Wildenstein Altar

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Wildenstein Altar, open

The Wildensteiner Altar of the Master of Messkirch is a small house altar, which was created in 1536 for Gottfried Werner von Zimmer and his wife Apollonia von Henneberg. It is named after Wildenstein Castle , in which it was probably never permanently installed. A copy of the altar was made in 1873 as part of the renovation of the castle and has been in the castle chapel there ever since. The location of the copy was transferred to the name of the original, which is exhibited in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.

It has been on the list of nationally valuable cultural assets since 1955.

The work was created in the context of the large order from the founder to enlarge and redesign the collegiate church of Sankt Martin in his residence town of Messkirch . After the end of the Peasants' War and at a time when the Reformation was establishing itself in the neighboring Duchy of Württemberg and in the imperial cities, this can be interpreted as an old-faith confession.

In contrast to the work on the altarpieces, which often have the character of a workshop, the Wildenstein Altar has more individual artistic features. It is therefore understood as the main work of the master von Messkirch, which is only missing from the lists of the important painters of his time because of its namelessness. He stands at the transition from old German panel painting to the Renaissance and brings the old techniques, such as gilding, to their greatest effect.

individual parts

The closed altar: the beginning of the passion story

The retable , as it is presented today in the Stuttgart State Gallery in a new frame, consists of a central panel (inventory number 3819), two inactive leaves (inventory numbers 3822 and 3823) and two rotating leaves painted on both sides (inventory numbers 3820 and 3821).

When open, you can see the central panel of Our Lady with child crowned by angels in the circle of the 14 patron saints of the Zimmer house , with the dimensions 64 × 60 cm on fir wood.

This is flanked on the two rotating wings on the left by kneeling donor Count Gottfried Werner von Zimmer , with the dimensions 68.6 × 28.2 cm, trimmed on all sides, on the right and left with an approx. 1 cm wide strip attached to fir wood. The inscription Gotfrid · Wernher · Grave · vnd herre zv o zÿmbern · Herre · zv o willdenstein · vnd · mosskirch · Etatis 1536 is on a cartouche below the donor portrait . On the right of the kneeling donor Countess Apollonia von Henneberg , with the dimensions 68.65 × 28.3 cm, trimmed on all sides, on the right and left an approx. 1 cm wide strip is attached to fir wood. On a cartouche below the portrait of the founder is the inscription Von gnaden Gnaden Apolonia Gra e vin • vnd fraw zv o hennenberg • 1536 •

When closed, the beginning of the passion story is visible. On the left inactive wing of Christ's farewell to his mother , measuring 71.8 × 30.7 cm on softwood. On the two rotating wings, the back of the donor boards, cross-wing Christ on the Mount of Olives and on the right inactive wing the Capture of Christ , with the dimensions 72.2 × 31 cm on softwood.

origin

Copy of the Wildenstein Altarpiece in the chapel of Wildenstein Castle
Former director of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Christian von Holst and Heinrich Fürst zu Fürstenberg , in 2002, when the altar was handed over on loan

The modest dimensions (height of the individual panels a little more than 60 cm) on the one hand and the unusually valuable design with ample use of gold on the other hand suggest that the Wildenstein Altar was a house altar for a Lady Chapel of one of Gottfried Werner's castles. The donor couple had it commissioned in 1536 in direct spatial and temporal connection with the altar equipment of the newly built late Gothic church of St. Martin in Messkirchen . It is uncertain whether the altar was ever used permanently at Wildenstein Castle or whether it was commissioned directly for Messkirch Castle , but the latter is more likely. It is also conceivable that he and the founder commuted between Wildenstein and Meßkirch during longer stays at the castle.

One altar is documented at Wildenstein Castle, but it cannot be clearly identified which altar it is.

The original was first mentioned in an inventory of the Meßkirch Castle on September 9, 1623. The Zimmerische noble house died out in 1594, the rule of Messkirch came through sale by the heirs to the house Helfenstein-Gundelfingen , from there, after its extinction in 1627, to the house Fürstenberg . In 1623, 1625 and 1642, according to inventory lists, the altar was in the court chapel, after which it must have changed its location within the castle.

An inventory list of Wildenstein Castle from September 1642 in connection with an episode in the Thirty Years War contains “The pretty Wildenstein Altar”. The Wildenstein Castle was already used by the rooms as a place of refuge and safekeeping during the war, which also applied to the Fürstenbergers. During this time the castle was involved in armed conflicts . A small group of Hohentwielian troops had taken possession of the castle, but had been driven out again by Bavarian troops . The castle remained under Bavarian occupation, but valuable inventory was given to the allied Fürstenbergers. "The costlich Wildensteinisch altar" was made on November 3, 1643 after Meßkirch, but immediately on to Feuerthalen near Schaffhausen shifted . The “ Falkensteinisch Altar ” has been in existence at Wildenstein Castle since 1663 and was moved there after Falkenstein Castle became uninhabitable.

