Ulrich Geser Altar

The Ulrich Geser Altar is a portable altar designed as a winged altar in the style of the late Gothic era , which is now in the Vorarlberg Museum in Bregenz . The altar is named after the painter Ulrich Geser from Bregenz, who signed the altar painting in 1499.

history

Nothing certain is known about the manufacture and the early whereabouts or use of this portable altar.

In 1685 the Bishop of Chur , Ulrich de Mont , gave Johannes Zimmermann permission to set up a chapel in the Vorderlaterns bath , in which mass could be read on a portable house altar (altare portatile) during the bathing season. The requirement for Johannes Zimmermann and his successors was that the altar, chalice and vestments should always be handled properly. In 1707 the bathroom master Florinus Matt, in 1737 Christian Kock and 1804 Josef Weiß renewed this license. The Ulrich Geser Altar was used for this purpose in Bad Vorderlaterns. It is not known when he came to Bad Vorderlaterns. The altar has been in the Vorarlberg State Museum since 1933.

Material, dimensions and storage

The Gothic altar is made of wood, 71 cm long and 45.5 cm high. It has two fold-out wings with the dimensions 39 × 40 cm. On the altar in the corpus (shrine) four expressive small sculptures can be seen, which St. Lienhart (Leonhard), Martin , Georg and Sebastian represent. The figurative representation of St. Lienhard is 25 cm high, that of St. Martin 27.5 cm, St. Georg (Jerck) 26.2 cm and St. Sebastian 27.5 cm.

Below the figures, these are each designated in small letters in Fraktur as Sankt Lienhart, Sankt Martin, Sankt Jerck, Sankt Sebastian and there is a reference to the painter: Ulrich Geser - painter to Bregenz 1499. Whether Ulrich Geser made the altar himself or just has painted is not secured.

On the wings of the altar are the "Walser saints": Saints Nikolaus (left) and Theodul (right) painted and signed (in Fraktur).

The altar was purchased in 1932 from the Kölner Kunstverein by the Vorarlberg State Museum, is now owned by the Vorarlberg Museum and is kept in its archive.

Ulrich Geser also has the frescoes in the two-bay, groin-vaulted Michaels Chapel with triangular apse in the parish church of Bregenz-St. Gallus around 1480 to 1490 and the winged altar of the Rochus Chapel in Rainberg ( Übersaxen ).

literature

• Werner Vogt: Old therapeutic baths in Vorarlberg: a journey through the Vorarlberg bathing landscape. Benvenuti Verlag, Feldkirch 2001, ISBN 3-901522-07-7 , p. 117 ( limited preview in the Google book search).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Also folding altar . In the present altar, this is a fixed body ( shrine ) with two movable wings ( triptych ). This form was a widespread special form of the altarpiece ( retable ) in Central Europe .
2. ↑ The Council of Trent prescribed a fixed altar with a stone canteen in which relics of saints were set for the celebration of Holy Mass . An altar stone with relics had to be inserted into wooden altars, which were common since the baroque period .
3. ↑ ^{a b} Ute Pfanner: Geser, Ulrich . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 52, Saur, Munich a. a. 2006, ISBN 3-598-22792-2 , p. 353.
4. ^ ^{A b} Philipp Maria Halm: The images of the Bavarian National Museum. Volume 2. B. Filser, 1924, p. 106 ( limited preview in Google book search).
5. ↑ An altar stone, also known as Trag [e] altar or Latin. Altare portatile ("portable altar "), was part of the decoration of altars in the Roman Catholic Church that were not made of stone or permanently attached.
6. ↑ In the High Middle Ages, only bishops or "high clergymen" were entitled to celebrate Holy Mass on support altars using an altar stone .
7. ↑ Laternsertal Local History Working Group , page 6, item 15.
8. ↑ Inventory No. N 0393