Master of the Miracles of Mariazell

Master of the Miracles of Mariazell: Exorcism, Large Mariazeller Miracle Altar (detail), approx. 1520

The late Gothic painter of the Small Mariazell Altar with six scenes, painted in 1512, and the Large Mariazell Altar with 47 depictions of miracles, completed in 1519/20, is referred to as the Master of Miracles of Mariazell . The altars show miracles that are attributed to the Blessed Mother in the pilgrimage site of Mariazell in Styria . Both works are now in the Styrian State Museum in Graz .

style

The unknown master of the miracles of Mariazell is counted as part of the so-called Danube School , a group of painters from the first quarter of the 16th century in the region around Regensburg and Vienna . Even if the master's style is still rooted in the tradition of an old, i.e. High Gothic, style, his pictures, especially on the Great Altar, show the growing influence of the Renaissance on the development of art in the Danube region . The local artists were stimulated by innovations of the Italian Renaissance on the trade routes that crossed the Alpine region from Italy.

The Master of Miracles from Mariazell can also be seen as a successor to the early Lucas Cranach .

Together with other contemporary painters in his environment, the natural landscape depictions of the master of the miracles of Mariazell are particularly important. This more precise observation and mapping of nature can also be seen as a sign of the influence of modern thinking of the Reformation age . However, the choice of themes for the altars is still linked to the way of thinking of the miraculous activity of the saints of the Middle Ages , which the pictures of the master show in an almost naive narrative style and detailed representations, but also in their drastic, now almost cruel depiction of battles and martyrs.

Works (selection)

• Small Mariazeller miracle altar, Styrian State Museum Joanneum, Graz
• Large Mariazeller miracle altar, Styrian State Museum Joanneum, Graz

Individual evidence

1. ^ Alfred Stange: Painting of the Danube School . F. Bruckmann, Munich 1964.
2. ^ Hermann Wiesflecker: Austria in the Age of Maximilian I. Publishing House for History and Politics, Vienna; Oldenbourg, Munich p. 130.
3. ↑ Universalmuseum Joanneum (ed.): The Middle Ages . Website (accessed May 2010 [1] )

Web links

Small Mariazell miracle altar ,

literature

• Franz Winzinger : On the work of Wolf Huber, Georg Lemberger and the Master of Miracles from Mariazell. In: Journal for Art History. 12, 1958, ISSN  0721-958X , pp. 71-94.
• Alfred Stange : Painting of the Danube School. F. Bruckmann Verlag, Munich 1964, p.
• Peter Krenn : The miracles of Mariazell and Styria. In: Otto Wutzel (ed.): The art of the Danube school. 1490-1540. Exhibition by the state of Upper Austria. Oberösterreichischer Landesverlag, Linz 1965, p. 167ff.
• Peter Krenn: The great Mariazeller miraculous altar from 1519 and its master. In: Yearbook of the Art History Institute of the University of Graz. 2, 1966/1967, ZDB -ID 2569-0 , pp. 31-51.
• Gerhard Jaritz, Helmut Eberhard: The Great Mariazeller Wonder Altar and its meaning from a cultural-historical point of view. In: Walter Brunner (Ed.): "... Maria helped out of all need". The large marvelous Mariazeller altar from around 1520. Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2002, ISBN 3-901938-08-7 (= publications of the Steiermärkisches Landesarchives 28).