Who are the saints in the Isenheim altarpiece?

Who are the saints in the Isenheim altarpiece?

The two saints protect and heal the sick, Saint Anthony as the patron saint of the victims of Saint Anthony’s fire, and Saint Sebastian, whose aid was invoked to ward off the plague.

Who was the patron of the Isenheim altarpiece?

The Commission The set of panel paintings known as The Isenheim Altarpiece was commissioned by the preceptor Guido Guersi for the main altar of the Antonite Monastery near Colmar.

Is the Isenheim altarpiece a polyptych?

This polyptych, which decorated the high altar of the monastery hospital’s chapel until the French Revolution, was commissioned by Guy Guers, who served as the institution’s preceptor from 1490 to 1516.

What does the Isenheim altarpiece represent?

Constructed and painted between 1512 and 1516, the enormous moveable altarpiece, essentially a box of statues covered by folding wings, was created to serve as the central object of devotion in an Isenheim hospital built by the Brothers of St. Anthony.

How is an altarpiece made?

Retable-type altarpieces are often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. The panels can also display reliefs or sculpture in the round, either polychrome or un-painted.

Where was the Isenheim altarpiece originally hung?

The Isenheim Altarpiece was executed for the hospital chapel of Saint Anthony’s Monastery in Isenheim in Alsace, which explains the presence of the plague saint, St Sebastian, and the patrons of the more austere and solitary forms of monasticism, St Anthony Abbot and St Paul the Hermit.

Where was the Isenheim Altarpiece originally hung?

Where is the Isenheim Altarpiece today?

the Unterlinden Museum
The Isenheim altarpiece was removed from the monastery, along with many other treasures, with the outbreak of Revolution in 1792. It was removed to a local branch of the French national library to preserve it from lawless looters. Today the altarpiece is displayed at the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar.

Where is the Isenheim Altarpiece?

What does the word altarpiece mean?

Definition of altarpiece : a work of art that decorates the space above and behind an altar.

What are altarpiece used for?

altarpiece, work of art that decorates the space above and behind the altar in a Christian church. Painting, relief, and sculpture in the round have all been used in altarpieces, either alone or in combination. These artworks usually depict holy personages, saints, and biblical subjects.

Why was the Isenheim Altarpiece installed in its particular location?

Why was the Isenheim Altarpiece installed in its particular location? It was to let the viewer know he or she was not alone in suffering but that Christ also suffered.

What is significant about the Merode Altarpiece?

The Merode Altarpiece remains one of Campin’s best-known religious paintings, and is ranked amongst the greatest Renaissance paintings of Northern Europe. Netherlandish painting in the early 15th century represented a radical break from the courtly International Gothic style, and introduced a far more realist approach.

What was the purpose of an altarpiece?

Who are the people in the Mérode Altarpiece?

It consists of three hinged panels (triptych format): the left panel depicts the donor and his wife; the central and most important panel shows the Annunciation itself, and its two main characters, Mary and Archangel Gabriel; the right panel portrays Joseph in his workshop.

What is significant about the Mérode Altarpiece?

The Merode Altarpiece by Robert Campin is a significant art-piece of the Northern Renaissance that stresses the ideas of Northern Humanism, specifically individual and personal study of the Bible.

Where is Matthias Grünewald’s altarpiece?

Matthias Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece, view in the chapel of the Hospital of Saint Anthony, Isenheim, c. 1510–15, oil on wood, 9′ 9 1/2″ x 10′ 9″ (Unterlinden Museum, Colmar, France) (photo: vincent desjardins, CC BY 2.0)

Who made the Isenheim Altarpiece?

Matthias Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece (fully open position, sculptures by Nicolas of Hagenau), 1510–15 Sculpted wooden altars were popular in Germany at the time.

Why did Grünewald paint the altarpiece in the hospital?

Grünewald not only had the patients in mind as he painted, he actually did the painting in the hospital. For the 6 years he worked on the altarpiece he saw first hand the suffering and based much of his imagery on the torments he witnessed.

Where is the tree stump in Grünewald’s Resurrection?

As I was writing this post I came to a part of Grünewald ‘s Resurrection that I couldn’t adequately explain, the tree stump in the bottom right corner. It’s a detail that could easily be missed, but for Northern artist’s details are important, and always add to the meaning of the painting.