The altarpiece consists of a centerpiece and two wings. The wings have
scenes carved in relief. On the left wing is the Entry into Jerusalem, with a
crowd of heads represented while Christ rides into the city. Christ is passing
closely through the narrow city gate; a portcullis at the top of the gate with
pointed stakes threatens Christ’s head. The right wing shows the scene on
Gethsemane, the Agony in the Garden. The rocky landscape is suggested,
and the sleeping apostles are clearly distinguished. St. Peter’s right hand
rests on the hilt of his knife, with which he will attack the servant of the
high priest. In the right background, Judas leads a group of soldiers through
another gate.
These two scenes À ank the Last Supper. This scene is placed on a shallow
stage, the ¿ gures underneath a canopy of elaborate late-Gothic carvings of
vines and leaves—an example of the high estimation the northern European
artist placed on the natural world. The upper room of the Last Supper has
miniature windows in the background. These mullioned windows are glazed
with bull’s-eye leaded glass, which allows light from the chapel window to
illuminate the space from behind, while light from the church illuminates
the front of the ¿ gures. In a particularly original interpretation, Judas is in
the center of the group, standing and confronting Christ. This confrontation,
according to the Gospel of St. John, ended when Jesus said to Judas, “That
which thou doest, do quickly,” and Judas “went immediately out; and it was
night.” The wooden sculpture of Judas can be physically removed, which
shifts the scene to the next moment when Jesus says, “a new commandment
I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also
love one another.”
We are uncertain about the proper name of Matthias Grünewald and almost
everything else connected with him. Grünewald (also known as Neithart or
Master Mathis) may have been born about the same time as Dürer, and they
both died in 1528. His greatest achievement—the altar from Isenheim—is
one of the masterpieces of German art. It is also in complete contrast with
the art of Dürer. The Isenheim Altarpiece is located in Colmar, France, in the
Unterlinden Museum, which is housed in a 13th-century former Dominican
convent. The altarpiece was made for a religious settlement and hospital at
Isenheim devoted to St. Anthony. It consists of paintings by Grünewald and