In a register from 1751, the altar is located “in Ihro Highness of Prince Frobenii below the cabinet [below, crossed out: in the 3rd lower hallway room]”. A list of "their better paintings in the local castle" from April 18, 1765 lists it first.

In 1819 the altar was brought to Donaueschingen along with other works of art . Under the supervision of the brothers Sulpiz and Melchior Boisserée , it was restored by Carl or Theodor Mattenheimer in Munich and, together with the rest of the collection, was first moved to the castle's festival rooms in 1837 , later to the Karlshof and from 1869 to the Karlsbau, the former tithe barn converted into a museum .

Wildenstein Castle was extensively renovated in the 19th century, and the castle chapel was also given a historicist interior. The brothers August and Heinrich Spieß made a copy of the altar in 1873, which was placed there. The name of the copy has been carried over to the original work. Only since then has the name been clearly assigned to the work of art.

Since 1955 it has been in the register of nationally valuable cultural assets .

In 2002 the altar was loaned to the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and in 2012 it was finally acquired with the support of the Kulturstiftung der Länder and the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation . After the “sale of cultural significance by the Fürstenberg aristocratic family”, it was referred to as “the trophy among new acquisitions”.

Current condition

The original frame is no longer preserved. Apart from that, the Wildenstein Altar is complete and can be represented in its functionality as a convertible altar . It is uncertain whether a predella belonged to it , as is the case with the St. Gallen Temptation and Last Supper retables, also created by the master von Messkirch.

The middle panel

The middle panel of the Wildenstein Altarpiece

A crescent Madonna stands in front of a sun shining in gold, pink and yellow . She wears a blue dress over a white shirt with a gold embroidered collar. The baby Jesus , wrapped in a cloth , turns his gaze to the viewer and, as Salvator mundi, has his hand on a (world) globe. Two angels hold a bow crown over the head of the Madonna .

In a cloudy sky populated by putti , 14 saints as half and three-quarter figures form a mandorla around mother and child. It is not the fourteen helpers in need , but, as Heinrich Feurstein noted, also with regard to the saints on the Falkensteiner altar, the namesake of the aristocratic houseszimmer , Lupfen , Erbach and Limpurg , supplemented by the saints Martin and Maria Magdalena, who are particularly venerated in Meßkirch .

Thematically assigned to St. Martin, there is a naked beggar at the lower edge of the picture, who turns his eyes to the saints and the Mother of God with child. As the only worldly person in the picture, he opens and closes the circle of saints. It is flanked by two bishops, at the bottom left St. Martin of Tours, whose robe partly in finely worked monochrome gold takes up the motif of the radiant Madonna, and at the bottom right St. Erasmus , on his chasuble , also in monochrome gold, the crucified Christ is shown on a branch cross on gold embroidery .

After St. Martin, on the left, upstairs, is St. Christopher with the Christ child on his shoulder and the green stick. This is followed by St. George , in contemporary armor , feather beret , the slain dragon under his arm. Saint Andrew , iconographically long-bearded and depicted in front of his typical cross , sits in awe of the Madonna.

The female saints gather around the head of the Madonna. First, further on the left, an Anna herself three . Anna is depicted in the Nicopoia type , a still girlishly young Mary and the baby Jesus in her arms; above, continuing the circle, St. Catherine as the king's daughter in courtly clothes, with the ring as a sign of her mystical engagement to Christ and the sword as a sign of her martyrdom. Saint Barbara , recognizable by her attributes chalice and host as the patroness of the dying , closes the semicircle of the saints on the left.

On the right follow the crowned King's daughter Ursula, wrapped in precious clothes with the arrows of her martyrdom, St. Mary Magdalene with an ointment vessel, clad in a red cloak and a golden hood, and St. Odilie with one pair of eyes on the book as the patroness of sight . Although she is the daughter of a duke, she is portrayed as a nun, which allowed the master to switch back to more muted hues. Then, further down, John the Baptist , Christ pointing and with the Lamb of God . This is followed by the two plague saints Sebastian (with the arrows as a sign of his martyrdom) and Rochus (with a pilgrim's hat , pilgrim staff and the plague wound on the thigh anointed by an angel). The circle of saints is completed by the already described Saint Erasmus, represented with the bowel wind.

