Michael Pacher

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Coronation of Mary in the main shrine of the Pacher Altar in St. Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut
Church patriarchal altar, outside of the wing: The devil instructs St. Augustine before the book of vices , around 1480, Alte Pinakothek , Munich
The "Beautiful Madonna" attributed to Michael Pacher, the showpiece of Adolph Johannes Fischer's collection

Michael Pacher (* around 1435 probably in Mühlen bei Pfalzen , Tyrol , † 1498 in Salzburg ) was a Tyrolean painter and carver . He is one of the most important masters of the Austrian late Gothic .

Life

The painter and carver synonymous Pacher resulted in Brunico in Pustertal about 1460/65 to 1495 one of the most powerful altar building workshops of his time. Two medium-sized and two large winged altars from their production have been preserved in whole or in part, as well as around two dozen individual figures and paintings, the original context of which is still a topic of research today. The master, who worked as a painter, carver and designer of his altarpieces, lived and worked in Salzburg for the last three years of his life . Little is known about his life, as only a few documents, such as invoices, contracts and receipts, provide indirect information.

Pacher's apprenticeship began in the early forties with Leonhard von Brixen . In this decade, contacts with the art of the early Renaissance in Northern Italy are likely beyond the South Tyrolean art tradition . But also the southern German art development (cf. Hans Multscher's winged altar from 1458 in Sterzing , Niclas Gerhaert van Leyden in southern Germany and Vienna ) and elements of the Dutch art of his generation conveyed through these have flowed into Pacher's style synthesis.

The earliest known retables are a small Thomas Beckett altar (panels in Graz ) and a Marien altar with winged images of the Laurentius legend around 1465/66 (parts in Bruneck, Munich and Vienna). This was followed by the reduced, preserved altar to the Coronation of the Virgin Mary in Bozen - Gries (1471/73 - the work contract from 1471 provided for the artist to be paid 450 marks), the only complete double-winged altar left in situ in St. Wolfgang on Lake Wolfgang (Upper Austria, 1471 / 79) and the church father altar (Munich) for the Neustift monastery near Brixen (1475/83), which has only survived with the paintings . A Michael altar for the Bolzano parish church (1481/84) is lost. In the late phase of Salzburg, wing altars that were lost apart from individual pieces were created for the Franciscan Church and St. Michael's Church. The numerous wall paintings (mainly frescoes ) from the Pustertal to Carinthia , which are stylistically used for Pacher, have neither been archived nor adequately researched. Examples of this are the sacristy ceiling of Neustift near Brixen, the wayside shrine in Monguelfo or the south portal tympanum of the San Candido collegiate church .

The technical, economic and artistic performance of the Pacher workshop and its thirty years of continuity are among the highlights of late Gothic reredos in Europe in terms of conception, scope and quality . It is characterized by the balanced distribution of sculptures and paintings, which, since the Lorenz altar, have already referred to a central viewer point of view by means of perspective spatial construction (especially the Wolfgang altar). The geometric construction verifiable on the image carrier represents its earliest adoption from the early Renaissance in Italy into the art of the German-speaking countries. Pacher's spatial and figure compositions combine the ancient form rigor and proportionality of the south with the abundance of expressive and decorative forms of the north. In his retables, sculptures and panel paintings, architectures and ornaments with their elaborate color and metal frames form a brilliant unit, shortly before their dissolution into the individual picture genres under the modern pictorial autonomy. This synthesis of the transcendental universalism of the Middle Ages with the new, immanent apprehension of reality is close to the philosophical and theological writings of the Bishop of Brixen and early humanist Nikolaus von Kues . In the Pacher workshop, some masters known by name were employed as employees, such as the master from Uttenheim , Friedrich Pacher and Marx Reichlich . The collaboration of Hans Pacher is controversial, Simon von Taisten was the most fruitful successor as a wall painter. Pacher's art shaped the development of Tyrolean art from the last third of the 15th century to the beginning of the Reformation .

Works

Altar in the old Gries parish church in Bozen
Annunciation, shrine wing, Bozen-Gries, old parish church
Pope Sixtus II bids farewell to St. Laurentius , around 1465, Belvedere , Vienna
Flagellation of Christ , before 1497/1498, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere , Vienna - part of the former high altar of the Salzburg Franciscan Church

Based on the style of the South Tyrolean masters around 1450, Michael Pacher, under the influence of Hans Multscher and northern Italian art, especially the sculptor Donatello and the painter Andrea Mantegna , came up with a new visual language in German-speaking countries. The linear perspective characterizes his architecture and spatial representation. Plasticity, increased expression and speaking gestures shape his figures. The treatment of light and shadow make his pictures appear realistic. He ideally combines carving and painting.

Above all, Pacher's altarpieces are known. a .:

However, only the altar of St. Wolfgang has been completely preserved. Only parts of the master’s remaining works have survived and can be viewed, for example, in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich or in the Austrian Belvedere Gallery in Vienna. Remarkable frescoes by the master can be found in the Romanesque basilica of the Benedictine monastery of St. Paul . There Pacher shows a cycle of depictions of saints in the Gothic vault, which was pulled in after the fire of the Romanesque flat ceiling.

Presumably the so-called "book picture" with the inscription "LIBER VITAE APOC III" - to be seen in the Rübenach lower hall of Eltz Castle - comes from his workshop. A missal of its time is shown. In this work, too, his ability to paint in perspective is clearly evident. The panel painting makes a very three-dimensional, almost three-dimensional impression from every viewing direction.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hannes Obermair : “Lebenswelten” nel sistema parrocchiale sudtirolese del tardo medioevo: l'esempio di Gries a Bolzano . In: Simona Boscani Leoni, Paolo Ostinelli (eds.): La Chiesa dal «basso». Organizzazioni, interazioni e pratiche nel contesto parrocchiale alpino alla fine del medioevo . FrancoAngeli, Milano 2012, ISBN 978-88-568-4559-4 , pp. 137–163, here: p. 142 .
  2. ↑ St. Laurentius before Emperor Decius, Inv.-No. 4833 ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2014 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. . In: Digital Belvedere @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / digital.belvedere.at

Web links

Commons : Michael Pacher  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Michael Pacher
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South Tyrolean painter and carver of the late Gothic period
DATE OF BIRTH around 1435
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: Pfalzen
DATE OF DEATH 1498
Place of death Salzburg