Babenhausen Altar

High altar

The Babenhausen Altar is a late medieval carved winged altar in what is now the Protestant town church of St. Nikolaus von Babenhausen (Hesse) . It is one of the most important Central Rhine works of art of its time and is the rare example of a surviving reliquary altar .

history

According to tradition, the altar was donated by Margravine Sibylle von Baden- Sponheim (1485–1518), the wife of Count Philip III. von Hanau-Lichtenberg, who resided as hereditary count in Babenhausen. Both are buried in the church. After Sibylle had only given birth to daughters until 1513, she is said to have vowed to donate an altar in the event of the birth of a son. The case then occurred with the birth of the heir, Philip IV , in 1514. Stylistically, the altar is also classified in the second decade of the 16th century. There is no documentary evidence for this foundation event. However, a part of the picture program also indicates that this was actually the occasion: Saint Felicitas is invoked for the birth of sons, Saint Margaretha for a complication-free birth.

The name of the master of the Babenhausen Altar is unknown. Matthias Grünewald , Hans Backoffen and Tilman Riemenschneider were considered. The altar contains stylistic references to these artists, but does not come from their workshops.

With this foundation, Sibylle set a monument to herself and her family at the same time. Bernhard II of Baden, who was famous for his pious lifestyle and who was beatified in 1769 , was a brother of her grandfather. This is probably the reason why the altar was preserved, because all other altars from the town church of Babenhausen were removed during the Reformation. This altar was probably left in the church by Count Philip IV, the son of Sibylla, under whom the Reformation was carried out in Babenhausen, out of piety towards his mother. Later it was dismantled and stored in the tower of the church, which meant that it survived the next 300 years without damage. It was not restored until 1861 and then initially placed on the left in front of the choir, from 1907 on the south side of the right aisle and from 1940 on again in its old and current location.

description

The altar is carved from linden wood and consists of two parts, a predella and a reredos , a total of about 4 meters high. Both are carved from wood that was given a brown, but translucent protective coating, so that the grain of the wood could still be seen. Otherwise, color was only used in very few places, for example to highlight the eyes or mouth of the figures and coats of arms .

The retable is designed as a triptych and shows representations in two lines. The top line takes up about 80% of the height of the reredos, so the bottom line is much smaller. In the upper line, the middle section is occupied by three fully plastic figures, in the middle a pope , on the right and left a figure each in the regalia of a bishop . These figures in the middle section are partially hollowed out - to accommodate relics . The two wings show two male figures on the inside on the left and two female figures on the right in the upper row. The lower row occupies four arm reliquaries in the middle section , which are flanked by two busts of female saints. The wings show in this lower line two male and two female saints.

The predella takes up the width of the central part of the triptych. Here in the middle - fully sculpted - an adoration of the kings is shown, which is flanked by two bas-reliefs: on the left a scene of the Annunciation , on the right an Anna Selbdritt .

The interpretation of the people portrayed is partly controversial because only a few clear attributes lead. According to the most recent evaluation of all facts, the following are shown (from left to right):

• top line :
  • Blessed Bernhard II of Baden - identified by the flag with his coat of arms.
  • Apostle Philipus with the attributes of the staff cross and his youthful appearance.
  • Saint Boniface . The traditional assignment as Saint Nicholas is not applicable, as the saint carries a palm branch and must therefore be a martyr .
  • Pope Gregory the Great
  • Saint Valentine - at his feet a man suffering from epilepsy .
  • Saint Catherine of Alexandria - identified by her attributes, broken wheel and sword.
  • Saint Helena - identified by her attribute, the Holy Cross .

• bottom line :
  • Saint Sebastian - as an attribute: two arrows; round reliquary container in the chest area.
  • Protomartyr Saint Stephen - as an attribute there are some stones in the crook of his arm; round reliquary container in the chest area.
  • Saint Felicitas - identified by inscription. The bust comes from another workshop and was used here.
  • Four arm reliquaries of unknown saints.
  • Unknown saints - generally assigned to Saint Lucia in literature . But there is no evidence or evidence for this. The bust comes from another workshop and was used here.
  • Anna Selbtritt ( Anna , Maria , Jesus ); round reliquary container in the chest area.
  • Saint Margaret of Antioch with the dragon as an attribute; round reliquary container in the chest area.

literature

• Magnus Backes, Georg Dehio: Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler - Hessen , Munich 1982, p. 36, ISBN 978-3-422-00380-4 .
• Wilhelm Franck: The altar shrine and some antiquities in the church in Babenhausen. In: Archive for Hessian History 9, Issue 1 (1859), pp. 15–29.
• Christine Hartung: The late Gothic retable . In: Evangelical town church Babenhausen. The redevelopment 2001-2006 = workbooks of the State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse 24. Wiesbaden 2014, pp. 137–157. ISBN 978-3-8062-2957-8
• Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (Hrsg.): Old art on the Middle Rhine = exhibition catalog. Darmstadt 1927, p. 50.
• Fritz Hoeber: The Babenhausen carved altar . In: Frankfurter Zeitung and Handelsblatt, Morgenblatt 187 v. July 8, 1907, p. 1, col. 2.
• Karin Lötzsch: A margrave of Baden between saints - the blessed Bernhard on the altar shrine in Babenhausen . In: Babenhäuser Mosaik = Babenhausen then and now 20. Babenhausen 1990. pp. 35–47.
• Rudolf Schnellbach: A Contribution to the Master of the Babenhausen Altar . In: Oberrheinische Kunst 4 (1929/1930), pp. 40–44.
• Oskar Schürer: Comments on the Babenhausen Altar . In: Aschaffenburger yearbook for history, regional studies and art of the Untermaing area 1 (1952), pp. 124-139.
• Bodo von der Au: The master of the Babenhausen altar . In: Aschaffenburger Jahrbuch 3 (1956), pp. 227-233.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hartung, p. 154.
2. ↑ Hartung, p. 145.
3. ↑ Hartung, p. 153.
4. ↑ Hartung, p. 153.
5. ↑ Hartung.
6. ↑ Hartung, p. 145.
7. ↑ Hartung, pp. 142f, 145.
8. ↑ Hartung, pp. 142f.
9. ↑ Hartung, p. 144.
10. ↑ Hartung, p. 144.
11. ↑ Hartung, p. 143.
12. ↑ Hartung, pp. 143f.