Heinrich Feurstein saw the facial features of the founder Gottfried Werner and his nephew, foster son and ancestor of the house, Froben Christoph , in the faces of Saint George and the young man Sebastian, who are facing each other at the outer edge of the picture .

The rotary wing - inside

Wildenstein Altar. Open. Rotary wing, left: Kneeling donor Count Gottfried Werner von Zimmer with coat of arms.

When open, the Madonna with the saints is framed by the rotating wings with the donor couple. The latter kneels devoutly with a rosary in front of an imaginary palace architecture in the style of the Italian Renaissance .

Gottfried Werner von Zimmer is shown on the heraldically preferred side on the left . He wears an elaborate grooved armor with a gold-horned deer head as a helmet ornament . He is armed with a bihandler and a katzbalger , both of which are decorated with gold. His coat of arms is the baronial Zimmerische coat of arms without a crest, a golden lion with a halberd on a blue background. A cartouche gives information about the name and status and date of origin of the altar:

"Gotfrid · Wernher • Grave · vnd herre zv o zÿmbern •
Herre · zv o willdenstein • vnd · Mosskirch • Etatis 1536"

It was not until 1538 that the rooms were given the status of count. The inscription was adapted accordingly, as indicated by the compact typeface.

On the opposite wing, Gottfried Werner's wife is depicted as a co-founder. She wears an elegant black dress and a long veil that covers her hair, but also her mouth . The quartered Henneberg coat of arms with the double crest indicates their noble rank. A cartouche gives information about their rank: "By God's grace Apolonia Gra e vin •
and fraw zv o hennenberg • 1536 •"

The closed altar

  • Inactive leaf, left, Christ parting with his mother

  • Rotary wing, closed, overlapping wings, Christ on the Mount of Olives

  • Inactive leaf, right, the arrest of Christ

The four panels of the closed altar show in sequence the parting of Jesus from his mother, in a cross-panel scene Christ on the Mount of Olives and the arrival of the captors and on a last panel summarized the three themes of Judas kiss , capture and Malchus episode : a development from light to Darkness.

In the first scene, Jesus says goodbye to his mother. The encounter takes place shortly after the awakening of Lazarus . The two sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Maria , are part of the event.

The scene of the Mount of Olives is shown on two wings, like a central panel. It's night. In the foreground, each at the lower edge of the picture, three sleeping disciples can be seen, on the right probably Petrus, his hand already on the sword, anticipating the scene on the last panel. Dominating, in the center of the picture, but exclusively on the left panel, Christ kneels, his hands thrown up in despair. Above left - a ray of light on the otherwise gloomy table - an angel appears who shows him the cross and chalice, as a symbol that Christ has just made the decision to accept death. On the right-hand side you can see the procession of the captors winding their way up out of the city of Jerusalem, which is shrouded in the night. The train that stretches back into the city is oversized, resembling a war campaign. At its tip, in the characteristic yellow , is Judas , already pointing to Christ. In the upper right corner, as it were as a counterpart to the angel on the left panel, a secluded farmhouse, "an idyll in the midst of a treacherous world".

The last panel tells, in a dramatic shortening, what happened around Jesus' capture. Three separate events are summarized in one picture: Judas kisses Jesus, actually the identification signal for the captors. But Jesus is already tied up and is being led away. In the foreground, Peter is still fighting Malchus and is about to cut off his ear. The scene is illuminated by the light of two torches, but actually the light seems to come from heaven, the same heaven from which the angel appeared in the first panel of the Mount of Olives. Despite all the drama, the picture radiates a strong calm through Jesus' gaze at the viewer. He is thereby included contemplatively in the event, an imaginary dialogue between Jesus, who has accepted his fate, and the devotee.

Classification in the historical environment

Wildenstein Castle, practically unchanged since the expansion work by Gottfried Werner. The castle chapel in the center of the picture
Meßkirch approx. 40 years after the altar was created. Castle and Church of Saint Martin in the center of the picture, left

No other member of the Zimmer family has more pictorial and heraldic representations than Gottfried Werner von Zimmer, heraldically always with the Zimmer-Henneberg alliance coat of arms. This self-portrayal can be explained from the story of the former Freiherren von Zimmer in Gottfried Werner's youth. From the fall of the family in exile in Swiss federal Switzerland , in the course of the Werdenberg feud, to the elevation of the family to the rank of count in 1538.

