Hans Schäufelein German, Nuremberg ca. 1480 – ca. 1540 Nördlingen
Master of Engerda(?) German, active ca. 1510 – 20
The Dormition of the Virgin; Christ Carrying the Cross Augsburg, ca. 1510 Oil on wood, 55 x 53 1/8 in. (139.7 x 134.9 cm) Provenance: ?Art market, Munich, about 1838; Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, London; given to John T. Hardman, Birmingham or Cheltenham; Pugin’s son-in-law, John Hardman Powell, Birmingham or Cheltenham, until his death in 1895; his estate, 1895 – 1969; on loan to Saint Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham, 1927 – 69; by descent to H. G. Rowland, Birmingham or Cheltenham, until 1970; his sale, Christie’s, London, June 26, 1970, lot 52 (sold to Holstein); [ Xavier Scheidwimmer, Munich, from 1970 ]; Georg Schäfer, Schweinfurt; private collection, Germany, 1978 – 2011; sale, Sotheby’s, London, July 6, 2011, lot 36; sold to [ Otto Naumann, New York ]. Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace, Karen and Mo Zukerman, Kowitz Family Foundation, Anonymous, and Hester Diamond Gifts, 2011 (2011.485a, b)
Hans Schäufelein began his career in Nurem berg around 1503 – 7 in the workshop of the preeminent artist of the German Renaissance, Albrecht Dürer. Sometime between about 1509 and 1515 he traveled to Augsburg and joined Hans Holbein the Elder’s atelier, where he produced an altarpiece that originally included this monumental double-sided panel representing the Dormition of the Virgin and Christ Carrying the Cross. The other three panels of the folding wings of the altarpiece are in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and the Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead, England. The exteriors of the wings represent scenes of the Passion of Christ, and the interiors show episodes from the Life of the Virgin. The now lost centerpiece probably displayed sculptures of the Virgin and Child with saints. The influence of Dürer resonates in Schäufelein’s marvelously cohesive composition and in the affecting sense of quiet pathos expressed by the individualized apostles in the Dormition. A workshop assistant was mostly responsible for Christ Carrying the Cross, to which Schäufelein added the dynamic figure of the rope-pulling henchman at the right. Of superb quality and fine condition, this rare work is the most important painting by Schäufelein in American collections. MWA
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