Master of Rabenden

Saint James , linden wood, Bavarian National Museum

High altar in the church of St. James the Elder in Rabenden

Master von Rabenden: Christ's Prayer on the Mount of Olives , around 1515, Bode Museum , Berlin

Marie altar from the chapel of St. George in Unterelkofen to 1517-20, Bavarian National Museum

Saint James , Bavarian National Museum

One of the most important South German sculptors of the early 16th century is called Master von Rabenden . The Gothic artist, who is not known by name, got his emergency name from the high altar he created in the branch church of St. Jakobus the Elder in Rabenden near Altenmarkt an der Alz , a late Gothic winged retable. The works of the master and his workshop can be found mainly in today's Upper Bavaria and the Tyrolean Inn Valley .

Altar of Rabenden

The six meter high high altar by the master von Rabenden in the church in Rabenden is one of the most important late medieval sculptures in southern Germany. The middle part shows wooden sculptures of the church patron James and other saints, on the wings there are pictures of saints, the four Latin church fathers and scenes of Mary, the mother of Jesus . The work that gives the master its name is altogether a winged altar of "perfect harmony and rich furnishings" with expressive figure decorations.

identification

It used to be assumed that the master von Rabenden had his workshop in Rosenheim . Up to the most recent research it is suggested to identify him with the sculptor Wolfgang Leb , who worked in Wasserburg am Inn . His name as Andreas Taubenbeck is also considered possible, as a relief of the circumcision of Christ signed AT1515 , which is listed under the name of the monogrammist AT in the Tyrolean State Museum Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck, could also be attributed to the master von Rabenden by comparing styles . Daniel Rimsl and others suspect that the master could be the sculptor Sigmund Haffner (c. 1465/70 to 1529), who has been documented several times in the archives in Munich , who maintained a respected workshop there and created the altar around 1510/1515.

style

The works of the master von Rabenden are of great creative power, the figures carved by him show the people depicted with great individuality and expressiveness for his time. This is particularly noticeable in sculptures of St. James, all of which have large, haunting eyes under expressively worked out brows and a detailed, stringy beard.

Works (selection)

• Parish Church of St. James the Elder , Rabenden
  • Winged altar

Other works by the master von Rabenden can be found in the following churches, for example:

• Katharinenkirche, Kitzbühel
  • Coppersmith altar from 1513
• Parish Church of St. Laurentius in Obing
  • 3 carved figures Madonna and Child, St. Laurentius, St. James from 1515
• Parish Church of St. James the Elder Ä. in Rohrdorf
  • Carved figure St. James
• Pilgrimage Church of the Holy Blood in Rosenheim
  • Mercy seat
• Church of St. Aegidius in Seeon (Niederseeon)
  • two reliefs from the workshop depicting Saints Florian and Alexius (?)
• Parish church St. Sixtus in Schliersee
  • Enthroned figure of Pope Sixtus II.

Fourteen works by the master are in the possession of the Bavarian National Museum in Munich, other works in the Bode Museum in Berlin. The works come from for example

• the St. Georg Castle Chapel in Unterelkofen (Marien Altar, around 1517-20)

Influence and successor

Besides Hans Leinberger , the master von Rabenden was probably the most important sculptor of the early 16th century in southern Germany.

In the Musée d'Unterlinden in Colmar there is a statue from 1520 with Saint Anne Selbdritt, which is attributed to the workshop of the master von Rabenden . A similar figure of Annen from the master's workshop is in The Cloisters Museum in New York, bought from the holdings of the Bavarian National Museum . In addition, figures of Anna or other saints or passion scenes in private ownership were often ascribed to the master and his environment .

The modern painter Lovis Corinth studied the expressionist figures of sculptors of the Middle Ages and their composition and in 1909 drew several color pictures with carvings by the master von Rabenden .

literature

• Philipp Maria Halm: The master of Rabenden and the wood sculpture of the Chiemgau . In: Yearbook of the Royal Prussian Art Collections 32nd Vol., (1911), pp. 59–84
• Otto Heichele (pastor): Church leader Rabenden . Hannes Oefele Verlag, Ottobeuren 1982
• Jürgen Rohmeder: The master of the high altar in Rabenden . Schnell & Steiner publishing house, Munich 1971
• Johannes Goldner, Wilfried Bahnmüller: Master of Rabenden . Pannonia-Verlag, Freilassing 1993
• Albrecht Miller: The Master of Rabenden. In: To Leinberger. Students and contemporaries, Landshut 2007, pp. 88–102
• Rimsl, Daniel: Sigmund Haffner and the high altar to Rabenden. Carving between late Gothic and Renaissance . Schnell & Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2015

Web links

Commons : Meister von Rabenden  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Page with illustrations of works by the master von Rabenden

Individual evidence

1. ^ German Foundation for Monument Protection (ed.) Help for the village church of Rabenden. Salvation for the altar of St. James. Bonn 2007 ( Brochure on the funding contract, accessed online November 2010 ( Memento from October 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive ))
2. ↑ Jürgen Rohmeder: The master of the high altar in Rabenden . Publisher: Schnell & Steiner, Munich, 1971, ISBN 3795404525
3. ↑ Diözesanmuseum Freising shows Altar von Rabenden ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Otto Wutzel (Ed.): The Art of the Danube School 1490 - 1540 . (Catalog of the Upper Austrian State Exhibition Linz 1965). Upper Austrian Provincial Publishing House, Linz 1965
5. ↑ Sigmund Benker : Medieval images of the Munich Frauenkirche in the Freising Diocesan Museum , in: Das Münster , 1977, issue 2, pp. 122–126; Kathrin Brandmair: Crucifixes and crucifixion groups from the Danube School area . Petersberg 2015, pp. 38, 74-82; Daniel Rimsl: Sigmund Haffner and the high altar to Rabenden. Carving between late Gothic and Renaissance . Regensburg 2015.
6. ↑ Jonathan Bousfield, Rob Humphreys: The rought Guide To Austria . London 2001
7. ^ Virginia Nixon: Mary's mother: Saint Anne in late medieval Europe . Pennsylvania State University Press 2005, Figure 33
8. ↑ The Cloisters Collection, inventory number 1987.15.
9. ↑ For example, Madonna and Child , Neumeister art auctions, December 1993 Los 16 or Adoration of the Magi , Neumeister Kunstauktionen, May 2010, Lot 1
10. ↑ For example, Lamentation (The Lamentation) auction house Sotheby's Amsterdam, May 1999 Los 258
11. ^ Horst clock: Lovis Corinth . University of California Press, Berkeley 1990, p. 158 (English).