Lecture 24: Riemenschneider and Grünewald
a group of sculptures by Niklaus Hagenauer done in 1490, 20 years before
Grünewald assumed completion of the altarpiece.In the early 20th century, Joris-Karl Huysmans, author of Au rebours (“Against
the Grain”) and art critic, wrote of the Isenheim Altarpiece, “it looms up the
moment you venture in, stunning you with its horri¿ c nightmare of Calvary.
It is as if a whirlwind of art has been let loose, and you need a few minutes
to recover, to get over the impression of pitiful horror evoked by that huge
cruci¿ ed Christ.”In the Colmar museum, the altarpiece has never been displayed as it must
have been at Isenheim. When it was taken from Isenheim in the late 18th
century, the panels and sculptures were removed, leaving behind the heavier
structural parts of the altarpiece, including its superstructure. The 1860
museum catalogue notes, “two wagonloads of painted and gilded sculptures
had already been taken off many years before to some neighboring area to
be sold.” A new framework was made in 1930. The panels were mounted
separately with all paintings permanently visible. The Cruci¿ xion, two saints,
and the Lamentation are still seen ¿ rst.Our example shows the closed view of the Isenheim Altarpiece with the
Cruci¿ xion in the center, À anked by saints on either side and the predella
with the Lamentation (c. 1515). The hospital at Isenheim adjoined the
convent church, and the altar in the choir could be seen through an opening
from the hospital and from the nave through the opening in the rood screen,
although only the Cruci¿ xion would have been visible. In the museum today,
St. Sebastian and St. Anthony are reversed, placed on the wrong sides. The
example shows a photographically reconstructed view so that St Anthony is
on the left side and St. Sebastian is on the right side, as they originally were.
Grünewald designed the saints to imitate painted sculpture, a conceit also
found in earlier Netherlandish painting.The central panel, the Cruci¿ xion, shows St. John the Evangelist at left with
the two Marys—the Madonna in the white robe and St. Mary Magdalene—
at his feet. The white robe may allude to the Virgin’s purity, or it may be an
artistic effort to unify the color scheme of the closed altarpiece, which is
red, white, and black. The Madonna wrings her hands, and the Magdalene