Altar of the city patron

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Altar of the city patron ( Stefan Lochner )

The altar of the city patron (formerly also Dreikönigsaltar or Cologne Cathedral picture ) is a triptych by Stefan Lochner . This originally stood in the council chapel and was transferred to Cologne Cathedral in 1810. The altar has been the center of the Marienkapelle in Cologne Cathedral since 1948 . The winged altar is considered the most important work of the late Gothic Cologne School of Painting .

history

Christmas stamp 2017: Cardinal Woelki in the Lady Chapel

In the council chapel of St. Mary in Jerusalem , consecrated in 1426, the councilors regularly celebrated mass before their meetings. Therefore they commissioned Stefan Lochner to create a triptych for this chapel, which represented the patron saint of the city, the city ​​patrons . In 1501, precious red and white damask curtains were purchased for the side wings . The work must have been known to contemporaries as an outstanding work of art. Albrecht Dürer had the altar opened for two white pfennigs on a trip to the Netherlands in 1520 so that he could look at the painting. Only because of his diary note that he could see a picture of Maister Steffan von Cöln , the work was assigned to the artist Stefan Lochner in 1823. In 1568 the triptych was re-gilded by Arnt Bruyn .

The altar was hidden from the French revolutionary troops in 1794. Since the chapel was secularized during the years of French occupation, the altar was in 1810 at the behest of the Cologne scholar and art collector Ferdinand Franz Wallraf in Cologne Cathedral transferred. During this time, another restoration was carried out by Maximilian Heinrich Fuchs and the gilder Christian Waltzer. In the 19th century - during the neo-Gothic era - the cathedral image experienced a surge in popularity and was copied several times, including by Benedikt Beckenkamp .

During the Second World War, the altar was relocated to protect against war damage and was personally accompanied by Hanna Adenauer , who later became the city curator. Since 1948 the altar has been the center of the Marienkapelle in the cathedral, which was redesigned after the World War.

A motif from the altarpiece was used to design the Christmas stamp in 2017. The stamp designed by Heribert Birnbach shows Mary as Queen of Heaven and the adoration of the Magi. The special stamp with the title “Waiting for the Holy Three Kings” was presented by Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier and Archbishop Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki in the Marienkapelle in front of the altar of the city patron.

Artist

As usual in the Middle Ages, the work of art is not signed. Since 1823, based on a diary entry by Albrecht Dürer, Stefan Lochner has been assumed to be the author . On his trip to the Netherlands in November 1520, Dürer had visited Cologne for around two weeks and had a selected work of art shown to him on the first few days: “I have 3 white pfenning, item have 2 white pfenning given by the taffel open, the master Steffan closed Cöln made. " This master Steffan was identified with the apparently prominent painter Stefan Lochner, known from Cologne documents. The assignment is considered plausible, but has a hypothetical character.

Some art historians have speculated that the picture also contains a self-portrait by Stefan Lochner. The man with the green cap behind Gereon shows physiognomic and distinctly individual facial features that other figures lack. Iconographic details indicated that “a self-portrayal of the painter is particularly plausible”.

Dating

The construction of the altar has been dated between 1440 and 1442 since the mid-19th century. This was first suggested by Johann Jakob Merlo , who in 1852 identified the master Steffan mentioned by Dürer with the historically verifiable Stefan Lochner. In those years Lochner bought houses that he could only afford after completing the altar. Michael Wolfson, who considers this argument to be “hardly convincing”, dates the cathedral image to around 1435. The council chapel was inaugurated as early as 1426; of stylish critical perspective, the Dom picture was but only after the completion of the of Jan van Eyck created altar Ghent emerged.

Motif

The altar of the city patron is considered to be Lochner's main work. The triptych is 260 cm high. The middle part is 285 cm wide, each side wing measures 142 cm. The weekday page shows the angel's announcement to Mary. The inner holiday page presents the most important saints of the city of Cologne in a gilded frame, which is decorated on the upper edge with carved tracery. The central motif is Mary as Queen of Heaven and the adoration of Jesus by the Magi . On the left wing is St. Ursula with 11 of her supposedly 11,000 virgins. On the right wing, Saint Gereon is depicted in front of a crowd of his followers from the Thebaic Legion .

