Master of Heiligenkreuz

Meister von Heiligenkreuz: Annunciation of Mary, panel painting, around 1400

Meister von Heiligenkreuz: Death of St. Clare, panel painting, around 1410

With Master of Heiligenkreuz one is Gothic painter and miniaturist referred to the 1395-1420 altarpieces and illuminations created. The artist, who is not known by name, got his emergency name after his two-part altarpiece, which was last documented in the Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Lower Austria , an Annunciation of Mary and the Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine .

The master of Heiligenkreuz was probably of French origin. His style of painting suggests the École de Paris and Franco-Burgundian book illumination. The pictures he found in Austria were probably created there in a courtly environment, as their style and way of working could influence other contemporary artists there. Therefore it is sometimes assumed that the master could come from Austria itself.

The work of the master von Heiligenkreuz shows that in his time, for economic reasons and out of interest in new ideas and artistic achievements, artists were often traveling as traveling court painters in Europe and thus an art development "without borders" took place.

Works (selection)

Altarpieces

Annunciation and Mystical Marriage of St. Katharina , diptych from Heiligenkreuz, around 1400, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Death of St. Clare , part of a diptych, around 1410, Washington, National Gallery of Art
Mystical marriage of St. Katharina , around 1415/1420, Vienna, Belvedere

literature

J. Oberhaidacher: On the art-historical origin and meaning of the master of Heiligenkreuz. In: Austrian magazine for art and monument preservation. 52, 1998, pp. 501-517.
L. Kalinowski: The sealed letter: on the iconography of the Annunciation. In: J. Chrościcki et al. (Ed.): Ars auro prior (= studia Ioanni Białostocki sexagenario dicata ) Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warsaw 1981, pp. 161–169.
W. Seipel (Hrsg.): Europe without borders: examples of the emergence of the artistic diversity of Europe (exhibition of the Kunsthistorisches Museum on the occasion of Austria's presidency in the European Union; March 14 to June 5, 2006). Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 2006.
Master of Heiligenkreuz . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 37 : Master with emergency names and monogramists . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1950, p. 144-145 .

Individual evidence

^ V. Oberhammer : The picture gallery of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (catalog, 1st half-volume). A. Schroll, Vienna 1959.
^ G. Brucher: History of the fine arts in Austria. Volume II: Gothic. Prestel-Verlag, Munich / London / New York 2000, pp. 540 ff.
^ Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien (ed.): European art around 1400. (Catalog for the) exhibition Vienna 1962. Vienna, publisher of the publisher 1962.
↑ Wilfried Seipel (Hrsg.): Europe without borders: Examples of the emergence of the artistic diversity of Europe. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 2006.

personal data
SURNAME	Master of Heiligenkreuz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Gothic painter and miniaturist
DATE OF BIRTH	before 1395
DATE OF DEATH	after 1420

[1] V. Oberhammer : The picture gallery of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (catalog, 1st half-volume). A. Schroll, Vienna 1959.

[2] G. Brucher: History of the fine arts in Austria. Volume II: Gothic. Prestel-Verlag, Munich / London / New York 2000, pp. 540 ff.

[3] Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien (ed.): European art around 1400. (Catalog for the) exhibition Vienna 1962. Vienna, publisher of the publisher 1962.

[4] Wilfried Seipel (Hrsg.): Europe without borders: Examples of the emergence of the artistic diversity of Europe. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 2006.