The recapture of the room property was initiated by his two older brothers. With his marriage in 1511 to Apollonia von Henneberg , who came from the princes of the Count's House, Gottfried Werner's rise in the family hierarchy began. The wedding was preceded by a novel-like kidnapping of the bride - a reconciliation with the bride's parents did not take place until 1521. After the marriage, Johann Werner the Younger (the eldest brother Veit Werner had died in 1499) and Gottfried Werner exchanged rulers. Gottfried Werner received the feudal rulership of Meßkirch, while Johann Werner contented himself with the more rural rulership of Vor Wald and first moved to Seedorf and later to Falkenstein Castle .

The temporal, spatial and family environment was shaped by the disputes of the Reformation, but also by the general upheavals that resulted from the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. In the immediate vicinity, the Duchy of Württemberg had just introduced the Reformation , shortly before the imperial city of Ulm . The rift even went through the family: Katharina von Zimmer , Gottfried Werner's sister, handed over the Zurich Fraumünster in 1524 , to which she and her sister were brought during the family's exile and as whose abbess she had since risen to the city of Zurich . The rest of the family condemned this act severely. On Peasants' War also the Zimmerischen subjects had participated. There were no local acts of violence (Gottfried Werner had fled to Wildenstein Castle), but carpenters were affected by the suppression of the Baltringer Haufen , others were to be found in the vicinity of the Weingarten Treaty . After the uprising was put down, Gottfried Werner wrote his own contract with his subjects on November 25, 1525, on which he made them swear. The subjects renounced their previously existing autonomy rights and accepted higher taxes. For this they were withdrawn from the criminal court of the Swabian Federation . In the following year, Gottfried Werner began expanding his rule. The cathedral builder from Constance, Lorenz Refer, enlarged the collegiate church of St. Martin by half and the burial place was moved to the choir. Werner built Wildenstein Castle into an early modern fortress at considerable expense, and Messkirch Castle was also permanently converted, although it was first converted into the first regular four-winged castle north of the Alps by his nephew Froben Christoph. From around 1535 the master von Meßkirch was commissioned with his workshop to create a complete program of altars for the collegiate church of Sankt Martin. The unique refurbishment of the church with a new high altar piece and at least ten side retables at a time when altars were destroyed in the immediate vicinity can be seen as a creed. When the church was made Baroque from 1772, this connection was destroyed. Eight central panels have been preserved, scattered all over the world, and 40 to 52 views of saints on the stationary and rotating leaves, depending on the overall context.

The Wildenstein Altar is a secondary order from this time. As a private house altar, it shows that Gottfried Werner's public program and personal commitment match. The Zimmerische Chronik describes him as a "gotzförchtiger and vil bedding gentleman." He also took part in associations of old-believing imperial estates in Upper Swabia to ward off further expansion of the Reformation.

Image program

According to Elsbeth Wiemann, despite the lack of documents, it can be assumed that the donors made precise content-related specifications regarding the sequence of images and the selection of the saints shown. Since they are not the classic fourteen emergency helpers , they should probably give the circle of noble contemporaries who had access to this altar evidence of the noble family relationships of the rooms. From Feuerstein the hint had already come that it was the house saints of the noble houses Zimmer, Lupfen, Erbach and Limpurg. However, there is no indication of which saints are to be assigned to which noble houses.

The altar is more, if not exclusively, a masterpiece than workshop work compared to some of the church furnishing work.

Comparable to the Wildensteiner Altar is the Falkensteiner Altar, which was made only shortly before for the older brother Johann Werner von Zimmer, although the Wildensteiner Altar is more demanding and more complex in terms of content. Both of them are particularly characterized by the combination of ancient, late Gothic elements with progressive image ideas from the Renaissance. The use of gold in decorative elements and in the background shows an unconscious or at least conscious adherence to traditionally sanctified pictorial formulas, but the latter in connection with the plasticity of the figures, the ornamental freedom of the robes and the light-containing coloring. With regard to the highly differentiated fine painting and the material art of characterization, the master shows himself at the height of his art. With the Wildenstein Altar in particular, the required old-faith image content is harmoniously linked to the representative claim of the client.

The founder is certainly represented according to his specifications. The portrait is repeated on the side wing of the high altar retable and the relief on the bronze epitaph, especially with regard to armor and armament, is almost identical. The Zimmerische Chronik reports: “Uf such were he put a lot of work during his lifetime, he used them, cleaned them, sharpened them, and with that nobody else bothered villages. The sword has been compared to half a battle sword and has been particularly dear ”.

