Piety, Passion, and Politics: 15th-Century Art in Northern Europe and Spain
    
       
  French Manuscript Illumination :: 15th-Century Flemish Art :: 15th-Century French Art :: 15th-Century German Art :: 15th-Century Spanish Art   Images courtesy of
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  15th-CENTURY GERMAN ART

The lack of a strong centralized power in the holy roman empire led to provincial artistic styles. In the absence of a court culture, artworks were commissioned by the middle class, wealthy merchants, and the clergy. German art in the 15th century comprises several provincial artistic styles that rely largely on established medieval pictorial conventions. Large carved wooden altarpieces (retables) express the intense piety and emotionalism of late gothic culture. German printmakers show great technical skill in the production of woodcuts and engravings.

German Piety

A rose among thorns:

Stephan Lochner's Madonna in the Rose Garden uses stylized conventions in his depiction of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child in a rose arbor. The composition is symmetrical, very structured, and employs a gold background.		    
       
  15-20: STEPHAN LOCHNER, Madonna in the Rose Garden, ca. 1430-1435. Tempera on wood, approx. 1' 8" x 1' 4". Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.
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Fishing in Lake Geneva:

The Altarpiece of Saint Peter includes the Miraculous Draught of Fish, in which Konrad Witz gives prominence to the landscape. Due to Witz's accuracy in depicting it, the landscape has been identified as a view of the shores of Lake Geneva. This is one of the first 15th-century paintings to depict a specific site.		  
       
  15-21: KONRAD WITZ, Miraculous Draught of Fish, from the Altarpiece of Saint Peter, from Chapel of Notre-Dame des Maccabées in the Cathedral of Saint Peter, Geneva, Switzerland, 1444. Oil on wood, approx. 4' 3" x 5' 1". Musée d'art et d'histoire, Geneva.
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Witnessing the Virgin's assumption:

Veit Stoss's minutely detailed carved wooden altar in the church of Saint Mary in Kraków, Poland, expresses the intense piety of Gothic culture in its late phase.

15-22: VEIT STOSS, The Death and Assumption of the Virgin (wings open), altar of the Virgin Mary, church of Saint Mary, Krakow, Poland, 1477-1489. Painted and gilded wood, 43' x 35'.
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An Ornate Spiritual Vision: In the center panel of the Creglingen Altarpiece, Tilman Riemenschneider carved intricate Gothic forms set in a restless design. The troubled facial expressions of the figures and their floating and flowing draperies create a sense of anxious spirituality.

15-23: TILMAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER, The Assumption of the Virgin, center panel of the Creglingen Altarpiece, parish church, Creglingen, Germany, ca. 1495-1499. Carved lindenwood, 6' 1" wide.
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Graphic Art

Going against the grain:

Michel Wolgemut used woodblock prints to illustrate the so-called Nuremberg Chronicle.

15-24: MICHEL WOLGEMUT and Shop, "Tarvisium," page from the so-called Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493. Printed by Anton Koberger.
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Drawing on metal:

In his engraving of Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons, Martin Schongauer shows considerable skill and subtlety in distinguishing tonal values and textures.

15-25: MARTIN SCHONGAUER, Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons, ca. 1480-1490. Engraving, approx. 1' 1" x 11". Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Rogers Fund, 1920).
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