Twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple (Bernhard Strigel)
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| Twelve year old Jesus in the temple |
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| Bernhard Strigel , 1509 |
| Tempera on wood |
| 84.5 × 54 cm |
| Antoniterkloster Memmingen |
Twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple is a painting by the painter Bernhard Strigel from Memmingen from around 1509 , which comes from an altarpiece on the theme of the Seven Sorrows and Joys of Mary . It was intended for a church in Isny im Allgäu or Aulendorf in the Ravensburg district .
description
The illustration shows the story according to Luke ( Lk 2,41-52 EU ) as well as the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas . The scene is divided into two parts. In the foreground stands Maria, surrounded by a nimbus, with a white headscarf, blue cloak and red undergarment. Next to her you can see Josef in red. Both have their backs to the viewer. The sword prophesied by Simeon ( Lk 2,35 EU ), a metaphor of mental pain, is visible in Mary's chest. To the left of Maria is a plaque painted in the picture. The scene around the baby Jesus takes up the rear and largest part of the picture . The baby Jesus, surrounded by a nimbus, sits in a circle of scribes on the lap of the scholar sitting at the top. This is raised by the throne and its robe. The scholar's facial features are reminiscent of the Habsburg portraits by Bernhard Strigel. The typical Habsburg nose in particular catches the eye. The clothing corresponds to the fashion of the Strigel period: a long red coat with a fur-trimmed collar and a red beret on shoulder-length hair. Another scholar in a yellow robe sits in front of the baby Jesus. He is holding a book with his left hand and pointing with his right to a passage in the open book. The baby Jesus also points to the book with his right hand. The background is demarcated by curtains. Several scholars can be seen between the curtains.
history
The original folding altar had the theme of the Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys of Mary . The altar was probably made for a church in Aulendorf or Isny . By 1883 at the latest, the tablet of the twelve-year-old Jesus can be traced in the temple in the Hohenzollern Museum in Sigmaringen. After that year, the tablet came into an unknown private property before it was acquired by Sparkasse Memmingen-Mindelheim in 1980 . This gave the tablet to the city of Memmingen as a loan. It has been on display there since the Strigel Museum opened in the former Antonite monastery in 1998.
The assignment of the picture to one of the two parts of the altar is not easy. With the sword in Mary's chest, the image could be part of the Seven Sorrows, with the discovery of the Baby Jesus it could be counted among the Seven Joys. Only the reconstruction of the altar could lead to the conclusion that this picture is part of the Seven Joys of Mary. On the painful side of the altar there was no room for this picture when the attempt was made to reconstruct it; however, it fits in seamlessly with the side of the seven joys. Therefore, in today's literature the opinion is held that this is a picture of the seven joys.
Tablet text
The text on the board reads in Latin and High German:
- Non minor tristicia sequitur theotocum sanctam
- Cum inter amicos nec notos claresceret ipse
- Qui varios disputationum nodos solvebat in scolis
- Tridua maerorem attulit amissio matri
- Non minor tristicia sequitur theotocum sanctam
- The holy Mother of God is given no less sadness,
- whether the one shining brightly among friends and acquaintances
- untied the various knots of disputations in schools;
- the three days of loss saddened the mother.
- The holy Mother of God is given no less sadness,
literature
- Gertrud Otto : Ivo and Bernhard Strigel, Hans Thoman. In: Memminger Geschichtsblätter. 1967, ISSN 0539-2896 , pp. 23-28.
- Melanie Thierbach: Guide through the Strigel Museum Memmingen. Published by the City of Memmingen, Memmingen 1998.