  • Gottfried Werner on the side wing of the high altar retable

  • Bronze epitaph Gottfried Werner in the collegiate church of St. Martin

At the Wildenstein Altar, Willibald Sauerländer speaks of “one of the last great compositions of old German painting, a painted defensorium of Old Belief in the hour of the Reformation”. The middle picture is "a full-sounding palladium of catholicity". The passage of time is also clear in art history: the closed retable is “one of the last painted Passion cycles of old German painting”, while on the central panel “everything is still late Gothic”, “a playful Nordic renaissance sparkles and sparkles ” on the wings.

Feuerstein already referred to the individual templates for picture elements on well-known woodcut models. It is not possible to determine who made the selection of the motifs. Graphics were readily available at this point and could have been available to both the master workshop and the client. It is different with comparisons with the techniques of individual artists. These indicate acquaintances who were made during apprenticeship and traveling years or through working on joint assignments. Speculations about this were also made in the attempt to uncover the secret of the identity of the master von Messkirch.

Dürer's copper engraving Maria with the star crown can be assumed as a model for the Madonna in the central panel. Hans Baldung Griens was probably the inspiration for the folds . From the triptych for the Johanniterkommende zum Grünen Wörth in Strasbourg, the three parts of which are now scattered across Schwäbisch Gmünd, Cleveland and New York, the master drew many ideas for the Wildenstein and Falkenstein altars. It is believed that he knew the altar himself, or that he knew the final artwork or the sights . It is concluded from this that the master von Meßkirch worked for a time as a student or assistant in Baldung's Freiburg workshop.

  • Mary on the crescent moon, Dürer, 1508

  • Hans Baldung: Reconstruction of the triptych of Johanitterkommende to the Green Wörth, Strasbourg

  • Detail of the central panel, mirrored

For the palace architecture, the master resorted to a series of planetary images published by Albrecht Glockendon in 1531 and gave it a very unique effect through the use of colors, decorative elements, the elaboration of the assistant figures and the vegetation.

  • Detail from the palace architecture of the left rotating wing

  • Hans Sebald Beham or Georg Penc: The seven planets: Venus, 1531

  • Hans Sebald Beham or Georg Penc: The seven planets: Sun, 1531

  • Detail from the palace architecture of the right rotary wing

In the Mount of Olives scene, references to Dürer's copper engraving passion are to be assumed, expanded to include the procession of the henchmen: a motif that can already be found in Hans Schäufelein and that the master von Meßkirch enhanced with precise drawings and a dramatic evening atmosphere. The engraving passion was more detailed and had a higher selling price. It was aimed at educated, art-loving audiences.

  • Albrecht Dürer: Christ on the Mount of Olives, sheet 1, the copper engraving passion, 1508

  • Placeholder; should appear here: Hans Schäufelein: Christ on the Mount of Olives, 1510, Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett

Various elements from different templates are also often combined, such as the Judas kiss from Dürer's Little Passion and the Malchus scene, with Malchus following the model from the woodcut by Hans Burgmair and the pompous prison leader again having the overseer from another sheet of Dürer's Little Passion as a model .

  • Wildenstein Altar, detail of a painting scene

  • Albrecht Dürer: The Capture of Christ, Sheet 12, Small Passion, around 1509

  • Hans Burgkmair: Death and the Lovers, around 1510

  • Christ nailing to the cross, sheet 24, Small Passion, around 1509

  • Wildenstein Altar, detail, overseer

According to Wiemann, the unique selling points of the master of Messkirch are the "garments that become independent from the figures in ornamental freedom" and also the "grisailles painted with a sure hand on an oil-gilded background". Wiemann also points out the special, individual and harmonious coloring of the altar when it is open and closed. The passion scenes on the closed side, which are to be understood as "historical occurrences", take place in a Black Forest and Danube landscape (the rooms' own), with rich green and brown tones, mild moonlight and torchlight, from which the blue, red and yellow robes stand out. In contrast, there is the open altar, the subject of which has no narrative connection. A multiple broken gray, from light silver gray to the deepest basalt black, forms the background for the figures of saints, in which red and gold tones predominate and like precious stones are strung around a blue jewel like in the setting of a piece of jewelry. The same colors can be found in the side wings, so that the overall picture resembles a “jewelery made of gold and precious stones”.

  • Detail from the passion tablets: The Black Forest House

According to Wiemann, the iconographic representation and the dominance of the gold tones of the open altar are reminiscent of the origins of panel painting . The composition of the image and the perception of the figure, however, are modern. The landscape depictions of the closed altar are already close to the Danube School .

