Matthias Grünewald ( German: Matthias Grünewald, Mathis Gothart-Nithart ; Würzburg , 1470 or 1475 - Halle , 1528 ) - the last great artist of northern Gothic . No more than a dozen of his works have been preserved, of which the main thing is the Isengheim Altar . He worked at the court of the Mainz archbishops (1508-1525). In his work with unlimited emotional strength he expressed the tragic intensity and the sublime mystical spiritualism of the era. It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century by German expressionists , who considered it their direct predecessor.
| Matthias Grunewald | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth name | Matthias Gotthart Needhardt |
| Date of Birth | 1470 or 1475 |
| Place of Birth | Wurzburg |
| Date of death | or |
| Place of death | |
| A country | |
| Genre | Northern Renaissance |
Content
Artist Name
In 2002 , the results of a study by art critic Karl Arndt were published, according to which the artist bore the name Gotthart and the surname Nithardt . This is indicated by his monogram "MGN" ( Mathis Gothart Nithart ). The name Matthias Grunewald, under which Gothart Nithardt entered the world history of art, the artist owes the biographer Joachim von Zandrart , who, in the composition “The German Academy”, apparently confused Gotthart Niethardt with another artist who worked at the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. in the city of Zeligenstadt near Frankfurt . Until the 20th century, Zandrart’s book remained essentially the only source of information about Grunewald.
Creativity
Few works of Grunewald have survived to our time - only ten works, of which some are multi-winged altars, others are preserved fragments of altar compositions and individual single-part paintings. About 35 drawings made by his hand also survived. Recently, not only was the real name of the artist discovered, but many successful attempts have been made to trace the ups and downs of his life and career against the backdrop of the historical panorama of that turbulent time.
In the light of the surviving documents, Grunewald appears to be a man of wide erudition and multilateral talent, a typical representative of the intelligentsia of the Renaissance. Along with science, he was worried about the problems of religion, philosophy and social structure. His art is permeated with the deepest humanity, living compassion for human torment, the innumerable sufferings that he saw around. The Bashmak uprising , the Great Peasant War , the Reformation — the first revolution in Europe that shook the consciousness of people and the entire feudal world — took place before his eyes, and at the same time he witnessed bloody reprisals against the rebel people. Endowed with a highly receptive soul, Grunewald, following Bosch, posed in his art the problem of the true tragedy of the life of a noble and honest soul of a person subjected to persecution and insults in a cruel, brutalized world.
The “Reproach of Christ”
This painting is one of the artist’s early creations, dates back to about 1505 and served as the epitaph of Apollonia von Kronberg , sister of the knight Johann von Kronberg , who served as the managing director of the residence of the Archbishop of Mainz in Aschaffenburg . Master Nithart worked there as a court painter and "water craftsman", a hydraulic engineer, as they would call this specialty now.
The “Reproach of Christ” is a rare iconographic plot. The Gospel tells us that after the betrayal of Judah in the Garden of Gethsemane, the guards brought Christ to the house of the high priest Caiaphas and scoffed at him all night. Mocking his prophecies , they put a blindfold on his eyes and, striking his face, demanded to find out who beat him. Grunewald represents Christ in the form of a man full of mild meekness and patience. The horror of cynical abuse and inhumanity seemed to be embodied by Grunewald in the very coloristic system of the work. The picturesque solution is designed to produce a strong excitement in the soul of the viewer with its deliberate sharpness, tension, cold, brightened tones, their dissonances. Grunewald thinks like a painter, discovering the emotional significance of color, his ability to be a carrier of the elements of feelings. In this sense, the influence of the great Dutchman Hugo van der Hus , who died a decade before the work of Grunewald in the Red Monastery near Brussels , seems possible. The painting shows the figure of Joseph from Arimathea , trying to persuade the pity for the face of the guard, and the mournful face of another person, who took the guard with his prayer by the shoulder. The rumble of figures is compounded by the uneasiness of color, and all this is accompanied by sharp flute sounds and drum beats plagued by a person standing in the depths to the left. Being an epitaph, this picture was to reconcile people with death and sorrow. The suffering of Christ by its example removed the severity of mental pain.
“ Meeting of St. Erasmus and St. Mauritius ”
A huge solemn picture is filled with a special, festive church pathos. It gives the impression of an extremely important meeting scene played by performers. The work was commissioned by Nithart, the new Mainz archbishop, the young Albrecht of Brandenburg , and was probably executed between 1520/21 and 1524. St. Erasmus has portraits of Albrecht himself, and is depicted in the most luxurious archbishop's vestments, known for other reproductions. In his right hand he has an attribute - a gate with wound guts, in his left a golden staff. At the feet are embroidered coats of arms of the possessions of Albrecht of Brandenburg, who composed the program of this work. In his residence in Galle, he transferred the relics of St. Erasmus and popularized the cult of the saint. St. Galle was considered the patron saint . Mauritius , the second main character of the picture. Leaning on the sword, sv. Mauritius as if offers his help, his weapon. It is possible that in those years, Albrecht, who sought alliance with chivalry, wanted to reflect his goals in a picture that was accessible to everyone in the former monastery church in Galle , but insisted on a strong expression of the primacy of spiritual authority over secularism. The picture is distinguished by the artist's truly brilliant pictorial skill: the play of reflexes, the sound in unison of gold, red, silver-blue tones, reflections, light flares - everything is truly magnificent. The composition goes diagonally into the depths, suggesting beyond its borders still rows of people exchanging greetings.
Rediscovery
Despite the mention by Zandrart, Grunewald in the era of the triumph of classicism was almost completely forgotten. Authorship of the Isengheim Altar until the middle of the 19th century attributed to Albrecht Dürer or Hans Baldung , " Stuppach Madonna " - Peter Paul Rubens .
The deep emotionality of Grunewald's work attracted expressionists , who put him among the greatest artists in German history. For example, Otto Dix called himself his follower. Paul Hindemith wrote an opera and symphony entitled “ Artist Matis ”, whose protagonist is the artist Matthias Grunewald. According to the plot of the opera, the artist in his visions, one after another, are figures of the future huge altar image - the “Isengheim Altar”. In Hindemith’s symphony of the same name “Angel Concert”, “Standing in a Coffin” and “Temptations of St. Anthony”, three sweeps of the “Isengheim Altar” are described in musical language.
See also
- Meeting of St. Erasmus and St. Mauritius
- Isengheim Altar
- Stuppach Madonna
Notes
- ↑ SNAC - 2010.
- ↑ RKDartists
Links
- Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matthias Grunewald
- Grunewald, Matthias // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- European art: Painting. Sculpture. Graphics: Encyclopedia: In 3 vols. - M .: White City, 2006. (unavailable link) (unavailable link from 06/14/2016 [1181 days])