Hans Burgkmair d. Ä.
(1473-1531)
Kreuzigungsaltar, Mitteltafel: Christus am Kreuz,
1519
Material / Technology / Carrier
Tannenholz (Abies alba)
Dimensions of the object
179,2 x 116,3 cm
Displayed
AP OG Saal II
Acquisition
1808/09 durch Ankauf aus dem Kollegium St. Salvator in Augsburg erworben
Stock
Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Alte Pinakothek München
Citation
Hans Burgkmair d. Ä., Kreuzigungsaltar, Mitteltafel: Christus am Kreuz, 1519, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Alte Pinakothek München, URL: https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/en/artwork/rqxNJbKxvW (Last updated on 04.12.2023)
Extending across the central panel and the two side panels (see inv. no. 5330, 531) is a vast landscape and a sky that, according to the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 27:45), is being plunged into darkness at this very moment. At the feet of Christ, whose cross dominates the central panel, we see Mary Magdalene mourning, flanked by Mary and John. Below the cross on the right—which is turned away from Christ as a sign of the convict’s obduracy—stands St Martha, while positioned below the left-hand cross is her brother, St Lazarus. Following the written tradition of late-medieval Passion narratives, the demon squatting on Christ’s cross is trying to spot a blemish on Christ’s soul. The retable was most probably commissioned by Georg Peutinger (d. 1515) for the St Salvator’s chapel in the cemetery of St Stephan in Augsburg, which had been completed around 1517.
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