Magdalene Altar (Tiefenbronn)
The Magdalene Altar in the Church of St. Maria Magdalena in Tiefenbronn is considered to be the main work of Lucas Moser . The 300 × 240 cm shrine of the altar is dated to the year 1432 by an inscription and shows LVCAS MOSER MALER VON WIL as a foreman in another inscription . All other works attributed to Moser by researchers are considered questionable.
description
Image program
In the pediment of the altar, Simon's feast is depicted, at which Magdalena Jesus washes his feet with her hair in Simon's house. When closed, the altar shows the voyage of St. Magdalena, the arrival in Massilia (Marseille) with the apparition in the bedchamber and the last communion of St. Magdalena in the cathedral of Aix. The predella shows the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins as well as two coats of arms. When open, the inner wings show St. Martha and the Bishop Lazarus. The wooden sculpture of Maria Magdalena, clad only with her long hair, in the open central shrine is a later addition from 1520/25, for which the shrine was slightly adapted.
The Magdalen Altar is exceptional in several ways for the time of its creation. The work is strongly influenced by the emerging Dutch realism and shows the artist's good powers of observation, which can be seen, for example, in the deliberately crooked rain gutter, the half-timbered house in the background and the exemplary ornamental roof in the center of the picture. The depicted ocean-going ships in the background of the left outer wing or the vestment of St. Maximus in the right outer wing show many details. Nevertheless, the work is not photorealistic, since Moser has oriented the dimensions of what is depicted less on the actual perspective than on the meaning.
inscription
The main side of the altar bears the following inscriptions on the outer edges of the inner wings: Schri kvnst schri vnd complain ser din no one begs so o we 1432 ("Schrei Kunst schrei, and complain, nobody desires you now, oh woe. 1432. ”) and LVCAS MOSER PAINTER BY WIL MAISTER DEZ WERX BIT GOT VIR IN (“ Lukas Moser painter from Weil, master of the work, please God for him! ”). In the first inscription, Moser describes his work on the one hand as art and on the other hand complains that it is no longer in demand. Such an artist suit is unusual for the early 15th century. There are different attempts at interpretation. Von Waldburg-Wolfegg saw the utterance of an aging artist in the inscription, Panofsky interpreted the artist's complaint as an outcry from someone who was misunderstood, Sterling saw it as an expression of artist pride in the awareness of unique technical ability.
Further inscriptions on the upper and lower edges of the outer wings indicate the main patrons Magadalena, Antonius and Erhard as well as the indulgences associated with visiting the altar on the feast days of the patron saints. This privilege of the altar made it a destination for pilgrims.
The various fonts used in the inscription are partly Gothic, partly they imitate Hebrew and Byzantine script forms, and partly they anticipate humanistic types. This has fueled skepticism about the inscription. The inscription has certainly been revised during restorations and perhaps also slightly falsified.
Founder's coat of arms
The coats of arms in the predella refer to the donors: Bernhard von Stein zu Steinegg (near Tiefenbronn) and his first wife Agnes Meiser von Berg, who had already died (around 1420) when the altar was built.
Style-critical consideration
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", traceable in Ulmer sources, is questioned today.
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.
- 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
- Johannes Graf von Waldburg-Wolfegg: Lukas Moser . Junker and Dünnhaupt, Berlin 1939 (also Phil. Diss., Univ. Frankfurt)
- Wilhelm Adolf Schmidt: Moser, Lucas . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, p. 383.
- Lukas Moser , in: Lexikon der Kunst, Vol. V. Seeman Verlag, Leipzig, 2nd ed. 2004, pp. 3-4.