Bassenheim rider
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The Bassenheimer Reiter is an early Gothic sandstone - relief of St. Martin in the parish church of Bassenheim in Koblenz , the so-called Naumburg Master is attributed and is one of the most famous Martin representations of German art history.
The relief, a little more than a meter square, consists of whitish-gray sandstone, which is covered with a reddish glaze. It shows the saint and the beggar in the classic representation: Sitting on the horse, St. Martin turns to the beggar standing behind him, dressed in rags. The latter reaches for the cloak, which the rider cuts with his sword. The picture emerges from an approximately 13 cm deep box with sloping sides made of two stones. The rider's head, the beggar's left elbow, and the horse's forehead and mouth protrude beyond the frame of the box.
The work of art installed today above the left side altar of the Bassenheim church was originally created around 1240 for the west lettner of the Mainz cathedral consecrated to St. Martin . When this choir screen was torn down in 1683, the Mainz canon Casimir Waldbott von Bassenheim brought the relief to the parish church of the ancestral home of his family. Until this church was demolished in 1898, the Martinus relief was on the outside of a side wall. In connection with the new building, Provincial Curator Paul Clemen called for “the medieval relief image of St. Martinus in a suitable place inside the new church building in consideration of its high artistic value. "
In 1935, the art historian Hermann Schnitzler succeeded in assigning the equestrian portrait to the Naumburg master. At that time, a yellowish oil painting from 1900 was removed so that the reddish color, probably from the Baroque period, became visible.
As the Martinus Museum, the Bassenheimer Heimatmuseum is dedicated to the history of St. Martin and the Bassenheimer Reiter.
literature
- Hermann Schnitzler : An unknown equestrian relief from the circle of the Naumburg master . In: Journal of the German Association for Art Research 2, 1935, pp. 398–423.
- Hans Erich Kubach , Fritz Michel , Hermann Schnitzler: The art monuments of the district of Koblenz. (= Die Kunstdenkmäler der Rheinprovinz Vol. 16, 3) L. Schwan, Düsseldorf 1944 (Reprint 1981, ISBN 3-590-32142-3 ), p.
