Elsässer Maler um 1500 Lot n° 297

Smiting of Christ Oil on wood. Parquet. 60 x 42 cm. In profiled frame. In an interior space whose sides and back are marked by partially latticed semi-circular arches toward which ceiling beams rise in central perspective, Christ sits in a red cloak while the crown of thorns is imposed on him. This panel, the only part of a polypticon of the Passion of Christ found, is another testimony to the vibrancy of artistic creation in Alsace in the late Middle Ages. In addition to the flourishing artistic centers in Strasbourg, Colmar, and Sélestat, there were also numerous monasteries and churches in smaller towns, such as the famous Antonite monastery in Isenheim, which received prestigious commissions. Gaspard Isenmann and his pupil Martin Schongauer, both from Colmar, are the most prominent representatives of this 15th century school. There are other artists whose names have not gone down in history, but who left behind works of high quality. For example, the Passion Master of Karlsruhe created an altarpiece of the Passion of Christ for the Church of St. Thomas in Strasbourg (today partially preserved in the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe), or the Master of Guebwiller, who was probably his student and from whom we offer two works in this auction. Thus, this refined work, with its fine and harmonious palette, testifies to the artistic exchange with Italy, Flanders and Germany in this late phase of the Gothic period, known as the International Gothic. The Alsatian milieu had fallen for the humanist ideas of a modern piety that heralded the coming Reformation and whose most extraordinary achievement was to be the Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald, a contemporary of this panel. (†) (13309311) (13) School of Alsace, ca. 1500 THE MOCKING OF CHRIST Oil on panel. Parquetted. 60 x 42 cm. In profiled frame. In an interior with the sides and back divided by partly latticed round arches with the lines of the ceiling beams in central perspective, Christ is depicted seated in a red cloak while the crown of thorns is being placed on his head. This panel, the only remaining part of a polyptych depicting the Passion of Christ, is testimony to the vibrant artistic creation in Alsace during the late Middle Ages. (†)