Matthias Grünewald ( – 31 August 1528) was a
German Renaissance
The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which developed from the Italian Renaissance. Many areas of the arts and scienc ...
painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance
classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthet ...
to continue the style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th century. His first name is also given as Mathis and his surname as Gothart or Neithardt.
Only ten paintings—several consisting of many panels—and thirty-five drawings survive, all religious, although many others were
lost at sea on their way to Sweden as war booty. He was obscure until the late nineteenth century, when many of his paintings were attributed to
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
, who is now seen as his stylistic antithesis.
His largest and most famous work is the
Isenheim Altarpiece created ''c.'' 1512 to 1516.
Life
The details of his life are unusually unclear for a painter of his significance at this date, despite the fact that his commissions show that he was recognised in his own lifetime. The first source to sketch his biography comes from the German art historian
Joachim von Sandrart, who describes him around 1505 working on the exterior decoration of an altarpiece by
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
. This is the sort of work typically performed by apprentices and therefore an estimate of his age can be reached, suggesting he was born in 1475. Sandrart records that Grünewald had as an apprentice the painter
Hans Grimmer, who became famous in his time, but most of whose works were
lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
* Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
*Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
in the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...
. Sandrart describes Grünewald as leading a withdrawn and melancholy life, and marrying unhappily.
More recent investigations have provided further information on Grünewald's life. In 1511 he became court artist of
Uriel von Gemmingen
Uriel von Gemmingen (1468 – 9 February 1514) was appointed Archbishop of Mainz on 27 September 1508, a prince elector, and chancellor to Emperor Maximillian I on 23 April 1509.
Uriel was one of ten children of Hans von Gemmingen (1431–148 ...
,
Archbishop of Mainz
The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The Archb ...
, and he also worked for the next archbishop,
Albert of Brandenburg
Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (german: Albrecht von Brandenburg; 28 June 149024 September 1545) was a German cardinal, elector, Archbishop of Mainz from 1514 to 1545, and Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1513 to 1545.
Biography Early career
...
. About 1510 he received a commission from the Frankfurt merchant Jacob Heller and settled in nearby
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
where records indicate he bought a house and married Anna, a converted
Jew, then probably aged 18. The marriage was not happy and in 1523 she was institutionalised with what is variously described as mental illness and
demonic possession
Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and r ...
.
From 1512 to 1514 or 1515 he worked on the Isenheim altarpiece, apparently in partnership with another Mathis, variously surnamed Nithart, Neithart, von Würzburg (after his
place of birth), or Gothardt. Grünewald seems to have left Isenheim in a hurry, returning to Frankfurt, and his subsequent poverty suggests he was not fully paid for the altarpiece. In 1527 he entered the services of the wealthy and noble von Erbach family, apparently with a child (whether his own or adopted, is unclear). He most probably died in 1532, although sources vary.
There has been considerable uncertainty about the details of his life. In 1938 Walter Karl Zülch published the theory that Grünewald and his partner Nithart/Gothardt were the same person; this Nithart/Gothardt was a painter, engineer, and "water artist" born in Würzburg in the 1460s or maybe 1470s and probably dying in 1528. This theory is now generally discredited, although more recent historians believe Nithart/Gothardt may have pretended to be Grünewald for business reasons.
Works
Only religious works are included in his small surviving corpus, the most famous being the ''
Isenheim Altarpiece'', completed 1515, now in the
Musée d'Unterlinden,
Colmar
Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it i ...
. Its nine images on twelve panels are arranged on double wings to present three views (rather than just the open and closed states of
triptych altarpiece
An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting ...
s), according to the season or occasion. The first view with the outer wings closed shows a Crucifixion flanked by
Saint Sebastien
Saint Sebastian (in Latin: ''Sebastianus''; Narbo, Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Empire c. AD 255 – Rome, Italia, Roman Empire c. AD 288) was an early Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocle ...
and
Saint Anthony, with a
predella showing the entombment. When the first set of wings is opened, the ''Annunciation'', ''Angelic Concert'' (sometimes interpreted as the ''Birth of
Ecclesia
Ecclesia (Greek: ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') may refer to:
Organizations
* Ecclesia (ancient Greece) or Ekklēsia, the principal assembly of ancient Greece during its Golden Age
* Ecclesia (Sparta), the citizens' assembly of Sparta, often w ...
'') ''Mary bathing Christ'', and ''Resurrection'' are displayed. The third view discloses a carved and gilded wood altarpiece by
Nikolaus Hagenauer
Nikolaus Hagenauer (c. 1445/1460 — before 1538) was a German late gothic sculptor from Hagenau (Alsace in the Holy Roman Empire, present day France). He was most likely born as Niklas Zimmerlin, but was also documented and signed works as Nicla ...
, flanked by the ''
Temptation of St. Anthony'' and ''Anthony's visit to
Saint Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
''. As well as being by far his greatest surviving work, the altarpiece contains most of his surviving painting by surface area, being 2.65 metres high and over 5 metres wide at its fullest extent.
His other works are in Germany, except for a small Crucifixion in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
and another in
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (B ...
