Master of Hakendover

A sculptor who worked in Flanders and Brabant around 1400 is referred to as the Master of Hakendover ( English Master of Hakendover, French Maitre du Retable d'Hakendover) . The not-known Gothic artist and representative of the “beautiful style” in a Brabant interpretation got his emergency name after the altar he carved out of wood in the church of St. Salvator (fr. Saint-Sauveur, nl. Sint-Salvatorskerk or van de Goddelijke Zaligmaker) in Hakendover in what is now the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant .

The master of Hakendover is counted among the most important sculptors in the region. The influence of his way of working on the development of subsequent sculptural art in the region can also be seen, perhaps he had a larger workshop. His figures and the folds of their robes are closer to life and his style is an innovation compared to that of his predecessors and many contemporaries. In art history, the thesis that has since been rejected was that the master von Hakendover was very familiar with the work of the painter Rogier van der Weyden , since his sculptural work, like his paintings, is characterized by realistic detailed descriptions.

In addition to the work in Hakendover from the years immediately after 1400, eight figures of prophets from the tower of the town hall in Brussels are attributed to the master of Hakendover . These sculptures from around 1410, which can now be found in the museum there, are some of the few parts that have survived from the original decoration of the house from the 15th century. Furthermore, it is suggested that a series of almost life-size stone apostles from the Church of St. Martin (fr. Basilique Saint-Martin de Halle, nl. Basiliek Heilig-Martin Hal) in Halle, Belgium and a crucifixion group made of walnut wood from around 1420 in the Reinoldikirche in Dortmund by his hand; further research is also being carried out into the history of art for works by the master von Hakendover .

The complete works of the master von Hakendover are among the few surviving examples of extensive production, also for export , from the early creative phase of Flemish and Brabant sculptors' workshops between 1390 and 1440. In contrast to numerous carved retables from the second half of the 15th century in the region Today there are only a few examples from this epoch, as many works were lost in the unrest of 1566. Because of a theft in Hakendover in 1978, the master's work is only preserved there in fragments.

literature

• JW Steyaert: Late The Sculpture of St. Martin's in Halle and Related Netherlandish Works . Ann Arbor (Mich.) 1975 (dissertation)
• JW Steyaert: Late Gothic Sculpture: The Burgundian Netherlands . Ghent 1994, pp.
• C. Bodiaux: Les Apôtres de la basilique Saint-Martin de Hal: un chef-d'œuvre du Maître du Retable d'Hakendover? In: Revue des archéologues et historiens d'art de Louvain. Volume 31, 1998, pp. 89-103
• KW Woods: Newly discovered works in England by the Master of Hakendover . In: Oud Holland. Volume 113, No. 3, 1999, pp. 93-106
• E. Bertram-Neunzig: The winged retable on the high altar of the Dortmund church St. Reinoldi - investigations into its shape, iconography and origin . Cologne 2004 (dissertation)
• LE Lock: A brief history of the sculpture in the present-day Netherlands and Belgium . In: The Encyclopedia of Sculpture. 3 volumes, New York 2003, Vol.?, S.?.
• CM Richardson, KW Woods, MW Franklin (Eds.): Making Renaissance Art. An Anthology of Primary Sources . New Haven 2007 (Kursbuch Renaissance Art Reconsidered, Open University), p.?.
• Master of Hakendover . In: Art Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art . Oxford 2002 (online edition 2010)