UNKNOWN MASTER, altarpiece painter
(16th century)

Altarpiece of the two Bishop Saints

1521
Wood
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

The altarpiece comes from Leibic.

The figures in the shrine, after which the altar is named, are a later addition; the original sculptural decoration may be deduced from the relief on the predella. The somewhat hesitant movement of the soft figures is similar to that seen on the earlier Leibic altar. Yet the relief of The Lamentation can hardly be the work of the same master; the presence of identical stylistic marks does not mean that the two works are identical in quality. Knowing the custom of medieval workshop, it is no surprise to find the leading master did not execute every detail of the winged altar himself. In this case he very likely produced the lost central figures for the box, and entrusted to one of his assistants the execution of the smaller ones for the surface of the predella which would have been obstructed from the view of the congregation by the officiating priest. This particular assistant was certainly not without talent. The three main figures are beautifully grouped as they bend over the heavy-limbed prostate body of Christ, while the line of figures in the background is pleasingly rhythmic. The model followed by the master was evidently the relief on the predella of the altar of St. John in Lőcse; the whole of the composition and the movements of the more important figures are so much in keeping with this influential work that probably the sculptor was charged to follow it faithfully. Nevertheless he succeeded in giving the relief his own characteristic touch, changing some details which, though minute, are not without significance. He placed the body of Christ more in the foreground, nearer the lower edge of the predella, made it large than his model and suggested the setting by introducing small details such as the rocks in upper left corner.

It is no accident that this scene is so often found on the predellas of winged altars. The subject is suitable for the low broad surface to be decorated and is in keeping with the function of the altar where, according to the teachings of the Church, at the daily mass, the bread and wine was changed into the blood and body of Christ. This scene is one of the must suitable ones for conveying in a horizontal composition the religious significance of the Crucifixion.


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