  • Left wing with St. Ursula

  • Middle panel with the three wise men

  • Right wing with Saint Gereon

  • Weekday page: Annunciation

The weekday side of the altar allows the viewer a look into a seemingly uniform space, although the picture is spread over two framed surfaces. The frames look like a window, behind which there is a room with a gold-patterned curtain, with a ceiling and floor with a shortened perspective as a naturalistic space for action. There a realistically painted angel announces a greeting from the movement of an apparently startled, delicately painted Maria. Only the attributes of the graceful figures - halo and angel wings - remove the temporality of a scene with two young women.

The holiday page shows the patrons of the city of Cologne on a gold background : the Three Wise Men , Saint Ursula and Saint Gereon . The citizens of Cologne were able to pay homage to the Mother of God at the altar, at whose court they are represented by the patron.

Stefan Lochner arranged the cartridge in a strictly axially symmetrical structure to which he sacrificed all traditional pictorial inventions. The central point of the picture is Mary enthroned, whose crown identifies her as the Queen of Heaven, with the boy Jesus on her lap. A king is assigned to her on the right and left in homage. These three figures form a central triangular composition. The third king, on the other hand, has moved inconspicuously into the background; its silhouette is mirrored symmetrically on the opposite side of the Marian throne by an undifferentiated follower. Lochner renounces all traditional pictorial elements - such as stable, donkey, ox or Josef - and instead presents the Queen of Heaven in front of a curtain embroidered with birds, which is held by two little angels. The followers of the kings are crowded to the right and left of the throne. The cartridge on the outer wings - Ursula on the left and Georg on the right - also seem to be present at Maria's waiting room. They are shown in opposite ways in their habit: on the Ursula wing, the delicately designed flesh tones and the voluminous robes stand out. On the Gereon grand piano, the bare and three-dimensional metal of the armor is impressive. In their arrangement, however, the saints and the very tightly packed entourage behind them are subordinate to the overall symmetrical structure of the picture. Only the baby Jesus on Mary's lap is slightly shifted to the left from the axis of syemmtria; it raises its hand in a gesture of blessing to the eldest king.

The painter shows his masterly skills in the design of the clothes. The old king wears a robe made of red and gold brocade and the middle-aged king wears a fur-trimmed cloak made of green brocade; for Maria Lochner has found a simpler, but Hermelin-lined coat. The material illusion of the garment is considered to be outstanding. Equally amazing is the verism of the royal gifts presented: a two-tier silver goblet, a red jasper goblet and a small reliquary .

Lochner depicted a very large number of iconographic symbols in his pictures, all of which he knew how to subordinate the overriding motif unobtrusively. The flags of the Three Kings on the painting symbolize the three continents known in the Middle Ages: Europe, Asia and Africa. The three kings are deliberately represented at different ages, as they are supposed to represent the three ages at the same time. Maria's blue cloak is held in place by a gold brooch, in whose pearl trimmings Lochner shows a young woman with a unicorn . According to the iconography, this animal was considered a sign of virginity. All three picture panels are connected by a continuous green lawn. In it, 40 medicinal and useful plants with their flowers and fruits are so faithfully reproduced botanically that 33 of them could be identified. Almost all of the plants are plague , which in the Middle Ages were thought to have defenses against the plague. These include, for example, the butcher's broom , which kept mice and rats away with its stinging leaves. The Carthusian carnation drove away vermin with its scent and therefore defenses against demons were attributed to it. The ribwort actually has a medically effective antibiotic effect. Prominently placed just below the Mother of God is the mandrake . It was one of the most important Christian symbolic plants. Symbolizing the spreading itself far end branch Christianity was the bindweed . The creeping Günsel , the common carnation and the common liverwort could also be detected in the painting . Lochner was the only animal to paint a stag beetle between the plants , which was considered an apotropaion , a magical object to protect against evil forces.

Signatures

In order to better understand how Stefan Lochner's workshop developed the composition of images on the altar, the signatures were examined using infrared spectography in 2012 . With this method, the preliminary drawings made with brushes, quills and black drawing liquid, which are hidden under the paint, could be made visible. When analyzing the manuscripts it became clear that at least four draftsmen made these sketches. One of them could be identified as Stefan Lochner himself, whose typical handwriting was recognizable on the inside of the left wing and partly on the center panel. Lochner therefore ran a larger painting workshop in which at least three experienced journeymen worked alongside him. All preliminary drawings have such a high degree of maturity that further preparatory work outside the factory must be accepted. These were transferred to the boards freehand because no auxiliary lines could be identified. Presumably, the client has assessed the work on the basis of the preliminary drawings and also recommended changes. For example, the sketches suggest that the artist originally intended a greater contrast between the charm of the Ursula companions on the one hand and the armed forces of the Thebaic Legion on the other.

