High altar of the Freiburg Minster
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The high altar of the minster in Freiburg is a so-called convertible altar , which was painted by Hans Baldung Grien between 1512 and 1516 for the Freiburg minster .
General
According to the patronage of the Cathedral of Our Lady , the theme of the altar is the life of Mary or the history of salvation . On the main panels painted on both sides of this convertible altar, two side wings each hang on the left and right, the front of which are movable and the rear are fixed. When closed, the altar shows four scenes from the life of Mary on panels of the same size. With the wings open you can see the Coronation of Mary on the central panel and the sending of the Holy Spirit to the twelve apostles on the two side wings . On the back of the altar, which is also painted, the crucifixion of Jesus is depicted on the central panel and on each of the two fixed wings two saints, who were of particular importance for the city of Freiburg and the university.
The front side wings of the altar remain open throughout the church year - with the exception of Christmas and Lent . During the Christmas season the altar is closed and you can now see the Annunciation , the Visitation , the birth of Jesus and the flight into Egypt .
The predella on the front of the altar contains a relief with the homage to the Holy Three Kings , which was probably made by the sculptor Hans Wydyz from the Upper Rhine ; it is flanked by heraldic angels in the spandrels of the predella. The painted predella on the reverse shows a depiction of the cathedral caretaker in prayer in front of the Madonna and Child as the cathedral patroness .
The altar, consisting of a total of 11 panels, was commissioned by the minster caretakers responsible for it in 1512 to the "master hans baldung", who was then based in Strasbourg. Because of this major order, Hans Baldung moved his workshop to Freiburg in what was then the barefoot monastery of St. Martin and stayed in Freiburg with his wife until around 1517. The high altar has been in the late Gothic cathedral choir since 1516, the construction of which began in 1354, but which, after a 100-year break, was not completed until 1511 and inaugurated in 1513 with the new altar hall . However, on the occasion of the enthronement of the first Archbishop of Freiburg in 1827 , the altar was moved 2.5 m to the east in order to gain more space for the extended liturgical celebrations in the Freiburg city parish church, which has been elevated to a cathedral . On this occasion the altar block was widened and raised, it was clad with neo-Gothic carvings and the panels of the apostles and Christmas panels were decorated with carved tendrils . In addition, the altar was provided with a neo-Gothic burst several meters high , which was no longer put on after the Second World War. It is not known what the original top of the altar looked like.
The dimensions: front
- Open condition: Coronation of the Virgin Mary. Central panel 253 × 232.4 cm, two side panels each 288.5 × 101.5 cm
- Closed state: Christmas side. 4 panels of the same size, each 288.5 × 106 cm
Back: Crucifixion
- Middle panel 288.5 × 237, 2 side panels each 288.5 × 106 cm
Coronation of the Virgin Mary and Pentecost tablets
Coronation of Mary
The central image of the Freiburg altar shows a coronation of Mary . In a heaven populated by music-making angels, Christ and God the Father sit on the rainbow and crown Mary, who stands between them, with a golden bow-shaped crown. The dove of the Holy Spirit hovers over Mary in a golden aureole . Christ sits at her right hand. His wide red coat is framed by a border adorned with precious stones and held with a gold clasp. Curly brown hair falls on the shoulder, the marks on the chest, hand and feet can be seen. The forehead of his crown is designed as a golden crown of thorns , red gemstones are reminiscent of the blood shed at the coronation. In his right hand he holds a glass sphere in which the image of Mary is reflected. A white-bearded God the Father is enthroned to Mary's left, wrapped in a red cloak lined with yellow sides, which he wears over a wide-sleeved black undergarment lined with ermine fur . On his head he has an inlaid with gold braid Camauro a jeweled crown.
Mary lowered her eyes humbly, her hands clasped in prayer. Over her delicate, pleated white undergarment, she wears a long gold-colored dress that billows in heavy folds on the cloud. A dark blue fur-lined coat rests heavily on her shoulders, held in place by a loosely looped string. Her wavy blonde hair reaches below her hips.