Material and technology

Detail of the central panel: Saint Martin

In preparation for the major state exhibition The Master of Messkirch - Catholic Splendor during the Reformation from December 8, 2017 to April 2, 2018 in the State Gallery in Stuttgart, the panel paintings by the Master of Messkirch that are in the possession of the State Gallery were examined from an art-technological perspective. For the Wildenstein Altar, the following resulted:

Image carrier

Fir was the preferred carrier material with a board thickness of 0.5 to 0.8 cm, in the flat , also called tangential cut, with mainly horizontal annual rings. They are mostly knotty boards of low quality. Such boards were supplied by carpenters around 1500, who often optimized the boards with animal tendons - a technique derived from weapon manufacture .

Laminating and priming

A pre-gluing was then carried out . A full-surface lamination with glue-soaked hemp fabric was found on the donor boards and on the central board . This was followed by a primer made of chalk , which varies in density depending on the degree of lamination. The fully laminated pen side, for example, was primed twice as thick with four primer coats as the uncovered back. A priming burr on all four sides indicates that the boards were primed and painted in a groove strip frame.

Signatures and scratch drawings

Works by the master von Meßkirch are characterized by detailed signatures and fine-grained scratched drawings. Although no preliminary drawings from him have survived, it can be assumed that these served as the basis for the later explanations, because the signatures show hardly any conceptual changes and the additional fabric lamination that is necessary for the poliment gilding presupposes that the composition of the picture already extends into the Proportions were fixed. The architectural elements on the donor boards were applied by means of a hole pause , that is, the tracing paper was perforated and the tracing material (black pigment accumulations, charcoal?) Was applied to the picture carrier through the holes. Residues of pause points could be detected by infrared reflectography . Cennino Cennini had already described in 1400 how such preliminary drawings should be removed and redrawn with a liquid medium. Iron gall ink could be detected on the local tablets . They can be recognized with the naked eye by white lead saponification under some light layers of paint . A tube pen was used as a drawing device . It was also suitable for the angel faces on the central panel because of the wide range of possible variations in the line widths. An oil-based intermediate layer was then applied to fix the signatures and as a basis for the painting.

The contours of the signatures and the interior details of be gilded surfaces were coated with a tack nachgeritzt. The nimbs have divider marks , that is, the gilding was placed over the structure created in this way.

Metal supports

Detail of the miter of St. Erasmus from the central panel

Metal layers occur in both glossy and matt application techniques. Larger areas are shiny gold- plated , smaller objects, architectural elements and rays are not matt gold- plated. The application technique depends on the material properties of the binder systems, but also follows an artistic intention when matt and shiny gold surfaces are set against each other and different gold tones are achieved through underlying colors.

First, the shiny gold plating took place. As a primer, red ocher was used as a bolus . Egg white probably served as a binding agent . In the case of the matt gold plating, three differently pigmented application agents with an oil-based binder could be identified. Powder gold was also used as a subtle highlight on the folds of the garment .

The leaf metals were also decorated with engravings and paint applications. The circular nimbs were laid out in the primer with dividers and then reworked with the engraving hook . The matt gilding (except for the nimbs) was decorated with a brown transparent glaze painting after the gilding . Here the master of Messkirch used the color glaze in a very painterly way and used additional white heightening and glazed colors for accentuation. The masterful application of this technique is an outstanding characteristic of this artist.

Painting technique

Detail from the left passive wing: Jesus parting from his mother

The master of Messkirch painted in a three-tone technique. First the mid-tone was applied, then the darkness followed, and finally the brightness. The paint was applied in thin, opaque and translucent layers. He followed the signatures exactly so that there is no overlap of the color areas. A comparison of different panels - including those from the altar retable from Sankt Martin - shows that the structure and material of the same colored surfaces correspond exactly. Based on this, his unique handwriting can be proven. The special layer application and the color nuances, in particular the use of differently colored, transparent contours, which can lie on or under the painting and serve to darken it, also result in its own glazing color and depth. He was able to do without the use of black pigments.

The coloring agents are of high quality and characteristic of the time.

