| Freiburg Altarpiece | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Hans Baldung Grien |
| Year | 1516 |
| Medium | oil on wood panel |
| Location | Freiburg Minster, Freiburg im Breisgau |
The Freiburg Altarpiece is an oil on wood panel altarpiece, created for the high altar of Frieburg Minster by the German Renaissance painter and printmaker, Hans Baldung Grien.[1][2] The altarpiece is a polyptych with eleven panels created by Baldung and members of his studio. Baldung lived in Freiburg from 1512 to 1517 as he worked on the altarpiece.[3]The painting is notable because it contains a self-portrait of the artist, as well as Baldung's monogram and signature.[1]
Influences and Creation
editCommission
editThe Freiburg altarpiece was crucial in boosting Baldung's career and gave him considerable financial success. He received a payment of 340 Rhenish florins, with an additional 250 florins to be paid over time. He received around eighteen to twenty florins from this sum each year. His brother, Casper Baldung, may have helped him gain the commission, since he was teaching in Freiburg at the time. However, Baldung had reached a considerable degree of acclaim already, so it is also possible he gained the commission on his own merit.[3]
Albrecht Dürer
editHans Baldung was a student of the painter Albrecht Dürer, and Baldung was inspired by his artistic style throughout his career. [4]The theme of the coronation is borrowed from the center panel of Dürer's Heller Altarpiece, which is now lost. It also contains elements from Dürer's Coronation of the Virgin woodcut. [5]
Matthias Grünewald
editThe Annunciation scene again takes inspiration from another artist of the time. It takes its visual cues from Matthias Grünewald's adaptation, which is now at Colmar. The angel Gabriel is similar to the one in the Isenheim Altarpiece, also by Grünewald.[4] The emphasized emotionality of his "Head of a Fool" character on the back panel can also be compared to drawings by Grünewald.[5]
Interior Panels
editWhen opened, the altarpiece displays the Coronation of the Virgin. She sits in a throne with Christ to the left of her. He extends a crown above her head. God the Father is seated to her right. A chorus of angels swarm around the scene.[5] To the left of the Virgin, Christ is depicted draped in a red cloak. The way the cloak is positioned over his body may have been to show the wounds on his hands, feet, and breast.[6] God the Father, to Mary's right, is depicted with unkempt hair and tanned skin. His appearance suggests he has spent quite a bit of time outside.[6] The angels, which are numerous and populate the entire background of the painting, have distinctive flaws-- some have distorted arms and legs, or their eyes are not entirely in focus.[6]
On the wings, the Twelve Apostles are shown. On the left, St. Paul is in front. The work has been speculated by scholars to be the work of an assistant.[6]St. Peter stands to the right, holding a large key. He wears a workman's jacket and appears to have a tan. These elements make him more earthly rather than divine, humanizing him in a way.
Exterior Panels
edit.jpg)
When closed, the altarpiece shows four scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary: the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birth of Christ, and the Flight into Egypt. The panels depict scenes from the Virgin Mary's life because the church itself was dedicated to her. [1] These scenes would be shown for the Christmas season.[6]
The Nativity scene in particular stands out due to its usage of light. The infant Christ is glowing, casting different shadows upon the people who observe him. [7] The experiment was certainly unique for its time, although the effectiveness of its execution has been debated.[6]
In the Visitation, the combination of colors and the serene expression on Mary's face makes it one of Baldung's most joyful paintings. Mary carries herself with an air of divine dignity, while still retaining her earthly relatability. These aspects have made her the most imitated version of Baldung's various depictions of the Virgin Mary. White rabbits are at the feet of the two women, symbolizing fertility.[6]
The Flight into Egypt leans into Joseph's superior age, showing him on unsteady legs and offering a contrast to the youth of the Virgin Mary. A few errors in Mary's presentation-- namely, the disproportionate nature of her arms and hands-- has again implied the presence of an assistant.[6]
Back Panels
editThe back panel shows the Crucifixion. Christ is shown in the center of the image, with two other men hanging on crosses at either side of him.
Mary Magdalene
editMary Magdalene wraps her arms around the base of the cross, looking sorrowfully up at Christ. This was a common convention in paintings of the Crucifixion created at the beginning of the sixteenth century. While it was not created by the artist Giotto, his Crucifixion from the Scrovegni Chapel (c. 1304/1305) helped solidify Magdalene's position at the foot of the cross.[8]
Head of a Fool
edit
Peeking out from behind the cross is an image of a man with his mouth open, staring blankly forward. The exaggerated expression of the figure intends to display the cruel, grotesque nature of those responsible for the events of the Crucifixion. This depiction of Christ's persecutors is common in Northern art from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. [5]
Self-Portrait
editOn the right, there stands a young man who tends to a white horse. Standing behind the man is a man who bears a striking resemblance to Hans Baldung himself. It is reasonably speculated that this was his self-portrait. His hand is placed on a young man's shoulder, whose chest displays the painter's monogram.[6]
Reception
editWhile the Freiburg Altarpiece is often considered Baldung's masterpiece, his close association with the styles of his contemporaries drew criticism. Early twentieth-century scholars (including names such as Curjel, Hugelshofer, and Pinder) found his work too eccentric or not serious enough for the subjects it showed.[5] While he often drew inspiration from Dürer, he was often criticized for lacking his own style. However, the ways in which Baldung worked with the material already produced by Durer could be his way of commenting on Dürer's artistic choices.[5]
The altarpiece stands out among his other works due to the lack of supernatural figures. Baldung's witches, devils, and depictions of death have become his primary legacy.
Notes
edit- ^ a b c "Smarthistory – Hans Baldung Grien, Freiburg Altarpiece". smarthistory.org. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
- ^ "Der Hochaltar". Münsterfabrikfonds (in German). Retrieved 2024-09-03.
- ^ a b Brady Jr., Thomas (December 1975). "The Social Place of a German Renaissance Artist: Hans Baldung Grien (1484/85-1545) at Strasbourg". Central European History. 8 (4): 299 – via JSTOR.
- ^ a b Cuttler, Charles D. (1968). Northern Painting: From Pucelle to Bruegel/Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Centuries. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc. pp. 389–391.
- ^ a b c d e f Shestack, Alan; Talbot, Charles W.; Hults, Linda C. (1981). Hans Baldung Grien: Prints and Drawings. University of Chicago Press. pp. 12–232. ISBN 0-89467-013-1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Burkhard, Arthur (1965). Seven German Altars. F. Bruckmann. pp. 5–17.
- ^ Venturi, Lionello (1956). The Sixteenth Century: From Leonardo to El Greco (The Great Centuries of Painting). Switzerland: Skira. p. 121.
- ^ Bohde, Daniela (2019). "Mary Magdalene at the Foot of the Cross: Iconography and the Semantics of Place". Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz. 61 (1): 3–44 – via JSTOR.
References
edit- James H. Marrow and Alan Shestack, Hans Baldung Grien, prints & drawings, exhibition catalogue (New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1981).
- Bonnie Noble, “The Weird Sisters of Hans Baldung Grien,” Primacy of the Image in Northern European Art, 1400–1700: Essays in Honor of Larry Silver, edited by Debra Cashion, Henry Luttikhuizen, and Ashley West (Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. 269–83.
- Bonnie Noble, “The Kind of Virgin That Keeps a Parrot: Identity, Nature, and Myth in a Painting by Hans Baldung Grien,” Journal of Literature and Art, volume 4 number 9 (September 2014), pp. 702–21.
- James Snyder, Larry Silver, and Henry Luttikhuizen, Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575, 2nd edition (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2005), pp. 362–67.