The scene takes place against a moving background: round, putto-like child angels swarm through equally round clouds and can hardly be distinguished from one another in the depths of the sky. They sing, make music, pluck the divine robes and occasionally play jokes, like the putto playing under Mary's cloak.
The Pentecost Tablets
On the two side wings, six apostles clad in white crowd each other in front of a black sky . Not all are identified by their attributes . The first panel is dominated by the impressive figure of the apostle Paul , a bald head with a curly beard. Over a white undergarment, he wears a rich toga that is casually knotted on the shoulder, strapped with a wooden bead string and held together by a circular red robe brooch . He has folded his hands in prayer, the pommel of a sword peeks out from under his left arm, a sign of his martyrdom. He is accompanied by one of the four evangelists among the apostles, identified by a book and the James Minor , the only one dressed in red, but with a white robe and a truly Herculean club as an attribute. Behind James and Paul you can see Thomas with a huge lance. The last two apostles are more or less hidden from the rest. The flames of the Holy Spirit burn above their heads, which are framed by powerful halos. The fire yellow of the Nimben is repeated in tiny strips of light in the sky.
On the opposite panel, the mighty figure of Simon Petrus dominates , a man of great physical strength whose veins swell in his neck and muscular arms. Sun tanned, bald except for a frizzy white fringe of hair, sharp eyes under the bushy brows and with his protruding beard, he looks like a grim rock in the surf. He stands with his legs apart on a rocky ground, an allusion to the painter's word of Jesus You are Peter, on this rock I want to build my church. [Mt 16,18f] He wears a brownish undergarment with a loosely wrapped white cloak, which he holds with a firm grip from slipping down. A huge bowl symbolizes the power of the keys of the apostle. Behind Peter stands another evangelist, who with his plump face, the fashionably cut white-blonde page head and a red silk scarf gives an almost soft impression. This is followed by Philip with the staff of the cross, the evangelist Matthew , on whose halberd the dove of the Holy Spirit flutters as a small flag, symbol of the evangelist's divine inspiration. A black-haired apostle remains almost completely covered while the series is completed by another beardless evangelist. Golden flames flicker on these apostles and a delicate aura of light shines around their heads.
The Christmas tables
The altar remains closed from the 1st of Advent to the 2nd of February, the day of Candlemas , which is still the end of Christmas in some Catholic areas. From left to right there are now four scenes from the life of Mary , namely the Annunciation , the Visitation , the birth of Christ and the flight into Egypt .
Annunciation
The upright table gives a glimpse into Maria's chamber, the vault of which is supported by two mighty columns and which is equipped with only a few pieces of furniture. Maria kneels by a desk on which an open book lies and turns to one side, surprised by the stormy arrival of the angel Gabriel . Gabriel, dressed in green-changing robes, his reddish curly hair churned up by the flight, his wing spread wide to slow down his stormy landing flight, puts his foot on the tiled floor. He carries his scepter in his left hand and has raised his right hand in greeting to proclaim his Ave with the momentous message to Mary .
Three light sources illuminate the scene. While the face and hands of Mary are illuminated from a window outside the picture area and a candle is burning on the table in the background, a powerful ray of light breaks through the pillars, in whose unearthly golden sheen the dove of the Holy Spirit and the figure of light of a newborn baby float, visualization of the Conception by the Holy Spirit.
On the table covered with a white linen blanket with a fringed border, which is set up in front of the heavy red curtains of her bed, there are a translucent glass lid, two bottles, a golden candlestick with a burning candle and a ceramic pot with lilies of the valley. All these objects are charged with mariological - christological significance: the lilies of the valley symbolize Mary's purity, humility and modesty, the vessels for wine and water and the glass pyxis are reminiscent of the sacrament of the altar and the candle of Christ, who is like a burning candle in his life and consumed with his death for the salvation of men.
