RIEMENSCHNEIDER, Tilman

The sandstone statues of Adam and Eve were executed for the gate of the chapel of the Virgin in W�rzburg.

The stylistic vocabulary of Riemenschneider is easy to characterize. His feminine figures, with some minor variants, all have a slender stature - narrow bust, frail limbs, fine hands - hair set in peaceful waves, a sweet face with smooth modelling and a broad flat forehead, eyes slanted towards the temples and circled by a fold of skin, a long nose and small mouth with a slight swelling of the lower lip. The masculine faces, built on the same plan, with, of course, thicker and more rugged features, present some distinct types found in many combinations in Riemenschneider ’s various works.

In this work, while realism dictated the treatment of the heads and hands, the drapery takes on an artificiality and stylization, folded and pleated in a totally unnatural, if decorative manner.

This sculpture comes from the south portal of the Marienkirche.

The part of the portal finished by the artist between 1491 and 1493 comprised the canopy, the brackets, and the admirable statues of Adam and Eve, whose style contrasts surprisingly with the usual laboured manner of the time. Although it was not immediately accepted, this rediscovered serenity and simplified form evidently did not displease, for a contemporary text describes the work as “masterful, skilled, gracious and honestly made.” Riemenschneider favoured the acceptance of the Renaissance style, and without directly copying the Italians he yet moved closer to them, starting from specifically German elements.

A small crystal, placed at the centre of a cross in the crowning of an altarpiece in the church of St. Jacob at Rothenburg ob der Tauber contained a relic: a drop of Christ’s blood. Toward the end of the 15th century, Rothenburg town council resolved to build an altar to house this relic, and engaged Tilman Riemenschneider to carry out the sculpture for it.

The narrow altarpiece with its tall slender crowning rises up rather like an oversized monstrance. Instead of a predella, the altarpiece rests on a tripartite filigree-like arcade. Flanked by two angels in the outer arches, the crucifix stands in the central arch. Unusually, the blood relic is placed in the crowning, not at the centrepiece. The Last Supper, the main scene of the altarpiece has a direct connection with the blood relic. It was on that occasion that Christ initiated the Eucharist with the words “This is my blood.”

The first recorded commission of Riemenschneider was for the parish church of M�nnerstadt in 1490. It was the Mary Magdalene altarpiece installed in 1492 and today dismembered. The statue shown on the picture comes from the chest of the high altar.

First a stone altar was erected at the place of the legendary discovery of a host. Riemenschneider’s retable of Mary was set up on the stone altar much later at the beginning of the 16th century. Riemenschneider formed the external structure in the shape of a late Gothic monstrance. The shrine is made of pinewood, the sculptures are of softer limewood.

In the centre shrine you is the main scene: the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin who is surrounded by the twelve apostles. The coronation of Virgin Mary is represented in the superstructure above the shrine. At the top of the altar the risen Christ as the Man of Sorrows is represented.

The side panels show scenes from Mary’s life: the Annunciation (bottom left), the Visitation (top left), the Nativity (top right) and the Presentation in the Temple (bottom right).. Above there is the so-called Visitation where Mary meets Elizabeth. The upper relief on the right wing shows Christ’s birth and below the Presentation of Child Jesus in the temple.

In the niches of the predella the Adoration of the Magi (left) and Christ among the Doctors (right) can be seen. In the latter scene Riemenschneider has portrayed himself, sitting at Jesus’ feet in medieval clothing.

Tilman Riemenschneider came from Osterode in the Harz district and was trained in Swabia; he had been a painter before settling in W�rzburg. There he was made Master in charge of the Building, then mayor of the town ; he was later removed from office and persecuted for having sided with the people during the Peasants’ Revolt. His work comprises tombs, statues and furniture as well as church decoration. The Creglingen altarpiece is one of the last of those thorny, visionary compositions of the German Flamboyant Gothic style, and Riemenschneider was in fact the last of the great German altarpiece sculptors.

In the niches of the predella the Adoration of the Magi (left) and Christ among the Doctors (right) can be seen. In the latter scene Riemenschneider has portrayed himself, sitting at Jesus’ feet in medieval clothing.

The picture shows the assumed self-portrait of Tilman Riemenschneider.

This is a detail of one of the wings of the now dismembered winged M�nnerstadt altarpiece.

Riemenschneider’s retable for the parish church of Mary Magdalen in M�nnerstadt, made between 1490 and 1492, serves as a touchstone for understanding his early oeuvre. It was one of the earliest carved altarpieces to be delivered uncoloured, but the absence of colour apparently proved disturbing, and in 1504-1505 the Nuremberg sculptor Veit Stoss painted and gilded it. (This colouring has now disappeared.)

The retable was dismantled between 1649 and 1653, and several sculptural elements, eventually found their way into public collections. In the early 1980s the parts of the altarpiece that remained in M�nnerstadt were installed in a modern encasement to present them at the proper height and in the proper light. Copies of the dispersed sculpture were later added to the ensemble.

