Madonna im Rosenhag
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| Madonna im Rosenhag |
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| Stefan Lochner , around 1450 |
| Mixed media on wood |
| 51 × 40 cm |
| Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud |
Two of the most famous pictures in German art history bear the title Die Madonna im Rosenhag .
The Lochner Madonna
The small-format picture “Madonna im Rosenhag” is one of the last pictures by Stefan Lochner .
The central figure is Maria, who is sitting in front of a lawn bench, wrapped in a bright blue coat. The baby Jesus is on her lap, holding an apple in her hand - symbol of the overcoming of original sin through Christ's death on the cross. Winged, multicolored angels frame the figure of Mary with the child. Four angels seated in the foreground play music. The wings of the angel with the lute are reminiscent of the feathers of a peacock. The peacock is, among other things, a symbol of spiritual rebirth and thus the resurrection of Christ. In addition, his thousand eyes were interpreted as a sign of God's omniscience.
Mary's unicorn brooch is of symbolic importance . It refers to Mary and Christ, since legend has it that the shy unicorn could only be caught by a chaste virgin. The precious crown adorned with precious stones, the shine of which is emphasized by the hallmarked halo (nimbus), is a sign of their royal dignity. About the Rose Bower, Mary hinterfängt with the child, two angels gather a heavy brocade curtain aside: In the symbolized by the image of a gold background sky appear in a halo of God the Father and the dove of the Holy Spirit .
The flowers, in particular, are Marian symbols : there are lilies of the valley, violets, daisies, columbines, and strawberries that cover the grass bank. Because of its red fruits, the strawberry is a reminder of the Passion of Christ, while the three-part leaves refer to the Trinity . It is a symbol of Mary's virginity because of its ability to blossom and fruit at the same time.
Behind the figure of Mary there are also Madonna lilies on the right , which, as symbols of purity, chastity and the immaculate conception, are among the most famous attributes of the Virgin Mary. The roses are of particular importance here. According to an old legend, before the fall of man, the rose had no thorns and since Mary was saved from original sin, it was called the "rose without thorns". As a result of this tradition, the image type of spread rose Madonna or Madonna of the Rose Bower . Lochner's picture is a typical example of the latter type, in which Mary sits surrounded by angels and saints in a rose arbor or in front of a rose bush.
The “Madonna in the Rose Hag” also corresponds to the type of the Madonna in the Paradise Garden , where she is depicted in the midst of saints, flowers and numerous symbols of Mary.
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| Madonna im Rosenhag |
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| Martin Schongauer , 1473 |
| Mixed media on wood |
| 200 × 115 cm |
| Dominican Church Colmar |
The Schongauer Madonna
Another well-known representation of the same theme is the "Madonna in the Rose Hag" by Martin Schongauer , an altarpiece that is located in the Dominican Church in Colmar . The originally rectangular and extraordinarily large panel (estimated 250 x 165 centimeters) was trimmed on all four sides on an unknown date and brought into the familiar, rounded shape (200 x 115 centimeters). The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston has an old, small copy of the uncut painting. The Schongauer Madonna was decorated around 1900 by the Colmar sculptor Théophile Klem (1849–1923) with a richly decorated neo-Gothic frame and side wings with depictions of saints by Martin von Feuerstein . In 1972 the Madonna in Rosenhag was stolen from Martinsmünster , but was found again by chance in 1973. Since then, the painting has been kept in the Dominican Church in Colmar.
The untrimmed version of the painting depicted the Madonna seated in a square arbor, above her the blessing God the Father appeared, to the right and left of the arbor, free picture space, in the lower part a garden covered in flowers. In today's version, the image is limited to the inner part of the arbor. This unmistakably moves Mary with the Christ Child into the center of the picture. The view from the immediate vicinity and the absence of free picture surface, from which a densely packed or narrow composition results, increase the already monumental character of the life-size seated female figure, but do not correspond to the atmosphere of the originally painted panel picture. The picture is painted on a gold background. The Madonna wears a deep red dress, which can be symbolically interpreted as the blood of the Passion. A Latin inscription is incorporated into the halo of Mary: "Me carpes genito tuq (ue) os (an) ctissi (m) a vi (rgo)". The translation is controversial, one possibility is: “Accept me as your child too, O most holy virgin”. Apparently the founder of the picture is addressing Mary here. Alternatively, it is translated: “Accept me, creator, and you too, most holy virgin.” Here the founder speaks to the Christ child (= creator, genitor - the " r " is reconstructed).
The representation of the flora (flowers and leaves) and fauna (birds) in the picture is evidence of close observation and excellent reproducibility of nature and has always been admired for this. The drapery of the dress as well as the graceful, solemnly devoted facial expression of Mary are among the most valued aspects of the picture.
comparison
The comparison of the two works is one of the classic image comparisons in German art history. The motif of the Madonna on the lawn bench is common to both works, it comes from Italian art (Madonna dell'Humilità). Lochner's Madonna is a late work of the “beautiful style”. The girlish white face of Mary, the unearthly blue of the coat, the soft folds and the lovely angels making music create a heavenly atmosphere. For all its splendor, Schongauer's work is more realistic, Maria is drawn harder, the folds of her dress are more angular, the child is less baby-like. This bears witness to the influence of old Dutch painting, for example Rogier van der Weydens , on Schongauer. Nevertheless, the Lochner work is artistically and technically higher quality. This mainly affects the perspective, the anatomical proportions and the expression, e.g. B. the direction of view of Mary and Jesus, as well as the hands.
literature
- Christian Heck: The Madonna in the Rosenhag. SAEP, Colmar 1990.
- Roland Krischel: Stefan Lochner - The Mother of God in the rose arbor. EA Seemann Verlag, Leipzig 2006, ISBN 3-86502-110-7 .
- Roland Krischel: Stefan Lochner's “Mother of God in the Rose Arbor”. Iconography, image geometry and function. In: Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch. Vol. 67, 2006, ISSN 0083-7105 , pp. 123-160.
- Manfred Wundram : Stefan Lochner. Madonna im Rosenhag (= work monographs on the fine arts. No. 106, ZDB -ID 2267951-0 = Reclams Universal Library B 9106). Reclam, Stuttgart 1965.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mischa von Perger: Who picks the rose? Labeled halos from Martin Schongauer. In: Journal for Art History. Vol. 65, H. 3, 2002, ISSN 0044-2992 , pp. 400-410.