The Visitation
The second panel shows a scene from the Gospel of Luke , the meeting between Mary and her cousin Elisabeth . The two women meet under a clear, pale blue morning sky in a spring-like, green, mountainous landscape. Their contours completely fill the width of the picture space. They shake hands in greeting. Elisabeth, the older of the two, wears a white bonnet as a married woman. Dressed in a wide, pleated red dress and a red cloak, her bulging body indicates that she is advanced in pregnancy. Maria wears a white robe with a simple round neckline. The heavy blue coat would slip off her shoulders if it weren't for a cord across her chest. She is depicted as a young girl with delicate facial features, and her pregnancy is also unmistakable. Wavy hair falls down to her hips, a delicate veil that is supposed to cover her hair is puffed up by a breeze. At her feet, a group of white rabbits plays, symbolizing spring, the awakening and fertility of nature and indicating the pregnancy of the two women. The strong young tree that grows up behind the two can be interpreted in this context as a New Testament allusion to the tree of life and Christ's death on the cross.
The birth of christ
If the Visitation Table is characterized by its dominant red-white-blue chord, the following birth scene is of an almost monochrome night blue, from which the brightly glowing baby Jesus illuminates the helpful angels and the faces of Mary and Joseph . The baby Jesus, floating on a white cloth held with care and devotion by angels, is the only source of light in the picture. On the almost black sky, only the shimmer of the moon or the poinsettia, in which the dove of the Holy Spirit appears. Maria kneels on the stony floor of the stable, the architecture of which suggests a bit of brickwork, arched openings and various supporting elements. An old bearded Joseph looks out over Maria's shoulder, his eyes closed, his bare skull shines out of the darkness. The ox observes the scene above the crowd of angels. Its huge, shiny horns shine in the light, otherwise the light only hits the soft mouth, the nostrils and a single large dark eye.
Escape to Egypt
The last of the Christmas tablets tells of the flight of Jesus' family to Egypt. The literary source is the Gospel according to Matthew . An angel had appeared to Joseph in a dream who told him to go to Egypt with Mary and the boy Jesus to bring them to safety from Herod's henchmen . It is bright day. Mary is sitting on a donkey. She holds the reins loosely in her right hand, and in her left arm lies the child, wrapped in a sling. It seems as if it wants to wriggle out of its mother's arm. Joseph, dressed entirely in red, with the hood of his short jacket over his head, the walking stick with the water bottle over his shoulder, a rosary dangling from the fingers of his left hand, turns with an intimate look to Maria. Despite the stony and dangerous path that they are walking, he cannot take his eyes off her.
A little putto angel is balancing on the donkey's croup. With one hand he claws into Mary's robe, with the other he pulls down a frond of the date palm , on which three other little angels are doing gymnastics and picking fruit. This picture narration refers to a medieval legend, according to which angels bent down a tall palm tree during a rest to enable Joseph to pick the fruit.
Plants bloom at the foot of the group, a Roman snail and a goldfinch come along the way. A flowering strawberry plant, a clump of plantain and a bush with blue and yellow irises break out of the rugged rock. The goldfinch , which is also represented on the Frankfurt Paradise Garden and on many other images of Mary, is important in Christian iconography because of its preference for thistles (= thorns) as a reference to the passion and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ , just like the irises to pain to remind the mother of her son's death. The strawberry blossom is also a symbol of Mary and refers to the humility and modesty of Mary. The portrayal of a Roman snail in connection with the life of Mary is rather unusual, possibly as well as the observation that goldfinches like to peck the seeds of the plantain, the painter's observation of nature and less due to a comprehensive Christian interpretation of nature.