, Switzerland. Around 1510 he was asked to paint four saints in
grisaille for the outside of the wings of
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
's
Heller Altarpiece in Frankfurt. Dürer's work was destroyed by fire and survives only in copies, but the wings have survived, one pair of saints being displayed in
Frankfurt's Municipal Art Gallery and the other in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
's,
Staatliche Kunsthalle. There are also the late ''Tauberbischofsheim altarpiece'' in the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, and the ''Establishment of the Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome'' (1517–1519),
Augustiner Museum,
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...
. A large panel of
Saint Erasmus and
Saint Maurice
Saint Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, or Mauritius; ) was an Egyptian military leader who headed the legendary Theban Legion of Rome in the 3rd century, and is one of the favorite and most widely venerated saints of that martyred group. He is the ...
in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
probably dates from 1521 to 1524, and was apparently part of a larger altarpiece project, the rest of which has not survived. Other works are in Munich, Karlsruhe,
Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg (; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Aschebersch'') is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not part of the Aschaffenburg (district), district of Aschaffenburg, but is its administrative sea ...
and
Stuppach (
:de). Altogether four somber and awe-filled
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...
s survive. The visionary character of his work, with its expressive colour and line, is in stark contrast to Dürer's works. His paintings are known for their dramatic forms, vivid colors, and depiction of light.
Reputation
The
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
theologian
Philipp Melanchthon
Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lut ...
is one of the few contemporary writers to refer to Grünewald, who is rather puzzlingly described as "moderate" in style, when compared with Dürer and Cranach; what paintings this judgement is based on is uncertain. By the end of the century, when the
Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II, embarked on his quest to secure as many Dürer paintings as possible, the Isenheim Altarpiece was already generally believed to be a Dürer.
In the late 19th century he was rediscovered, and became something of a cult figure, with the angst-laden expressionism—and absence of any direct classicism—of the Isenheim Altarpiece appealing to both German
Nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
s and
Modernists.
Joris-Karl Huysmans promoted his art enthusiastically in both novels and journalism, rather as
Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous ...
did that of
Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...
. His apparent sympathies with the peasants in the Peasants' War also brought him admiration from the political left.
The composer
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...
based his 1938 opera ''
Mathis der Maler
''Mathis der Maler'' (''Matthias the Painter'' is an opera by Paul Hindemith. The work's protagonist, Matthias Grünewald, was a historical figure who flourished during the Reformation, and whose art, in particular the Isenheim Altarpiece, i ...
'' on the life of Grünewald during the
German Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositi ...
; scene Six includes a partial re-enactment of some scenes from the Isenheim Altarpiece.
Elias Canetti
Elias Canetti (; bg, Елиас Канети; 25 July 1905 – 14 August 1994) was a German-language writer, born in Ruse, Bulgaria to a Sephardic family. They moved to Manchester, England, but his father died in 1912, and his mother took her ...
wrote his novel ''Auto-da-Fé'' surrounded by reproductions of the Isenheim altarpiece stuck to the wall.
German author
W. G. Sebald
Winfried Georg Sebald (18 May 1944 – 14 December 2001), known as W. G. Sebald or (as he preferred) Max Sebald, was a German writer and academic. At the time of his death at the age of 57, he was being cited by literary critics as one of the g ...
traces the life story of Grünewald in his first literary work, ''After Nature''. This book-length prose-poem uses the preoccupations of Grünewald and especially his creation of the
Isenheim Altarpiece to communicate an intensely apocalyptic vision of a world that has abandoned nature.
The Isenheim Altarpiece also features in the last chapter of Sebald's novel ''The Emigrants'', in which the painter Max Ferber describes his intuition of the extreme power of pain after seeing Grünewald's work.
Veneration
He is commemorated as an artist and saint by the
Lutheran Church
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
on April 6, along with Dürer and Cranach.
Gallery
Image:Stuppacher Madonna - Grünewald.jpg, ''The Stuppach Madonna'', 1517–1519.
File:Matthias Grünewald - Establishment of the Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome - WGA10779.jpg, '' The Miracle of Our Lady of the Snows'', 1517-1519
File:Mathis Gothart Grünewald 062.jpg, '' The Mocking of Christ'', c. 1503
File:Mathis Gothart Grünewald 060.jpg, ''Christ Bearing the Cross'', 1523–25 (originally on one side of the panel that is known as the Tauberbischofsheim altarpiece, Kunsthalle Karlsruhe)
File:Mathis Gothart Grünewald 058.jpg, Large ''Crucifixion'', 1523–25 (originally on the other side of the panel known as the Tauberbischofsheim altarpiece)
File:Mathis Gothart Grünewald 047.jpg, ''Crucifixion'' in the Kunstmuseum Basel.
File:Mathis Gothart Grünewald 007.jpg, ''Crucifixion'' in the National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of ch ...
, Washington.
Notes
References
*
* Andersson, Christiane
"Grünewald, Matthias."In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, (accessed January 30, 2012; subscription required).
*
* Cuttler, Charles D. (1968) ''Northern Painting from Pucelle to Bruegel''. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
*
*
External links
Grünewald Gallery at MuseumSyndicateW. G. Sebald about Grünewald
Matthias Grünewald. paintingshttps://isenheimer.antrovista.comWeb app Isenheimer Altar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grunewald, Matthias
1470s births
1528 deaths
Artists from Würzburg
German Renaissance painters
15th-century German painters
German male painters
16th-century German painters
German Roman Catholics
People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar
Catholic painters