Master of the Imhoff Altar

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'Master of the Imhoff Altar: Crown of Mary (approx. 1418–1422), oil on wood, Lorenzkirche, Nuremberg

A Gothic painter who probably worked in Nuremberg in the Middle Ages around 1420 is known as the master of the Imhoff altar . The artist, who is not known by name, received his emergency name from a winged altar that he created between 1418 and 1422 . This altar of Mary was donated by the patrician Konrad Imhoff for the Church of St. Lorenz in Nuremberg .

The Imhoff Altar

The Imhoff altar, named after the founder, with a middle section with the coronation of Mary in gold painting and wings with depictions of apostles is still in the church today. The altar may have been the epitaph for Anna Imhoff, the third wife of the founder. On the inner wings you can see the founder portrait of Berthold Imhoff with Anna and two other of his wives, who have also died.

A part of the Imhoff Altar, which is now separated and is located in the Germanic National Museum, is attributed to the master of the Bamberg Altar from 1429 .

The master of the Imhoff altar was possibly also responsible for the altar that can be found by Berthold Deichsler, another Nuremberg patrician and today also in the Church of St. Lorenz in Nuremberg .

It was proposed to assign the Imhoff altar as well as the Deichsler altar to the painter Berthold Landauer , who worked in Nuremberg around 1400 . This thesis, which emerged at the end of the 19th century, remains controversial and the works are still carried under the emergency name of the master of the Imhoff altar , the latter sometimes also under the name of a master of the Deichsler altar .

The Master of the Imhoff Altar indeed seem influenced by Bohemian painting like many of his contemporaries in Nuremberg. However, the Imhoff altar shows a shift towards a more austere and less rich depiction in stronger colors than were typical for Bohemian painting.

Works (selection)

  • Imhof altar , six panels in St. Lorenz, Imhoff gallery and two more Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum

literature

  • Oxford Grove Art. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art. Oxford 2002 (English)
  • A. Stange: German Gothic Painting, Bd. 9 Franconia, Bohemia and Thuringia-Saxony in the period from 1400 to 1500 . Berlin 1958.
  • G. Dehio: Handbook of the German art monuments. Bayern I. Munich 1979

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. z. BHA Dickinson: German Masters of Art . BiblioLife 2009, p. 215
personal data
SURNAME Master of the Imhoff Altar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH 14th Century
DATE OF DEATH 15th century