  • White lead , both pure and mixed with chalk, served as a white pigment .
  • Lead tin yellow type I was mostly used for light, yellow, opaque layers.
  • Semi-transparent and golden yellow areas probably contain ocher .
  • Green color areas differ according to clothing and vegetation.
    • Garments were underpainted with lead tin yellow type I, over which there were verdigris glazes in different layers, depending on the degree of shading. The deepest shadows were outlined with a red paint.
    • The vegetation was laid out flat with mountain green as a pigment. Structures such as leaves, branches and grass heights were made with light pigments such as white lead and yellow lead.
  • Of red colorants were red lead , vermilion , red iron oxide and two lakes, including shearing wool coat , be detected.
    • The colored lacquers were mainly used for the robes, which gives the impression of velvet and silk. Shading was achieved through the different levels of application of the layers. White lead was added to create brightness. Collars, cloak hems and raised areas were partially trimmed with red lead or vermilion. Mixtures of cinnabar, lake color, and iron oxide with pure oil as a binder were used to achieve opaque red tones.
  • Blue tones were created with azurite . Different brightnesses were achieved by choosing the grain size. Due to changes in the binding agent, some of the blue tones are now only perceptible as black. The mid-tones were dabbed on, lightness was applied in streaks and the colors were finely rubbed into the shadow areas. There are two different shades of blue for the robes:
    • a gray-purple shade of blue, for example for the robe of Jesus or the headgear of Rochus. The middle tone was mixed here with a red and a white pigment. Shadows were shaded with a brown glaze and additionally bordered with a brown transparent contour.
    • In the robe of the Madonna or Peter it is a bright blue. The middle tone was mixed with white, the darker tone almost exclusively achieved by increasing the layers of paint with blue. In the greatest depths there is a red transparent glaze below the blue.
  • For the brown tones, the master von Messkirch used a brown pigment whose composition could not yet be determined.

Pentimenti , changes during the painting process, cannot be detected on the Wildenstein Altar.