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Crucifixion of Christ
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The side panels
To the right of the crucifixion scene, the church father Jerome and John the Baptist stand against a black background . Hieronymus is dressed in the red robe of a cardinal and the typical cardinal hat. He pats the lion's mane, his iconographic attribute . The lion has not taken on the realistic shape of one, but rather resembles a heraldic heraldic animal . In the right hand Jerome is holding a long thorn, from which, according to legend, he once freed the lion. Behind him stands a bearded Johannes, dressed entirely in white, with the lamb in his arms.
Hieronymus is the patron saint of scholars and the neighboring University of Freiburg, to which the cathedral church belonged in the 16th century. John the Baptist is one of the most common saints represented on altarpieces, but the Freiburg altar can also be an allusion to the patron saint Hans [Johannes] Griens or to the snow angel chapel opposite, which is consecrated to John the Baptist, and for the Grien as well Painted the altarpiece.
The second side panel shows Saints Lawrence and George . Georg is dressed from head to toe in bare metal, which emphasizes his elegant physique. A lush structure of white furs crowns his helmet. In an almost classic contrapostal , he has built himself up on a graceful dragon, his left arm resting on his hip, from which the sweeping sword is hung. In his right hand he is holding his usual attribute, a white flag with a red cross. This dragon, like its counterpart, the Hieronymus lion, has the shape and aura of a heraldic animal. Laurentius is depicted as a young deacon with a tonsure . He wears a red chasuble with a wide gold border over a white undergarment that billows on a heavy iron grate and holds an open book in his hand. The robe and book are signs of his function as deacon , the rust is a sign and reminder of his martyrdom under Emperor Diocletian.
Georg's attribute, the white flag with a red cross, is also the flag and coat of arms color of the city of Freiburg, of which he is the patron saint of the city . Laurentius is one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages because of his versatility as a helper in all kinds of distress and especially in fire. Perhaps it got its exposed place here at the main altar because of the latent danger of fire in medieval cities.
The predella
The front of the predella is a relief from the workshop of the carver Hans Wydz, with whom Baldung often worked during his time in Freiburg. In a dilapidated stable, whose rotted roof slats reveal a view of the sky, the Jesus boy accepts a king's gifts, while Joseph modestly looks on in a side gate. To the right and left of the stable, the other two kings approach with their gifts and a rich retinue. The formation of the terrain and the vegetation are symbolically indicated, on the height of a mountain lies the Jerusalem crowned by towers . The landscape and architecture are painted in dark blue and pale purple tones, from which the golden robes of the people stand out all the more radiant. The pale gold sky with its ornamented structure is reminiscent of the gold background of medieval pictures.
The back of the predella shows the half-length portraits of the three minster caretakers and the treasurer, who are lined up praying in front of the Madonna, against a clear yellow sky. The Madonna with the baby Jesus appears in front of a golden sky, which is framed by a wreath of clouds. With her left hand the Madonna supports a shiny globe with which the baby Jesus is playing. The boy's right hand reaches for his mother's white head veil, which peeks out from under her broad, brown cloak, which also covers her head. Contrary to what the convention of depicting the Madonna demands, she wears an almost black robe under a brown cloak.
The four men, dressed in heavy dark coats and trimmed with precious fur , are, as the inscription says:
- SEBASTIANO DE - BLUMENEGG - PATRICIO - EGIDO - HAS - UDALRICO WIRTNER PLEBEIS MAGISTRATIBUS - NICOLAO SCHERER - EDIS - SACRE - THESAURARIIS H
- HOC OPUS FACTUM AN SAL MD-XVI
The treasurer, Nikolaus Scherer, differs from the other men in his white, sleeveless robe. The heavenly clouds, from which two putti peek out, continue in the right gusset of the predella, while the tablet with the painter's signature is hung in the left gusset.
Signatures
Hans Baldung signed his altarpiece in two different places. In the crucifixion scene, a boy dressed in green with a pageboy's hairstyle, who has jostled between two of the torturers and is looking at the scene with his mouth open, holds a small wooden tablet with the painter's signature: HBg.
