. Munich 1963, p. 16.
7. ↑ Christopher S. Wood: Albrecht Altdorfer and the Origins of Landscape, London 1993, p. 9.
8. ^ Nicole Riegel: Decorum balneorum. To contextualize Altdorfer's “Kaiserbad” in the Regensburg Bishop's Court . In: INSITU. Zeitschrift für Architekturgeschichte 7 (1/2015), pp. 77–90.
9. ↑ Brigitte Zuber: Great power dream in the prayer room. Which exhibitions Munich schoolchildren visited in 1933–1943 for each class. ( Memento from November 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: Insights and Perspectives. 02/2009. (The National Socialist historian Wilhelm Grau was so enthusiastic about the völkisch reception of Altdorfer's work that he had some of Altdorfer's pictures with hooked noses and ugly grimaces reprinted in the second edition of his anti-Semitic publication Antisemitism in the Middle Ages (1939).)
10. ^ Hans Mielke: Albrecht Altdorfer: drawings, opaque color painting, prints. Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1988. Exhibition catalog.
11. ^ Stefan Aigner: Altdorfer conference: From the art of sitting out. In: www.regensburg-digital.de. February 13, 2011, accessed September 2, 2015 . 
12. ↑ Fantastic Worlds Albrecht Altdorfer and the Expressive in Art around 1500. In: www.khm.at. Retrieved November 27, 2015 . 
13. ^ Margit Stadlober: The forest in the painting and the graphics of the Danube style. Böhlau, Wien et al. 2006, p. 229. Retrieved on January 9, 2013.
14. ↑ Diptych. at: bildindex.de , accessed on January 9, 2013.
15. ^ Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel ( Memento from February 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). Accessed on January 9, 2013.
16. ↑ pinakothek.de - Susanna in the bath. (No longer available online.) In: www.pinakothek.de. Archived from the original on October 30, 2015 ; accessed on November 27, 2015 . 
17. ↑ LIST OF THE v. DERSCHAUISCHE Kunstkabinett zu NÜRNBERG…. Schmidmer, Nürnberg 1825, p. 9 ( online ).
18. ↑ LIST OF THE v. DERSCHAUISCHE Kunstkabinett zu NÜRNBERG…. Schmidmer, Nuremberg 1825, p. 83 u. 39 ( online ).
19. ↑ a painting As zur Pilgrimage, today in the Diocesan Museum of Ortisei. Color ill. in the book after p. 25.