literature

Web links

Commons : Wildensteiner Altar  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Willibald Sauerländer: Last Sounds of Old German Painting. The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe acquire works by the master von Meßkirch. In: Kulturstiftung der Länder . 2015, accessed February 28, 2018 .
  2. ↑ "When he (Gottfried Werner) parted ways with Wildenstain, he first went to the chapels, in which he made a very good bed in front of the altar; then he called a vacation from the Wildenstain house, with anzaig against the people who were turning around, his end approaching and alive in such a house would never come. " Zimmerische Chronik, Volume 4, p. 152 f
  3. ^ Heinrich Feuerstein: Princely Fürstenberg collections in Donaueschingen . Directory of paintings. IV. Edition Edition. Anton Meder printer, Donaueschingen 1934, p. 59 ( uni-heidelberg.de [accessed on February 10, 2018]).
  4. ↑ a b c EW (Elsbeth Wiemann): The Wildensteiner Altar, 1536 . Catalog text. In: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Elsbeth Wiemann (Hrsg.): The master of Messkirch . Catholic splendor in the Reformation period. Hirmer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-7774-3043-0 , pp. 132 .
  5. ^ Heinrich Feurstein: Princely Fürstenberg collections in Donaueschingen . Directory of paintings. 4th edition. Anton Meder printer, Donaueschingen 1934, p. 60 ( uni-heidelberg.de [accessed on February 10, 2018]).
  6. ^ EW (Elsbeth Wiemann): The Wildenstein Altarpiece, 1536 . Catalog text. In: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Elsbeth Wiemann (Hrsg.): The master of Messkirch . Catholic splendor in the Reformation period. Hirmer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-7774-3043-0 , pp. 136 f .
  7. ↑ Lena Grundhuber: Expert Elsbeth Wiemann on the Wildensteiner Altar. NPG Digital GmbH ( Neue Pressegesellschaft ), January 16, 2014, accessed on March 31, 2018 .
  8. ^ Badische Zeitung - editorial office: A festival of art. September 17, 2009, accessed March 6, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Rose-Maria Gropp: Reinhold Würth buys the pictures of the Fürstenbergs. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . November 27, 2003, accessed March 6, 2018 .
  10. ^ Willibald Sauerländer: Last Sounds of Old German Painting. The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe acquire works by the master von Meßkirch. In: Kulturstiftung der Länder . 2015, accessed February 28, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Heinrich Feuerstein : The master of Messkirch in the light of the latest finds and research . Urban-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1933, ISBN 978-3-95491-207-0 , p. 48 u. 51 (KlassikArt, Paderborn, reprint of the original from 1933).
  12. ^ Heinrich Feurstein: Princely Fürstenberg collections in Donaueschingen . Directory of paintings. 4th edition. Anton Meder printer, Donaueschingen 1934, p. 55 ( uni-heidelberg.de [accessed on February 10, 2018]).
  13. ^ EW (Elsbeth Wiemann): The Wildenstein Altarpiece, 1536 . Catalog text. In: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Elsbeth Wiemann (Hrsg.): The master of Messkirch . Catholic splendor in the Reformation period. Hirmer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-7774-3043-0 , pp. 135 f .
  14. ↑ Edwin Ernst Weber: The "patron" of the master of Messkirch. Count Gottfried Werner von Zimmer between the Reformation, the Peasants' War and the old faith . In: The Master of Messkirch Catholic splendor in the Reformation period . Hirmer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-7774-3043-0 , pp. 15 .
  15. ↑ Zimmerische Chronik 2, p. 106ff "It was also vilbemelt fraw Catharina and ire gebrüeder afterwards not accepted any friendship or good will against each other ..."
  16. ↑ Zimmerische Chronik 2, p. 522ff "What gentlemen Gotfriden Wernhern barons zue Zimbern encounters in the Beurian outrage, also how those of Mösskirch get along halfway with ime irer actions"
  17. ↑ Edwin Ernst Weber: The "patron" of the master of Messkirch. Count Gottfried Werner von Zimmer between the Reformation, the Peasants' War and the old faith . In: The Master of Messkirch Catholic splendor in the Reformation period . Hirmer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-7774-3043-0 , pp. 22 .
  18. ↑ Bernd Konrad: The barons and counts of rooms as "art patrons" . In: Patrons, collectors, chroniclers . The Counts of Zimmer and the culture of the Swabian nobility. Belser, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-7630-2625-8 , pp. 196 .
  19. ↑ Zimmerische Chronik 4, page 176 This chapter has a report of grave Göttfriden Wernher's properties and uses in common.
  20. ↑ Edwin Ernst Weber: The "patron" of the master of Messkirch. Count Gottfried Werner von Zimmer between the Reformation, the Peasants' War and the old faith . In: The Master of Messkirch Catholic splendor in the Reformation period . Hirmer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-7774-3043-0 , pp. 22 .
  21. ^ EW (Elsbeth Wiemann): The Wildenstein Altarpiece, 1536 . Catalog text. In: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Elsbeth Wiemann (Hrsg.): The master of Messkirch . Catholic splendor in the Reformation period. Hirmer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-7774-3043-0 , pp. 135 .
  22. ↑ Elsbeth Wiemann: The Master of Messkirch - work and work . In: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Elsbeth Wiemann (Hrsg.): The master of Messkirch . Catholic splendor in the Reformation period. Hirmer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-7774-3043-0 , pp. 39 .
  23. ↑ Zimmerische Chronik, Volume 4, p. 179 "The sword has compared itself to a half battle sword and has been particularly dear"
  24. ^ Willibald Sauerländer: Last Sounds of Old German Painting. The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe acquire works by the master von Meßkirch. In: Kulturstiftung der Länder . 2015, accessed February 28, 2018 .
  25. ↑ a b c d e EW (Elsbeth Wiemann): The Wildensteiner Altar, 1536 . Catalog text. In: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Elsbeth Wiemann (Hrsg.): The master of Messkirch . Catholic splendor in the Reformation period. Hirmer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-7774-3043-0 , pp. 136 .
  26. ^ Pia Littmann: Christ on the Mount of Olives . In: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Elsbeth Wiemann (Hrsg.): The master of Messkirch. Catholic splendor in the Reformation period . Hirmer, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-7774-2918-2 .
  27. ↑ Lydia Schmidt, Eva Tasch: Material and Technology . The art technology of the panel paintings by the master von Meßkirch from the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. In: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Elsbeth Wiemann (Hrsg.): The master of Messkirch . Catholic splendor in the Reformation period. Hirmer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-7774-3043-0 , pp. 99-105 . The wood anatomical determinations were carried out by Elisabeth Krebs, Stuttgart. The fiber determination by Renate Kühnen, Greifswald. Analog radiographs were digitized and merged by Peter Vogel, State Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart. Analytical evidence with REM / EDX by Christoph Krekel, State Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart. Infrared reflectography with the OSIRIS camera (Opus Instruments) with the support of Annika Maier, State Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart.




  28. ↑ Renate Kühnen, Christoph Herm: Protein fibers as intermediate layer on medieval shields, panel paintings and altarpieces . In: Journal of Art Technology and Conservation . tape 30 , Issue 1, 2016, ISBN 978-3-7630-2625-8 , pp. 36-46 . Quoted from: Lydia Schmidt, Eva Tasch: Material und Technik . The art technology of the panel paintings by the master von Meßkirch from the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. In: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Elsbeth Wiemann (Hrsg.): The master of Messkirch . Catholic splendor in the Reformation period. Hirmer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-7774-3043-0 , pp. 105 .