WITZ,Konrad

The painting was a panel of the Altarpiece of St Peter executed for the cathedral of Geneva and later dismembered.

The Cross stands in an undulating landscape. The scene is profoundly peaceful, giving no suggestion of the place of execution as recorded in the Bible; the two thieves and the soldiers are missing. Only the mourners stand under the Cross, the Virgin on the left, supported by two female companions, and Saint John on the right, wringing his hands in anguish ; yet, far from conveying a deep sense of emotion, they seem almost like travellers who have stopped to pray by a wayside cross. The donor of the picture is shown kneeling beside the stony path, his hands raised in prayer, his eyes turned heavenwards.

Almost the entire width of the background is taken up by a lake; a town and a fortified castle stand on its rocky shore. They are depicted with such precision as to suggest a definite locality, but the topographical details have never been identified with any known place. However, Lake Geneva suggests itself as one possibility, since the painter spent the greater part of his life in the Swiss countryside.

The motif of the Cross in an open landscape was one with which Witz would have become acquainted through the Netherlandish painters. The nature of the composition, the attitude of the kneeling donor, the mourners in their loose, flowing robes, the landscape and, not least, the fleecy clouds in the sky recall Van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden. On the other hand, there is nothing in the artist’s little-documented life-history to indicate how he came to be influenced by them.

Witz was born at Rottweil in Swabia, probably in the first decade of the fifteenth century. From 1434 onwards he lived in Basel, where he painted the so-called Altar of the Redemption, the several panels of which have found their way into different collections. In Geneva he completed the altar for St Peter’s Cathedral in 1444, but thereafter he disappears into obscurity, and in 1447 his wife was registered as a widow. Both the altarpieces show a highly individual and unmistakable style but give no real hint as to Konrad Witz’s artistic antecedents. The Berlin Crucifixion is of special interest, in that it was clearly painted in the earlier period of the artist’s life, before he settled in Basel. In it one can see the first manifestation of the new realism, which, in the second quarter of the century, begins to replace the courtly, elegant, so-called `soft’ style.

Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba, and third king of united Israel; his wisdom was proverbial. Solomon’s rein saw the construction of the Temple at Jerusalem.

The ostensible purpose of the visit of the Queen of Sheba was to satisfy her curiosity about the travellers’ tales she had heard concerning his wisdom and the magnificence of his court. She came with a great camel train bearing gifts of spices, gold and precious stones. In return the king bestowed on her ‘all she desired, whatever she asked, in addition to all he gave her of his royal bounty.’

In this panel from the Heilspiegel Altarpiece, Witz painted a gold background with filigree ornamentation and placed both his figures before it. The blue, red, green, and white of the clothing and the restrained ochre of the hands and faces may be the only colours, but they radiate light when set against the intense gold of the background, whose effect is increased still further by the elaborate inlay pattern. Witz recognized that an abstract gold background sharpened the contours of a form and made it almost tangible.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 3 minutes):

George Frideric Handel: Solomon - The arrival of the Queen of Sheba

The painting was a panel of the Altarpiece of St Peter executed for the cathedral of Geneva and later dismembered.

This painting was part of the Speculum Altarpiece. The wings of the altar had 16 paintings of which 12 remained, mainly in Basel.

The painting was a panel of the Altarpiece of St Peter executed for the cathedral of Geneva and later dismembered.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 3 minutes):

Guillaume Dufay: Aurea luce, hymn for the feast of Sts Peter and Paul

The only signed and dated work by the Swiss painter Konrad Witz is the Saint Peter Altarpiece of which only four panels (the wings) survived. The interior displays the Adoration of the Magi on the left wing, the kneeling donor presented by St Peter to an enthroned Madonna and Child on the right. The reverse sides were dedicated to scenes of St peter: the Miraculous Draught of Fishes and the Calling of Peter on the left, the Freeing of St Peter from Prison on the right.

The Miraculous Draught is the masterpiece of the altar. In what has often been described as the first topographical landscape inNorthern painting. Witz presents us with a stunning view of the Swiss countryside. The Sea of Galilee, in fact, is Lake Geneva seen in the environs of Mont Blanc with the Petit Sal�ve across the lake and the dark mountain, the M�le, appearing directly over the head of Christ.