Herrenberger Altar

Original of the Herrenberg Altar in the State Gallery in Stuttgart

The Herrenberg Altar is a (fragmented) altarpiece that was created between 1518 and 1521 on behalf of the Brothers of Living Together as a high altar for the collegiate church in Herrenberg . Today it is owned by the State Gallery in Stuttgart .

History of the altar

Copy of the altarpiece in the collegiate church in Herrenberg - closed

The altar is dated 1519. The eight panel paintings were made by the painter Jerg Ratgeb (around 1480–1526) who was executed during the Peasants' War . The carved shrine, the front of the predella and the blasting have been lost .

The idiosyncratic and expressive painting style of Ratgeb was little appreciated for a long time. Only recently has it been properly appreciated. The altar was only seen for a relatively short time in Herrenberg. After the Reformation was introduced in the city in 1534 , the first Lutheran pastor in Herrenberg had it dismantled in 1537. In 1548, at the time of the interim , Spanish troops had the altar rebuilt. After 1552 it was simply hung up for a few centuries.

In 1891 the city council then sold the altar to the “State Collection of Patriotic Antiquities” in Stuttgart "with consideration for the sometimes unsightly pictures". The preserved parts have been in the State Gallery in Stuttgart since 1924 . A copy can be viewed in the collegiate church in Herrenberg.

The Herrenberger Altar is a convertible altar , the front side of which can be changed through a first opening of the two outer wings (A) left (left) and right (right) and a second opening of two inner wings (I). The four wings that have been preserved are panels of the same format, painted on both sides (a, b) and thus present eight panel paintings.

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  Last Supper , left outer left at first opening (panel A re b)

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  Flagellation of Christ , inside left at first opening (panel I left a)

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  Resurrection of Christ , at the first opening on the right outside (panel A re b)

description

Four panels painted on both sides, the raised corners and the three-part back of the predella have been preserved from the double convertible altar . The frames are decorated with ornaments and quotations from the Old and New Testaments. On the eight large panels, 24 scenes from the Passion story , the Life of Mary and the Acts of the Apostles are depicted simultaneously .

The representations in detail:

Closed state (on normal Sundays)

• Panel A left (a) and panel A right (a) show a composite image: Farewell of the Apostles

First opening (in passion time ) at

• Plate A li (b): Last Supper / Gethsemane / Capture
• Panel I left (a): Crowning of thorns / Flagellation of Christ / Jesus before the people / Jesus before Pilate
• Panel I right (a): Carrying the Cross / The Women in Front of the Cross / Entombment
• Panel A re (b): Resurrection / The three women go to the grave / Jesus and Mary Magdalene

Second opening (at high festivals)

• Panel I left (b): Engagement of Maria / Golden Gate / Maria and Elisabeth
• Not preserved: Shrine with carved figures (probably Maria in the mandorla )
• Panel I re (b): Circumcision / offering in the temple / flight into Egypt

Predella pictures

• Veil of Veronica and two angels

Web links

Commons : Herrenberger Altar  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Staatsgalerie Stuttgart online catalog .
• Kirsten Serup-Bilfeldt: Representations of the Last Supper in times of the Reformation - Jesus in the pub. In: Deutschlandfunk broadcast “From Religion and Society”. April 10, 2019 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Manfred Ebener: Jerg Ratgeb and the Herrenberger Altar. In: Lexicon History Baden + Württemberg. December 27, 2017, accessed April 10, 2019 .