Lukas Moser

Lukas Moser , also Lucas Moser (* around 1390 , † after 1434 ) was a German painter . His main work is the shrine of the Magdalen Altar from 1432 in the parish church of St. Maria Magdalena in Tiefenbronn .

Magdalene Altar in Tiefenbronn

Magdalene Altar in Tiefenbronn

The shrine of the Magdalen altar in the parish church of St. Maria Magdalena in Tiefenbronn is considered to be Moser's main work. The altar is dated to the year 1432 with an inscription and shows LVCAS MOSER MALER VON WIL as a foreman . The altar wings are by the hand of the original artist, the figure in the shrine is a later ingredient. Apart from this altar there are no other works signed by Moser, so that it is the only known work by the artist. All other works attributed to Moser by researchers are consequently questionable.

According to the information on the inscription, Moser came from Weil der Stadt near Stuttgart. In the older Swabian painting, however, there is nothing comparable to his art. Rather, it is the French book illumination by the Limburg brothers and the old Dutch painting by the master of Flémalle , to which Lukas Moser owes his inspiration, making him one of the most progressive German painters of his time. Other Upper Rhine painters of his time who were based on similar models are Stefan Lochner and Konrad Witz , although apart from their common coining, there seems to have been no further interactions among the named. Moser's appearance in Swabia and its aftermath remain a mystery. An identification with a master named "Lukas", which can be proven in Ulm sources, is questioned today.

Lukas Moser - a phantom?

In 1969 Gerhard Piccard claimed that the inscription with the painter's name Lukas Moser was an invention and that "Lukas Moser" was an artificial figure. Piccard said that the inscription was typographically from the time the work was created and that it could have been created in the late 18th century at the earliest. In the early 19th century, people in Tiefenbronn were bothered by the forms of the unclothed Maria in a hair dress and wanted to have her painted over. To prevent this, the accusing inscription against the contempt for art was attached. By Gerhard Piccard, the altar is from Hirsauer Abbey in Magdalene pilgrimage Vezelay in France bought altarpiece that allowed the new owners a Magdalene pilgrimage and opened so that more revenue through the very profitable in the 15th century for the Church deal with the drain. It is therefore a French painting that Piccard dated to around 1380.

With regard to the content of the inscription, he argued as follows: In the Middle Ages, painters were craftsmen organized in guilds or later in guilds , who only carried out a painting after an order was placed. The client ordered a work with precisely defined content from the master and had an influence on its execution, since he was responsible for all costs incurred and paid for the work of the master responsible for the paintings with his workshop. The painter would therefore have had no reason for this inscription, but if he had allowed himself this statement anyway - and even the painter Jerg Ratgeb , who was later involved in the turmoil of the Peasant War, did not make a similar statement - that would be over for him understandable reasons have become very uncomfortable. In the 19th century, the painters' guilds or guilds had long since been abolished and the painter, who was now known as an artist, often had to struggle with existential problems because one did not always understand the art he had invented and which was mostly created without commission wanted to buy. In the 19th century and up to the present day one could and still can relate this inscription because the painter's profession and the overall economic and social conditions have changed since the late Middle Ages. The date of origin of the inscription may not be fully clarified according to the current state of art-historical research , but for the reasons given it contradicts the self-image of the painters from the 15th century. On the other hand, the endeavor to "Lukas Moser" says a lot about our present, which demands the individual to be admired, namely an artist.

After Piccard's spectacular thesis, extensive investigations followed, which were discussed at a specialist congress in Munich in 1971. The assembled experts rejected Piccard's thesis and defended the authenticity of the inscription and the stage name Lukas Moser.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tiefenbronn Altar: So o we . In: Der Spiegel . No. 32 , 1969, p. 102 f . ( Online - Aug. 4, 1969 ).

literature

• Wilhelm Boeck: Lucas Moser, The Magdalene Altar in Tiefenbronn . (= Universal Library; No. B 9124 / Work Monographs on Fine Art; No. 124). Reclam, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-15-009124-1
• Franz Heinzmann, Mathias Köhler: The Magdalene Altar by Lucas Moser in the Gothic basilica Tiefenbronn . (= Great Art Guide; Vol. 195). Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 1994, ISBN 3-7954-1074-6
• Mathias Köhler: St. Maria Magdalena Tiefenbronn. Art publishing house Josef Fink. Lindenberg 1998.
• Isolde Lübbeke:  Moser, Lucas. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 201 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Helmut May: Lucas Moser . E. Fink, Stuttgart 1961
• Gerhard Piccard: The Magdalene Altar by Lukas Moser in Tiefenbronn. A contribution to European art history . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1969
• Wilhelm Adolf Schmidt:  Moser, Lucas . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, p. 383.
• Johannes Graf von Waldburg-Wolfegg: Lukas Moser . Verlag Junker und Dünnhaupt, Berlin 1939, New German Research Series / Department of Art History and Art History, Vol. 4 (= 221), 219 pp. (Diss.)
• Lukas Moser , in: Lexikon der Kunst, Vol. V. Seeman Verlag, Leipzig, 2nd ed. 2004, pp. 3-4.