An extreme care is taken over details and treatment of the surface. The limewood is often left exposed and merely accented by a partial polychromy which brings out the subtlety of the polished volumes and emphasizes the finesse of the varied motifs barely chiseled on the surface of the wood. The process was used, in particular, for the altarpiece of M�nnerstadt, afterwards painted by Veit Stoss between 1502 and 1504 (this colouring has now disappeared).

Salome’s head is from a group of the Holy Kindred.

German sculptures in the late 15th century reflect uncompromisingly rugged, almost brutal qualities in the cutting of the folds and the choice of the model. This is a Germanic art of wars and dungeons and tortures rather than of ideals or love. At the same time, alongside with violence some lyricism still persists. At times this delicacy of feeling falls into sentimentality - a distinction not always sharp in German thought. The tendency seems to be present in the superb head of Salome by Riemenschneider, perhaps the greatest carver of the turn of the century.

Late medieval limewood sculptors in South Germany, of whom Tilman Riemenschneider was one of the most gifted, adopted the practice of allowing the sculptures of large altarpieces to go unpainted. They chose instead to stain a few details in black, such as the eyes in this figure, and to finish the surface with a clear glaze. The lack of attributes makes the identification of this bishop uncertain, but his seated position may indicate that he represents one of the four Church Fathers, either St Augustine or St Ambrose, the only two with the rank of bishop.

The scale and the positioning of the head indicate that the figure occupied the left side of a central shrine of a small altarpiece possibly dedicated to these early leaders of the Church. Although it is actually a high relief, this sculpture conveys a striking sense of volume through a rich play of interconnecting curves. The sensitive and descriptive rendering of the elderly face achieves both psychological depth and spiritual weight.

The statue comes from the Mary Chapel in W�rzburg.

The figures in this relief represent three of the fourteen Helper Saints, venerated as a group since the early 1300s. They became particularly popular in the south of Germany after 1446, when it was believed they appeared in a vision to a shepherd in Upper Franconia. Represented here are St Christopher carrying the Christ Child; St Eustace, a general in Trajan’s army who converted to Christianity; and St Erasmus, a Syrian bishop in episcopal regalia.

The figures are carved from a single piece of limewood, with an added piece giving additional depth to St Christopher. The overlapping of figures allowed the three or four groups of saints to be joined with no apparent seam and also created a sense of great depth. The meticulous carving and small scale suggest that the original group was an independent relief in a niche or a shrine. Although St Christopher looks to the left, the general movement of the figures is to the right, indicating that this piece was originally at the left side of the relief. The finely carved details and the decorative punch work, all of which would have been obscured by a layer of paint, are evidence that the sculpture was never intended to be painted.

This relief is a detail of the Holy Blood altarpiece composed between 1499-1505. It is interesting to note that quite unusually the figure in the centre is Judas and not Christ.

The stylistic vocabulary of Riemenschneider is easy to characterize. His feminine figures, with some minor variants, all have a slender stature - narrow bust, frail limbs, fine hands - hair set in peaceful waves, a sweet face with smooth modelling and a broad flat forehead, eyes slanted towards the temples and circled by a fold of skin, a long nose and small mouth with a slight swelling of the lower lip. The masculine faces, built on the same plan, with, of course, thicker and more rugged features, present some distinct types found in many combinations in Riemenschneider’s various works, as witnessed by the apostles of Rothenburg and Creglingen. The play of draperies, animated by uneven folds broken into multiple facets, is complicated but without excessive agitation. The calm features, delicate gestures and tranquil attitudes show a melancholy sweetness even when emotion or pain are expressed.

This relief is a detail of the Holy Blood altarpiece composed between 1499-1505. It is interesting to note that quite unusually the figure in the centre is Judas and not Christ.

The stylistic vocabulary of Riemenschneider is easy to characterize. His feminine figures, with some minor variants, all have a slender stature - narrow bust, frail limbs, fine hands - hair set in peaceful waves, a sweet face with smooth modelling and a broad flat forehead, eyes slanted towards the temples and circled by a fold of skin, a long nose and small mouth with a slight swelling of the lower lip. The masculine faces, built on the same plan, with, of course, thicker and more rugged features, present some distinct types found in many combinations in Riemenschneider’s various works, as witnessed by the apostles of Rothenburg and Creglingen. The play of draperies, animated by uneven folds broken into multiple facets, is complicated but without excessive agitation. The calm features, delicate gestures and tranquil attitudes show a melancholy sweetness even when emotion or pain are expressed.

Henry II (973-1024), also known as Saint Henry, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1014 until his death. He was the last member of the Ottonian dynasty of Emperors. He married Cunigunde of Luxembourg, who later became his queen and empress. As the union produced no children, after Henry’s death the German nobles elected Conrad II, a great-great-grandson of Emperor Otto I, to succeed him. Conrad was the first of the Salian dynasty of Emperors.