Matthias Grünewald was a German Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th century.
Paintings by Matthias Grünewald
Heller Altarpiece (1610)
The Heller Altarpiece was an oil on panel triptych by German Renaissance artists Albrecht Dürer and Matthias Grünewald, executed between 1507 and 1509. The artwork was named after Jakob Heller, who ordered it. Dürer painted the interior, Grünewald the exterior.
In 1615, the Dürer copyist Jobst Harrich painted a duplicate, which is now at the Städel of Frankfurt. The side panels, executed by Dürer's workshop basing from his drawings, are at the Staatliche Kunsthalle of Karlsruhe.
Isenheim Altarpiece (1510)
The Isenheim Altarpiece is an altarpiece sculpted and painted by, respectively, the Germans Nikolaus Hagenauer and Matthias Grünewald in 1512–1516. It is on display at the Unterlinden Museum at Colmar, Alsace, in France. It is Grünewald's largest work and is regarded as his masterpiece.
It was painted for the Monastery of St. Anthony in Issenheim near Colmar, which specialized in hospital work. The Antonine monks of the monastery were noted for their care of plague sufferers as well as for their treatment of skin diseases, such as ergotism. The image of the crucified Christ is pitted with plague-type sores, showing patients that Jesus understood and shared their afflictions. The veracity of the work's depictions of medical conditions was unusual in the history of European art.
Stuppach Madonna (1514)
The Stuppach Madonna (German: Stuppacher Madonna) is a 1514–1519 painting of the Madonna and Child by the German Renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald. It is located today in the Parish Church of the Coronation of the Virgin (Pfarrkirche Mariä Krönung) in Stuppach (Bad Mergentheim). Along with the Isenheim Altarpiece, it is considered one of Grünewald's main works.
The Mocking of Christ (Grünewald) (1504)
The Mocking of Christ (German: Die Verspottung Christi) is an early oil on wood painting (1503–1505) by Matthias Grünewald. It is located today in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
Christ sits blindfolded on a low stone wall. His hands and arms are bound with a rope. A torturer who pulls on the rope stands before him, with his back turned to the viewer. Another stands behind Christ and tugs on his hair and has raised his fist to strike him. On the right a man with a staff in his left hand and with his other holds back the second torturer, who appears not to notice him.
Temptation of Saint Anthony (1512)
Isenheim Altarpiece - Saints - Left
The Miracle of Our Lady of the Snows (1510)
The Miracle of Our Lady of the Snows is an oil on wood painting by German artist Matthias Grünewald, created in 1517–1519, originally intended for the collegiate church in Aschaffenburg. It is held at the Augustiner Museum, in Freiburg im Breisgau, since 1904.
Grünewald's painting was the right wing of the Altar of Our Lady of the Snows in the collegiate church in Aschaffenburg. In an unknown date, the work was sent to Bad Mergentheim, and in the original place only the original frames with the artist's signature and the date of 1519 remained. The middle part was a representation of the Madonna with the Child. In 1809 this part was purchased by the parish priest from Stuppach. Since then, it is known as the Stuppach Madonna. The right part was purchased in 1828 by the Bavarian Central Picture Gallery, which in 1852 sold it for 15 guilders and 36 cutters. In the following years, the work changed hands until it was transferred to the Augustinermuseum in Freiburg im Breisgau, in 1904.
Saint Erasmus and Saint Maurice (1520)
Saint Erasmus and Saint Maurice is an oil on wood painting by German artist Matthias Grünewald. It was commissioned by Albert of Brandenburg, executed between 1520 and 1524, and originally intended for the new cathedral in Halle. It is now held at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
Saint Erasmus stands dressed in luxurious episcopal vestments, on the left. He holds in his right hand the testimony of his martyrdom, the spindle wrapped in entrails torn from his body with a ship's winch. Opposite him stands Saint Maurice, of black African origin, in a silver armor. He addresses Saint Erasmus by raising his hand clad in a white glove. Maurice, according to the legend, was the leader of the "Thebes Legion", in which only Christian soldiers served. This legion was stationed at Thebes in Egypt and was slain because of their refusal to take part in the persecution of Christians during the reign of Diocletian. Behind St. Erasmus there is a gray-haired abbot, a scholar and an adviser to the archbishop. Behind St. Maurice, there are its hardened soldiers. The poses, movements, clothing, facial expressions and colors of the four figures depicted in the painting brilliantly characterize the various strata of the medieval society. A leader of the clergy in Europe meets a leader of the soldiers in Africa. This, one might say, represents a church-political meeting on the world stage, a testimony of the power and splendor of Catholicism on two continents.
The Crucifixion (1514)
Isenheimer Altar, ehemals Hauptaltar des Antoniterklosters in Isenheim/Elsaß, Werktagsseite, Mittelbild: Kreuzigung Christi Auftraggeber: Abt G. Guersi, Wandelaltar, bestehend aus zehn Öltafeln und einem geschnitzten Schrein
Resurrection (1515)
Matthias Grünewald - Resurrection
Tauberbischofsheim Altarpiece (1523)
The Tauberischofsheim Altarpiece (earlier known as the Karlsruhe altarpiece or Karlsruhe panels; German: Tauberbischofsheimer Altar, Karlsruher Altar, and Karlsruher Tafeln, respectively) is a late work by the German Renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald, probably completed between 1523 and 1525. The earliest written references to the work come from the 18th century when the altarpiece was still in the Church of St. Martin in Tauberbischofsheim. Its original location and the identity of the patron who commissioned it are not known, but it is assumed that they both were in Tauberbischofsheim.
The panels, which today are displayed separately, were originally painted on either side of a 196 cm by 152 cm wooden panel. Whether the pieces were the central part of a polyptych is uncertain, however. In order to display the work in an art museum, the panel was split in half during its first restoration in 1883. The paintings have been in the collection of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe since 1900.