Landau altar
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| Landau altar |
|---|
| Albrecht Dürer , 1511 |
| Oil on poplar wood |
| 135 x 123.4 cm |
| Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna |
The Landau Altar (also known as the Trinity or All Saints' picture) is one of the few altar pictures by Albrecht Dürer .
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history
The founder and client was the Nuremberg businessman Matthäus Landauer , who commissioned the painting for the new building of the Landau Chapel of the Twelve Brothers House , an old people's home for twelve innocently distressed craftsmen. According to the house rules, the inmates had to pray daily for the salvation of the benefactor's soul in return for free food, lodging and clothing, otherwise meals were threatened. Landauer himself was one of the first residents of the House of Twelve Brothers.
A drawing from 1508 shows that the portal-like frame was already part of the concept. The color of the carved frame was probably matched exactly to the picture and was executed by Veit Stoss. Dürer designed the frame in the Renaissance style with fully plastic columns that support a round arched gable.
In this work, Dürer incorporated portraits, self-portraits, religious figures, depictions of landscapes and plants, and took up suggestions from Italian altar art.
The All Saints or Landau Chapel is the earliest example of Dürer's activity as an interior decorator. The chapel's pictorial program included the All Saints' Altar, its carved frame and glass windows.
The original picture was sold to Emperor Rudolf II in 1585 and is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna . The frame designed by Dürer remained in Nuremberg and is now in the Germanic National Museum . A modern copy of the frame is shown in Vienna.
description
painting
Thematically, the Landau Altar refers to the Holy Trinity , to which the chapel was consecrated. The painting is mostly seen as a vision of the God state (Latin Civitas Dei) after the Last Judgment, according to the description of the church father Augustine .
Dürer was commissioned to paint an altarpiece for the chapel consecrated to All Saints, which was to show the adoration of the Holy Trinity by the communion of the saints with all Christians ( All Saints picture ). The trinity is in the center of the picture: God the Father is enthroned on the clouds and holds the crucified Christ . The Holy Spirit hovers above it in the shape of a dove.
The trinity itself is surrounded by groups of worshipers: the bottom row shows on the left a spiritual half with pope, cardinal, monk and nun, and on the right a secular half with emperor, king, prince, knight, citizen and peasant. The founder, Matthäus Landauer, stands in a fur-trimmed coat between the cardinal and the mendicant. The knight in golden armor is his son-in-law Wilhelm Haller .
Dürer has depicted himself on the lower right with an antique plaque. On the plate is the Latin inscription: Albertus Durer Noricus faciebat anno a Virginis partu 1511. (German: Albrecht Dürer from Nuremberg created it in 1511 after the virgin birth. ).
The art historian Johann Konrad Eberlein states in his Dürer biography:
The appearance of the artist in the form of an earthly witness of the event contributes to the objectification of the complex visionary content of the works.
frame
The frame corresponds to the Italian model of the aedicular frame (aedicula = little temple), which was created in the Renaissance as a reproduction of ancient architecture. The subject of the frame is the Last Judgment . In the pediment, Christ can be seen as judge of the world. At his side are Mary and John as advocates of humanity. Little angel trumpets blow on both sides for the Last Judgment .
In the frieze, the procession of the redeemed is shown on the left, who are led to the sun by angels, while on the right the damned are driven to hell by devils. In the middle is a fight for the soul of someone who is lying on the ground.
An inscription is attached to the lower part of the frame, which is accompanied by two Landau family coats of arms. Albrecht Dürer had the design carried out by the late Gothic carver Veit Stoss (Conzen, picture frame. Style-Use-Material, Munich 1983)
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.khm.at/objektdb/detail/615/
- ↑ Eberlein: " Albrecht Dürer "
literature
- Johann Konrad Eberlein : Albrecht Dürer . Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek 2003, ISBN 3-499-50598-3
