Matthias Grünewald (c. 1470 – 31 August 1528; also known asMathis Gothart Nithart[1]) was aGerman Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissanceclassicism to continue the style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th century.
Only ten paintings—including severalpolyptychs—and thirty-five drawings survive, all religious, although many others werelost at sea on their way to Sweden as war booty. He was obscure until the late nineteenth century, when many of his paintings were attributed toAlbrecht Dürer, who is now seen as his stylistic antithesis. His largest and most famous work is theIsenheim Altarpiece createdc. 1512 to 1516.
He was recognised in his own lifetime, as shown by his commissions, yet the details of his life are unusually unclear for a painter of his significance at this date. The first source to sketch his biography comes from the German art historianJoachim von Sandrart, who describes him around 1505 working on the exterior decoration of an altarpiece byAlbrecht Dürer inFrankfurt. This is the sort of work typically performed by apprentices and therefore an estimate of his age can be reached, suggesting he was born in 1475.[2] Sandrart records that Grünewald had as an apprentice the painterHans Grimmer, who became famous in his time, but most of whose works werelost in theThirty Years' War.[3] Sandrart describes Grünewald as leading a withdrawn and melancholy life, and marrying unhappily.[4]
More recent investigations have provided further information on Grünewald's life. In 1511 he became court artist ofUriel von Gemmingen,Archbishop of Mainz, and he also worked for the next archbishop,Albert of Brandenburg. About 1510 he received a commission from the Frankfurt merchant Jacob Heller[5] and settled in nearbyFrankfurt where records indicate he bought a house and married Anna, a convertedJew, then probably aged 18. The marriage was not happy and in 1523 she was institutionalised with what is variously described as mental illness anddemonic possession.[6]
From 1512 to 1514 or 1515 he worked on the Isenheim altarpiece, apparently in partnership with another Mathis, variously surnamed Nithart, Neithart, von Würzburg (after hisplace of birth), or Gothardt. Grünewald seems to have left Isenheim in a hurry, returning to Frankfurt, and his subsequent poverty suggests he was not fully paid for the altarpiece. In 1527 he entered the services of the wealthy and noble von Erbach family, apparently with a child (whether his own or adopted, is unclear). He most probably died in 1532, although sources vary.[7]
There has been considerable uncertainty about the details of his life. In 1938 Walter Karl Zülch published the theory that Grünewald and his partner Nithart/Gothardt were the same person; this Nithart/Gothardt was a painter, engineer, and "water artist" born in Würzburg in the 1460s or maybe 1470s and probably dying in 1528. This theory is now generally discredited, although more recent historians believe Nithart/Gothardt may have pretended to be Grünewald for business reasons.[8]
Only religious works are included in his small surviving corpus, the most famous being theIsenheim Altarpiece, completed 1515, now in theMusée d'Unterlinden,Colmar. Its nine images on twelve panels are arranged on double wings to present three views (rather than just the open and closed states oftriptychaltarpieces), according to the season or occasion. The first view with the outer wings closed shows a Crucifixion flanked bySaint Sebastien andSaint Anthony, with apredella showing the entombment. When the first set of wings is opened, theAnnunciation,Angelic Concert (sometimes interpreted as theBirth ofEcclesia)Mary bathing Christ, andResurrection are displayed. The third view discloses a carved and gilded wood altarpiece byNikolaus Hagenauer, flanked by theTemptation of St. Anthony andAnthony's visit toSaint Paul. As well as being by far his greatest surviving work, the altarpiece contains most of his surviving painting by surface area, being 2.65 metres high and over 5 metres wide at its fullest extent.
His other works are in Germany, except for a small Crucifixion inWashington and another inBasel, Switzerland. Around 1510 he was asked to paint four saints ingrisaille for the outside of the wings ofAlbrecht Dürer'sHeller Altarpiece in Frankfurt. Dürer's work was destroyed by fire and survives only in copies, but the wings have survived, one pair of saints being displayed inFrankfurt'sMunicipal Art Gallery and the other inKarlsruhe's,Staatliche Kunsthalle. There are also the lateTauberbischofsheim altarpiece in the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, and theEstablishment of the Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome (1517–1519),Augustiner Museum,Freiburg. A large panel ofSaint Erasmus andSaint Maurice inMunich probably dates from 1521 to 1524, and was apparently part of a larger altarpiece project, the rest of which has not survived. Other works are in Munich, Karlsruhe,Aschaffenburg andStuppach (:de). Altogether four somber and awe-filledCrucifixions survive. The visionary character of his work, with its expressive colour and line, is in stark contrast to Dürer's works. His paintings are known for their dramatic forms, vivid colors, and depiction of light.
TheLutheran theologianPhilipp Melanchthon is one of the few contemporary writers to refer to Grünewald, who is rather puzzlingly described as "moderate" in style, when compared with Dürer and Cranach; what paintings this judgement is based on is uncertain. By the end of the century, when theHoly Roman Emperor, Rudolph II, embarked on his quest to secure as many Dürer paintings as possible, the Isenheim Altarpiece was already generally believed to be a Dürer.
In the late 19th century he was rediscovered, and became something of a cult figure, with the angst-laden expressionism—and absence of any direct classicism—of the Isenheim Altarpiece appealing to both GermanNationalists andModernists.Joris-Karl Huysmans promoted his art enthusiastically in both novels and journalism, rather asProust did that ofVermeer. His apparent sympathies with the peasants in the Peasants' War also brought him admiration from the political left.
The composerPaul Hindemith based his 1938 operaMathis der Maler on the life of Grünewald during theGerman Peasants' War; scene Six includes a partial re-enactment of some scenes from the Isenheim Altarpiece.
Elias Canetti wrote his novelAuto-da-Fé surrounded by reproductions of the Isenheim altarpiece stuck to the wall.
German authorW. G. Sebald traces the life story of Grünewald in his first literary work,After Nature. This book-length prose-poem uses the preoccupations of Grünewald and especially his creation of theIsenheim Altarpiece to communicate an intensely apocalyptic vision of a world that has abandoned nature.[9] The Isenheim Altarpiece also features in the last chapter of Sebald's novelThe Emigrants, in which the painter Max Ferber describes his intuition of the extreme power of pain after seeing Grünewald's work.
He is commemorated as an artist and saint by theLutheran Church on April 6, along with Dürer and Cranach.
Media related toPaintings by Matthias Grünewald at Wikimedia Commons
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