DELL, Peter the Elder - b. ~1490 Würzburg, d. 1552 Würzburg

German sculptor, the leading sculptor in Würzburg during the second quarter of the 16th century. He was documented as a pupil of Tilmann Riemenschneider sometime between 1505 and 1510. His style owes more, however, to the powerful monumentality of Hans Leinberger, who probably employed him as an apprentice in Landshut around 1515. Before returning to Würzburg in 1534, Dell probably worked in Regensburg (c. 1520-21), the Lower Main River area (1520s) and Freiberg, Saxony (1528-33). While in Freiberg, he carved at least four limewood reliefs, of the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Holy Teaching (all Dresden, Grünes Gewölbe) and the Fall of the Rebel Angels (untraced), for Henry, Duke of Saxony. Other religious reliefs by Dell are in Berlin, Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

Dell was also an important portrait sculptor; his small wooden portrait reliefs include Wolfhart von Werensdorff (1528; private collection), the allegorical two-sided plaquette of Jakob Woler (1529; Munich) and the pearwood portrait of Georg Knaurer (1537; private collection). In contrast to these, he also carved many large stone funerary monuments, armorials and free-standing Crucifixions. His monuments, for example those to Paul Fuchs (d 1540) and Bishop Konrad von Bibra (d 1544) in Würzburg Cathedral, tend to be simple in design with a deeply carved central relief of the donor kneeling before the crucified Christ, a clear display of armorials and inscriptions, and a Renaissance frame. The formula was inspired in part by the monument to Konrad von Thungen, Bishop of Würzburg (d 1540) by the Eichstätt sculptor Loy Hering.

His son, Peter Dell the Younger (d. 1600), became a master sculptor in 1551 and ran the family’s shop until his death. Over 40 monuments are attributed to him. His finest, for example that to Bishop Melchior Zobel (1558) in Würzburg Cathedral, are close in style to those by his father but have more richly ornamented frames. Like his father, Peter Dell the Younger frequently signed his work with the monogram PD.

Lutheran art has a distinctly didactic character. The sensuality of earlier religious art is replaced by a visual rigidity; image and scriptural texts are frequently combined. Representations such as the Allegory of Faith are as much read as they are viewed.

In this wood relief, an attractively dressed young woman personifying the human soul is seated in a ship. She originally steered this ship with a rudder inscribed ‘the Christian life’. This ship of life is made of flesh and blood; its sail and rigging are love and patience; its shield is faith; and its compass is the word of God. This pilgrimage of life takes her from the earthly city in flames in the upper left to Christ on the opposite shore. En route she is attacked by Death, the Devil and Frau Welt (the Lady of the World), each aiming three arrows at her. Soul will not be distracted as she gazes at the radiant face of God in the sky above. On the left stands St Paul with a large placard.