Master of the Hersbruck Altarpiece

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The late Gothic painter, presumably from Bamberg , who created the paintings for the high altar of the Hersbruck parish church around 1480, is referred to as the master of the Hersbruck altar or the master of the Hersbruck high altar .

The Hersbruck Altar

Around a richly carved middle section with four figures of church fathers, the wing pictures painted by the artist , who is not known by name , show two large depictions of the birth of Christ and the death of Mary as well as eight smaller depictions from the Passion and four from the life of Mary on their inner and outer sides .

The altar was recently in the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg and has been on display again in the St. Marien town church in Hersbruck since 1961.

The Hersbruck high altar and the imagery of its master are often quoted because of the skillful late Gothic symbolism, for example in the depiction of animals such as gentle pigeons, aggressive dogs or light-seeking lizards. The work of the master shows little signs of a greater influence of the art of the Italian Renaissance, despite the detailed reproduction of landscapes or pieces of furniture, such as those found in the more recent works from the Netherlands of his time, compared to other Gothic painters . The master makes little use of their typical integration of architecture into the overall picture.

style

However, the master of the Hersbruck Altarpiece was influenced by contemporary Dutch painting. Through his work he passed the realistic new style from this region on to subsequent painters in Franconia. The master is said to have had a great influence on the development of painting in Bamberg and very successful artists such as Paul Lautensack in Bamberg and then Jan Polack in Munich have followed his style.

identification

It was suggested to bring the master of the Hersbruck high altar into connection with the painter Michael Wolgemut from Nuremberg. Since the hand of an assistant can be seen in four pictures of an outer wing of the Hersbruck Altarpiece, Wohlgemut was sometimes seen as the main master of the altar and the master as his assistant. This thesis is usually no longer supported in the professional world and the master of the Hersbruck Altar is seen as an independent artist and creator of most of the altar.

However, it can be assumed that the master was in contact with Wolfgang Katzheimer's workshop in Bamberg.

Other works

As coming from the master of the Hersbruck Altarpiece and from the workshop of Wolfgang Katzheimer, a picture of Saint Wolfgang in Karlsruhe is awarded. The master is then assigned the painterly design of the wings of a carved altar, which is now divided between Munich, Nuremberg and St. Florian, as well as carrying a cross in the Kunstmuseum Basel. The painting of the Lamentation of Christ, epitaph for Adelheid Tucher, who died in 1482, today in the Nuremberg Museum Tucherschloss, is said to come from his hand. The picture shows a topographically astonishingly precise late Gothic view of the city of Jerusalem.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ e.g. J. Marrow: Circumdederunt me canes multi: Christ's Tormentors in Northern European Art of the Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance. In: The Art Bulletin 59/2 (1977), p. 167-181
  2. ^ Also M. Kupfer: The Passion Story: From Visual Representation to Social Drama. Pennsylvania 2008.
  3. ^ V. Tolle, P. Weis, U. Fickel: Animals in medieval Hersbruck. A historical city tour (contribution to the German history school competition 2000/01). Hersbruck 2001 gymnasium-hersbruck.de (self-published, PDF; 4.3 MB).
  4. ↑ a b S. Lüken: The Annunciation to Maria in the 15th and early 16th centuries. Göttingen 2000.
  5. ↑ A. Langer: Polack, Jan. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie. 20 (2001), p. 593.
  6. ^ W. von Seidlitz: Wolgemut, Michel. In: Historical commission at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (Hrsg.): General German biography. Volume 55, Munich 1910, pp. 118-122.
  7. ↑ H. Bergner: Handbuch der Kirchlichen Altertuemer in Germany. Leipzig 1905.
  8. ↑ Kunstmuseum Basel, Inv. 1261 Deposit from the Prof. JJ Bachofen-Burckhardt Foundation 1921.
  9. ↑ Reiner Haussherr : Late Gothic Views of the City of Jerusalem (Or: Was the Hausruchmeister in Jerusalem?) In: Yearbook of the Berlin Museums. Volume 29/30, 1987/88, pp. 47-70.