Annunciation Group (Berlin)

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The Annunciation group in the sculpture collection of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Inv.-No. 8160) is a linden wood sculpture from the first quarter of the 16th century that depicts the Annunciation to Mary . It comes from the James Simon collection and was added to the museum's collection as a gift in 1918. Origin and assignment to a sculptor have not been clarified beyond doubt.

description

The predominantly three-dimensional group of figures, which is flattened and slightly recessed on the back, has a triangular floor plan. The height is 23 cm, the width 29 cm and the greatest depth 12.5 cm. It shows the proclamation of the birth of Jesus by the archangel Gabriel to Mary .

The two kneeling figures are arranged around a corner, their faces mostly facing the viewer. The angel kneels on the left, clad in the richly folded robe of a deacon - recognizable by the fringed dalmatic - the fluffy folds and the flowing hair make him appear as if he were kneeling down. Maria kneels to the right behind a desk with an open book, in front of which is a vase with flowers - the desk and book form the front tip of the triangle. She has put her hands over her chest, the left one grasps her coat, which falls smoothly from her shoulders and also wrinkles on the floor. The curly hair, parted in the middle, falls open over the back, a strand lies at the front of the coat.

The sculpture shows some damage. The painting was removed by leaching. Recognizable is still that the Albe Mary's mantle of the angel was red, blue, golden hair of both; the flowers had green stems and white blossoms. The angel's left hand, which was raised in a gesture, and the scepter in his right hand have broken off, the hair of both figures, the desk, the book and the tip of the nose of the female figure are chipped. There are also numerous wormholes.

Provenance

Only the information of the previous owner about the origin of the sculpture is known, which the first processor, the art historian Theodor Demmler , gives: According to this, the group of figures should come from the Heilbronn Clarakloster , which was secularized in 1803 , where it should have been part of a joyous rosary: "At the When the monastery was abolished in 1803, all 7 groups of the joyful rosary were still preserved, and the abbess gave them away to farmers in the area, the only one that still existed when dealers and collectors became interested in such work Ödheimer farmer, installed in his stable to protect the cattle. Unfortunately, the remains of the painting are said to have only lost in the art trade. The strange arrangement of the figures - across the corner - is probably due to the context of the original structure. "

Willi Zimmermann doubts that the figure was part of a rosary from the Heilbronn Klarakloster due to the skillful and almost fully sculptural execution, contrary to the usual round bas-reliefs.

The group of figures came into the possession of the Berlin State Museums in 1918 through the collection of the Berlin patron James Simon (1851–1932). After 1945 it was in the holdings of the sculpture gallery in Berlin-Dahlem, today in the reunited sculpture collection in the Berlin Bode Museum .

Attribution

The creator of the group of figures is unknown and there are different attributions. Clemens Sommer attributed the figure to the Freiburg sculptor Hans Wydyz , who was followed by Theodor Demmler and Sibylle Groß. Rudolf Schnellbach assigned them to a group of sculptures from the Upper Rhine in Wimpfen , but considered the connection to Wydyz to be possible.

Hans Koepf counts the group among the works from the successor or workshop of Hans Seyfer . Also Ingeborg Schroth had the character to the radius Hans Seyfers.

Helmut Schmolz vacillates between Seyfer and Wydyz.

Art historical classification

For Theodor Demmler, this group of figures is an example of a South German Renaissance work in which the previous style elements still retained their meaning: “ But the late Gothic urge to make clothing the bearer of expression, the framework for the composition, also retains , still his strength in all of southern Germany. ” In addition, he considers its - still unknown - creator of outstanding importance for a picture carver: “ (...) the heavy, full body shapes, the rustling swing of the robe, the soft, juicy treatment of the wrinkles, the energetic combination of the surfaces - everything reveals a master who helped shape the style of the time. "

Modern copy

A replica of Robert Grässle , which he made after a plaster cast of the original in 1929, is now in the House of City History in Heilbronn .