See also

Portal: Cologne Cathedral  - What Wikipedia knows about the cathedral

literature

  • Manfred Baldus: Legal historical notes on Stefan Lochner's altar of the city patron , in: Kölner Domblatt 75, 2010, p. 202ff
  • Helma Baudin: Ecclesiastical and secular aspects in Stefan Lochner's altar of the Cologne city patron, in: Frank Günter Zehnder: Stefan Lochner, Master of Cologne. Origin - Works - Effect , catalog for the exhibition in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne 1993, pp. 215–220
  • Elisabeth Margarete Comes: A Garden of Eden. The plants on Stefan Lochner's altar of the city patron , Nicolai Verlag , Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-89479-714-0 .
  • Christian Hornig: www.welt.de: The man behind Gereon , Die Welt from January 25, 2010.
  • Caterina Limentani Virdis, Mari Pietrogiovanna: winged altars ; Hirmer Verlag , Munich 2002, ISBN 3-7774-9520-4 .
  • Iris Schaefer, Caroline von Saint-Georges: News about the signing of the altar of the city patron in Cologne Cathedral , in: Kölner Domblatt 2014, pp. 121–181, Kölner Domblatt
  • Wolfgang Schmid: Stefan Lochner's “Altar der Stadtpatrone”, on the history of a communal monument in holy Cologne , in: Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch Vol. 58, Prof. Dr. Dedicated to Hans Ost on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday, 1997, pp. 257–284
  • Frank Günter Zehnder: Stefan Lochner, Master of Cologne. Origin - works - effect , catalog for the exhibition in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne 1993

Web links

Commons : Altar of the Cologne city patron  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Koelner-dom.de: Altar of the city patron
  2. ^ Arnold Wolff: The Cologne Cathedral, edited and supplemented by Barbara Schock-Werner, Cologne 2015, p. 43f
  3. ^ Frank Günter Zehnder: Stefan Locher, Master of Cologne, Origin - Works - Effect , Cologne 1993, p. 324
  4. ↑ Hanna Adenauer: cheerful and contemplative things from serious times. In: Festschrift for Franz Graf Wolff Metternich. Rhenish Association for Monument Preservation and Landscape Protection (ed.), Yearbook 1974. pp. 45–49.
  5. ↑ https://www.erzbistum-koeln.de/news/Weihnachtsbriefmarke-2017-verkuendet-Botschft-der-Hl.-Drei-Koenige/
  6. ↑ Albrecht Dürer: Written Estate, ed. by H. Rupprich, Vol. 1, Berlin 1956, p. 160
  7. ↑ On the doubts see Michael Wolfson: Before Stefan Lochner? About the painter of the Cologne cathedral picture and the master of the Heisterbacher altar, in: Frank Günter Zehnder: Stefan Lochner - Meister zu Köln. Origin - works - effect , catalog for the exhibition in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne 1993, p. 97. On the prevailing plausibility: rheinische-geschichte.lvr.de: Stefan Lochner
  8. ↑ Christian Hornig: www.welt.de: The man behind Gereon , Die Welt from January 25, 2010.
  9. ^ Johann Jakob Merlo: Cologne artists in old and new times, Düsseldorf 1895, p. 831
  10. ↑ Michael Wolfson: Before “Stefan Lochner”? About the painter of the Cologne cathedral picture and the master of the Heisterberg Altar, in: Frank Günter Zehnder: Stefan Lochner, Master of Cologne, Origin - Works - Effect, Cologne 1993, p. 102
  11. ↑ koelner-dom.de: Altar of the city patron closed
  12. ↑ Udo Mainzer: Small illustrated art history of the city of Cologne, Cologne 2015, p. 80f
  13. ^ Frank Günter Zehnder: Stefan Locher, Master of Cologne, Origin - Works - Effect , Cologne 1993, p. 324
  14. ^ Frank Günter Zehnder: Stefan Locher, Master of Cologne, Origin - Works - Effect , Cologne 1993, p. 324
  15. ^ Koelner-dom.de: Altar of the city patron
  16. ↑ www1.wdr.de: dreisechzig-koelner-dom
  17. ↑ deutschlandfunkkultur.de: A symbolic meadow of flowers
  18. ↑ altar-der-stadtpatrone.de: The signing of the altar of the city patrons in the High Cathedral of Cologne