Master of the Nuremberg Apostles

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Tonapostel

In art history, the master of the Nuremberg apostles is the medieval sculptor who created a series of Gothic clay figures of apostles preserved in Nuremberg . Stylistically, the figures belong to the Soft Style and are counted among the most important works of Nuremberg sculpture of their time. They are one of the few surviving examples of religious figures made of clay in the German-speaking area of ​​the Middle Ages and probably originated around 1410 or 1420.

Six apostle figures are now in the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg, three in the Jakobskirche in Nuremberg. Unusually the apostles are depicted on backless seats, the sides and back of which are finely decorated with ornamental decorations. The row of apostles is not completely preserved, since twelve apostles are usually represented. They were possibly part of an altar, which probably also included figures of John the Baptist and Christ Salvator made of wood , as well as a not preserved prophet in clay , often with apostles in the same number twelve as apostle credo .

The exact origin of the figures is not certain. The figures are an example of Nuremberg clay sculptures, as they were made after 1400 and can also be found in the Tondoerffer epitaph from 1435 in St. Lorenz. Only about a dozen series of seated apostles have survived in the South German clay sculpture. The clay sculpture probably only had a brief heyday and was again absorbed in working with more permanent materials such as wood and stone. The figure cycle may be an example of the art of modeling by an artisan who is not part of the stonemasons or woodworkers' guild.

Web links

Object catalog of the collections of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum:

literature

  • Siegfried Graf Pückler-Limpurg : The Nuremberg Artistic Art at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries . (Studies on German Art History, 48th issue). Heitz & Mündel, Strasbourg 1904
  • S. Bauer: Notes on the Tondoerffer epitaph in the St. Lorenz Church in Nuremberg and on clay sculptures from the Middle Rhine . In: Anzeiger des Germanisches Nationalmuseums 1988, pp. 151–158
  • Frank Matthias Kammel (ed.): The apostles from St. Jakob. Nuremberg clay sculpture of the soft style . Nuremberg 2002, ISBN 3-926982-82-9
    • Martin Hirsch: Review by: Frank Matthias Kammel: The Apostles from St. Jakob. Nuremberg clay sculpture of the soft style . In: sehepunkte 3 (2003) No. 9
  • G. Weilandt: On the origin of the Nuremberg Tonapostel - a contradiction from a current occasion and some new finds . In: Kunstchronik 2003/8, pp. 408–414
personal data
SURNAME Master of the Nuremberg Apostles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION medieval sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH 14th Century
DATE OF DEATH 15th century