10 Two Wings of an Altar with Scenes of the Life of the Virgin

CHRIST CRUCIFIED

TILMAN RIMENSCHNEIDER attributed to 1460 Heiligenstadt–1531 Würzburg Early 16th century

Fruit wood Height: 24 cm

Provenance: Collection of Professor Wilhelm von Miller (1848 Munich–1899 Munich); Acquired in 1907 by Julius Böhler from von Miller’s estate; thence by descent.

Related Literature: Soder von Güldenstubbe, Erik and Widlich, Ariane. Tilman Riemenschneider und sein Erbe im Taubertal, Gerchsheim 2004, pp. 67 ff.

Chapuis, Julien. Tilman Riemenschneider, Master Sculptor of the Late Middle Ages, exh. cat., New Haven 1999, pp. 290 ff. The artist depicts Christ Crucified as a young man immediately after the throes of death on the cross. His head with the Crown of Thorns hangs heavily on his right shoulder. Clotted strands of hair frame his bearded face. His mouth is slightly open; his tongue pressing outwards – an indication that he has just died. Christ is nailed to the cross in three places – through both of his hands and through his feet that are arranged one over the other. The muscular, slim and seemingly elegant body is captured with considerable anatomical accuracy. The loincloth, tied around Christ’s hips, winds around the sides in artistic, almost Mannerist-like loops.

As the figure is relatively small, it was made for private devotional use and would have been placed on a house altar.

The figure is attributed to Tilman Riemenschneider. Stylistically, it is similar to a depiction of Christ in the crucifixion group in the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (fig. 1) – made in Riemenschneider’s own hand and workshop.

Christ’s face, the Crown of Thorns, his body and the loincloth are modelled in the same way on this work, as are the lance wound and the inserted nipples. On comparison, the face and hair of our figure of Christ are arguably slightly less finely carved.

Riemenschneider, one of the most important artists during the transition period from late Gothic to the Renaissance, created works largely of religious subjects. His customers included the Church and wealthy citizens. His first, prominent commissions that could be seen by the general public, primarily altarpieces and crucifixion groups, founded his artistic reputation and helped him establish a flourishing workshop in Würzburg.

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Fig. 1. Crucifixion group, Tilman Riemenschneider and workshop, circa 1500, linden wood. Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt

Two Wings of a small Altar with Scenes of the Life of Christ

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