literature

  • Theodor Demmler : The sculpture of the Renaissance. In: Berlin museums. Reports from the Prussian Art Collections, Volume 41, Volume 5. (June – July 1920), Col. 184–202.
  • Theodor Demmler: The sculptures in wood, stone and clay, large-scale sculpture. The sculptures of the Deutsches Museum. Vol. 3. Berlin, Leipzig 1930, pp. 160-161.
  • Images of the Christian epochs from late antiquity to classicism. From the holdings of the sculpture department of the State Museums, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Berlin-Dahlem. Prestel, Munich 1966, p. 80 No. 402 ( "Upper Middle Rhine 2nd decade 16th century; without direct relations to this (Hans Wyditz). Rather from a Middle Rhine master trained on the Upper Rhine" ).
  • Late Gothic on the Upper Rhine. Masterpieces of sculpture and handicrafts 1450-1530. Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe 1970. pp. 195–196 No. 154 Fig. 128 ( “Under the influence of Hans Wydyz. Upper Rhine, around 1510” ).
  • Sybille Groß: Hans Wydyz. His oeuvre and the art of carving from the Upper Rhine. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 1997, ISBN 3-487-10248-X . Works catalog number No. II.8: Description p. 23–26; Catalog of works p. 311; Fig. 26, p. 462.
  • Bernd Schultz, Olaf Matthes, Herbert Butz: James Simon. Philanthropist and patron of the arts. Prestel, Munich 2006. p. 153 ( “Upper Middle Rhine, 2nd decade, 16th century” ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Demmler (1930), p. 160
  2. ↑ The description follows Demmler (1930), pp. 160f.
  3. ↑ Demmler (1920), col. 192.
  4. ↑ Willy Zimmermann: The Klarakloster - newly discovered and reconstructed . In: Willi Zimmermann, Christhard Schrenk (Hrsg.): New research on the Heilbronner Klarakloster . Stadtarchiv Heilbronn, Heilbronn 1993, ISBN 978-3-928990-42-4 ( Small series of publications from the archive of the city of Heilbronn . Volume 26), pp. 7–44, there pp. 22–23: “The statements about the origin and significance of this small works of art are very different. (…) Some research showed that this group, with a strange triangular plan, a depth of 16 cm and a predominantly fully plastic design, can hardly be regarded as belonging to a rosary station. Because these are usually designed as a circular bas-relief. (...) It should therefore not be true that the Heilbronn Klarakloster was in possession of an artistically significant rosary (...). But final clarity about the origin and function of the sculptural work (...) cannot be achieved. ” Doubts about the assignment to a rosary already in catalog Karlsruhe 1970, p. 196.
  5. ^ Clemens Sommer: Contributions to the work of the carver Hans Wydyz , in: Oberrheinische Kunst 3 (1928), pp. 94-104, plate 45, 1.
  6. ↑ Demmler (1930), pp. 160-161.
  7. ↑ Groß (1997), p. 24.
  8. ^ Rudolf Schnellbach: Late Gothic sculpture in the lower Neckar area. Winter, Heidelberg 1931. pp. 107-108. 140 Fig. 115.
  9. ↑ Hans Koepf: The Heilbronner Kilianskirche and their masters. Publications of the archive of the city of Heilbronn , volume 6. City of Heilbronn, city archive, Heilbronn 1961. pp. 67–69.
  10. ^ Ingeborg Schroth: On the work of the carver Hans Wydytz. In: Journal for Swiss Archeology and Art History 22 (1962), p. 92 full text .
  11. ↑ Helmut Schmolz, Hubert Weckbach: Heilbronn - history and life of a city . 2nd Edition. Anton H. Konrad Verlag, Weißenhorn 1973, p. 103 No. 292 ( "The attribution to Hans Seyfer is not so clear in this work; some see it more as a work by Hans Wydyz ... this seems rather unlikely" , "Annunciation group , End of the 15th century " )
  12. ↑ Demmler (1920), col. 190.
  13. ↑ Demmler (1920), col. 190-191.
  14. ↑ The group of figures "Annunciation" at stadtgeschichte-heilbronn.de