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Isenheim Altarpiece

The altarpiece Isenheimer as outlined in the Museum of Colmar Unterlinden

The altarpiece Isenheim (or Isenheimer), dedicated to St. Anthony , from the convent of the Antonines to Issenheim , south of Colmar , where he decorated the high altar of the Church of the Preceptory. It is the work of two great German masters of late Gothic : the painter Matthias Grnewald , which is undoubtedly the masterpiece, for the painted panels ( one thousand five hundred twelve - 1,516 ) and Niklaus von Hagenau for the sculpted part (around 1490 ).

The altar consists of a set of several painted panels that revolve around a central body composed of sculptures.

This magnificent and monumental polyptych is now in Colmar , the museum Unterlinden which he is undoubtedly the centerpiece, and which owes its international renown. It is exposed in the chapel, where all things were made by officials of the museum for its development.

The altarpiece Isenheim contains scenes of an unusual dramatic intensity, and quite exceptional for its time. The fantasy is not excluded - which would bring Grnewald of Hieronymus Bosch - or a mannerism that makes this an isolated genius artist and almost unclassifiable.

The astonishing modernity of the work has fascinated many French and foreign artists, foremost among them the Japanese painter Itsuki Yanai, who spent over twenty years to copy the original array.

Summary

1 The work
2 Preamble: the Order of the Antonines
3 The story of the realization of the altarpiece Isenheim
4 The design of the altarpiece Isenheim
5 Posterity
6 Notes and references
7 Bibliography
8 See also

/ / The work

The altarpiece Isenheim v. 1512-1515, oil on wood, Museum Unterlinden in Colmar

Preamble: the Order of the Antonines

The great St. Anthony , patron of the Antonines, the altarpiece sidebar

The order of the Antonines was founded around 1070 in Saint-Antoine-en-Vienne , a small village of Dauphin between Valence and Grenoble. This is a command "beggar" which aims to treat and assist patients and follows the rule of St. Augustine.

The monks were engaged at that time a disease that was spreading rapidly, poisoning by ergot. This poisoning by a fungus attacking the grain caused terrible pain to patients who were affected in what was then called the " burning sickness "or" St. Anthony's fire (ergotism gangrenous). The purpose of the order of the Antonines was well taken care of many patients to bring their healing by protecting the "Grand St. Antoine ". They also intervened when populations were decimated by epidemics of plague.

The monastery of the Antonines Isenheim was located on an ancient Roman road leading to the Germanic countries, in Basel , to the shrines of traditional Middle Ages , Rome and Saint Jacques de Compostela : there were many pilgrims and travelers who passed by. It was for his hospital that was controlled and directed the altarpiece. The patients were brought to the start of their care, and it was hoped that St. Anthony would intercede for a miracle in their favor, or at least they would find solace and consolation in the contemplation of scenes that were represented. According to the representation of the Middle Ages, the images of meditation are "virtual medicine".

History of the completion of the altarpiece Isenheim

Christ is represented here bifrons.

The cloister had Isenheim altarpiece, called "altarpiece Orliaco. This altarpiece closed on the two wings shows the scene of the Annunciation. On the left wing is the archangel Gabriel and the right Marie. Open, you can see on the left wing how Mary incenses the baby and the right of St. Anthony and Jean Orliaco or Orlier (the rector of the monastery at the time of completion of the altarpiece). Schongauer had painted, 1475 , these four persons at the request of the rector of the cloister. Opened, the wings of the "altarpiece Orliaco" frame a sculpture of the holy virgin size. This part is now in the Louvre. In 1485 , in order Orliaco Nicolas de Haguenau creating a sculpture for an altarpiece. The art historian Zierman shows it was probably created because it was at that time, the altarpiece Orliaco already outdated.

It is not known exactly when Grnewald received a commission for this work and, because of lack of material, probably never to clarify that date. The reason is precisely that Grnewald's altarpiece was commissioned for the monastery at the foot of the Vosges also remains an enigma. One hypothesis is that the original order concerned the sculpted part, carried into 1490 , Grnewald make only 12 to 15 years later. Another is that it is a control block Guers Guy (or Guido Guersant, successor of John of Orlier) to 1510 and that the altarpiece was made in its entirety between 1510 and 1516 ^{The design of the altarpiece Isenheim}

The altar is an altarpiece Isenheim polyptych on which the various components can be opened to illustrate the various periods during liturgical worship during the holidays returned. The altar has a total of three faces shown ( Triptych ), while in principle such altarpieces owned only two. At the center of the altar is an altar carved and the whole was surmounted by a mullion Gothic carved and gilded, which has been lost.