A detailed inscription appears in the right gusset of the predella. In the manner of a trompe-l'œil , a framed wooden tablet appears in front of a cloudy sky that has just been torn open, which still seems overshadowed by a dark cloud. The inscription says: JOANNES BALDVNG - COG GRIEN GAMVNDIANVS - DEO ET VIRTVTE AVSPICIBVS - FACIEBAT. Hans Baldung adopts Dürer's signature in detail in his Madrid Adam and Eve .
After all, the painter himself is present in the picture. As a young beardless man with a red beret, he looks out from behind the thief's cross. He is the only person in the populated scene who looks directly at the viewer.
The fasting cloth
During Lent the altar of a ten by twelve-foot cloth, called Lenten veil veiled. The Freiburg cloth, made in 1612, which is considered to be the largest surviving artifact of this type, consists of a canvas that is painted with oil paint. It is attached to the choir with ropes and covers almost the entire choir of the minster. Since its restoration in 2003, the cloth, which weighs more than a ton, has been hung up every year at the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday until the middle of Holy Week , Maundy Thursday . The theme of the cloth is the passion of Christ. The central picture of the crucifixion of Christ is framed by a picture frieze with a total of 25 pictures that tell the story of Christ's passion.
literature
- Markus Aronica (ed.): Divinely crowned. A spiritual introduction to the panels of the high altar . Freiburg 2007.
- Fritz Baumgarten: The Freiburg high altar: Appreciated in terms of art history . Strasbourg 1904.
- Sebastian Bock: HOC OPVS FACTVM - Hans Baldung Grien and the high altar of the Freiburg Minster . In: Münsterblatt 2016 (No. 23) pp. 19–27.
- Freiburg Minster Building Association (ed.): The Freiburg Minster . Regensburg 2 2011, p. 243 ff.
- Holger Jacob-Friesen (ed.): Hans Baldung Grien - holy | unholy . Exhibition catalog Karlsruhe 2019, Deutscher Kunstverlag Berlin 2019.
- Sabine Söll-Tauchert: Hans Baldung Grien (1484 / 85-1545) - self-portrait and self-staging . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna and Cologne 2010, pp. 167–233; 279-292.
- City of Freiburg im Breisgau / Saskia Durian-Rees (ed.): Hans Baldung Grien , catalog of the exhibition in the Augustinermuseum October 19, 2001 to January 15, 2002, Freiburg 2001.
Web links
- Heike Mittmann: The Minster of Our Lady in Freiburg. The high altar.
- Carl Koch: Baldung Grien, Hans. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) Vol. 1, Berlin 1953, pp. 554–558.
- Helmut Perseke: Hans Baldung's work in Freiburg (research on the history of art on the Upper Rhine 3/4). Freiburg 1941.
Remarks
- ↑ Holger Jacob-Friesen (ed.): Hans Baldung Grien - holy | unholy . Exhibition catalog Karlsruhe 2019, Deutscher Kunstverlag Berlin 2019, pp. 173–177
- ^ Sebastian Bock: HOC OPVS FACTVM - Hans Baldung Grien and the high altar of the Freiburg Minster . In: Münsterblatt 2016 (No. 23) pp. 19–27
- ^ Sebastian Bock: Representation and lack of space - equipment and inventory of the Freiburg cathedral choir in the early 16th century. In: Münsterblatt 2013 (No. 20) p. 26ff.
- ↑ Luke 1, 39 ff.
- ↑ Divinely crowned. Freiburg 2006, p. 50.
- ↑ This work made in the year of salvation, 1516
- ↑ German: "Johannes Baldung, called Grien der Gemündener, did it under the auspices of God and through ability."
- ^ Hermann Ritter / Hans-Walter Nörtersheuser: Passion in white. The Freiburg Lent Cloth - a spiritual introduction . Promo Verlag Freiburg, 2006
Coordinates: 47 ° 59 ′ 43.8 " N , 7 ° 51 ′ 11.8" E