Master of the Benediktbeurer Crucifixion

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Master of the Benediktbeurer Crucifixion

A medieval painter of the 15th century is known as the master of the Benediktbeurer crucifixion . The painter, who is not known by name, got his emergency name after the depiction of the crucifixion, which he painted around 1455 for the Benedictine monastery in Benediktbeuern and which can be found today in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

The master of the Benediktbeurer crucifixion does not limit the circle of his figures around the cross, but rather paints the motif of a so-called popular Calvary, which has been widespread in Christian art north of the Alps since 1400. His depiction of the crucifixion is a typical example of these altarpieces, which depict multitudes of people from the people at Christ 's place of execution . The painter wants to let the figures take part in the action as representatives of their viewers. To the master of the Benediktbeurer crucifixionAmong other things, he succeeds in depicting the torture and suffering of an execution as the contemporary viewers of his work knew from their environment. It evokes sympathy and compassion, the viewer can “see” and “touch” divine truth as it were. The master of Benediktbeurer crucifixion allows the viewer with his painting the active role played by Nicholas of Cusa formulated in his theological works in 1450 for the believing Christian. It is believed that the abbot and monks were familiar with the works of Nikolaus von Kues and, when commissioning the work, gave the painter theological arguments based on Kues.

The master of the Benediktbeurer crucifixion is a contemporary of Konrad Witz , an important representative of late Gothic painting at the transition to the early Renaissance north of the Alps. Similar to this and a few other painters such as the master of the Darmstadt Passion , he brought realism to a breakthrough in his crucifixion picture, but without any connection between these artists working in different regions being able to be proven. The master of the Benediktbeurer crucifixion also shows his own visual language in the colors and movements of his crowds.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bavarian State Painting Collections; Office of Military Government for Bavaria. Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section (Ed.): Exhibition of Bavarian paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries. House of Art. Munich 1946, p. 22 (exhibition catalog)
  2. ↑ No. 1388 in BStGS KR inventory list of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen KR (accessed November 2015)
  3. ↑ Martin Warnke: History of German Art Volume 2 - Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times 1400–1750. Munich 1999, p. 138
  4. ↑ Gabriele Wimböck: Passion as a program. The depiction of the crucifixion in art from the High Middle Ages to the Baroque. In: Arsproto (2014) 2, pp. 31-37
  5. ↑ see also Elisabeth Roth: The Volkreich Kalvarienberg in literature and visual art of the late Middle Ages. Berlin 1967
  6. ↑ Mitchell B. Merback: The Thief, the Cross, and the Wheel - Pain and the Spectacle of Punishment in Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Chicago 1999, p. 67
  7. ↑ Ulrich Pfisterer: Eye deception as a path of knowledge in north Alpine painting at the transition from the late Middle Ages to the early modern period. In: Frank Büttner, Gabriele Wimböck (ed.): The image as authority: The normative power of the image. Münster 2004, pp. 151-203
  8. ↑ Elena Filippi: Cusanus and Art. In: Das Mittelalter, 19/1 (2014), pp. 103–124
  9. ^ Georg Dehio: History of German Art. The text's second volume. Berlin and Leipzig 1923, p. 208

literature

  • Alte Pinakothek Munich (ed.): Explanations of the paintings on display. Bavarian State Painting Collections. Munich 1983
  • Martin Warnke : History of German Art , Vol. 2: Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, 1400–1750. Munich 1999
  • Elena Filippi: Cusanus and Art. In: Das Mittelalter, 19/1 (2014), pp. 103–124
  • Frank Büttner, Gabriele Wimböck (ed.): The image as authority: the normative power of the image. Munster 2004
  • Daria Dittmeyer: Violence and Salvation: Pictorial presentations of passion and martyrdom in the late Middle Ages. Cologne 2014
personal data
SURNAME Master of the Benediktbeurer Crucifixion
BRIEF DESCRIPTION medieval painter
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
DATE OF DEATH 15th century