Grünewald, Matthias

(Mathis Gothart Neithart; c. 1470/1475-1528)

   Along with Albrecht Dürer, Grünewald was the greatest artistic genius of Renaissance Germany. He was practically unknown until the 20th century when his identity and works were finally rediscovered. Of his paintings, only approximately a dozen have survived. Grünewald was court painter to Uriel von Gemmingen, the archbishop of Mainz, and his successor, Albrecht von Brandenburg. A document of 1510, the earliest relating to the artist, refers to him as a designer of waterworks. In the following year, Grünewald was supervising the building of Aschaffenburg Castle for Archbishop Uriel, and, in 1517, he was painting an altarpiece for Heinrich Reitzmann, canon of the Church of Aschaffenburg. Other known documents on Grünewald are records of payment for three altarpieces he painted in Mainz in 1524-1525, lost in a storm when the Swedes carried them off by boat after their conquests in Germany. In 1525, Grünewald left von Brandenburg's service and went to Halle where he died in 1528.

   The Mocking of Christ (1503; Munich, Alte Pinakothek) is Grünewald's earliest dated work. Rendered for the Church of Aschaffenburg, it already features what will become one of the main characteristics of the master's style—deep emotionalism that evokes pity toward the victimized Christ, here achieved through the crowding of figures and the scornful expressions of the tormentors. Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece (fin. 1515; Colmar, Musée d'Unterlinden) epitomizes his ability to evoke emotive responses from viewers. In its closed state, the work presents the crucified, broken, and bloodied body of Christ with St. Mary Magdalen kneeling at his feet in desperate agony. In its open state, the altarpiece includes the Resurrection, where Christ is shown as having recovered from his wounds, now a handsome, healthy figure rising to heaven while surrounded by a magnificent halo of yellow and red. The image clearly provides a ray of hope to those who suffer, a fitting subject as the altarpiece originally stood in the chapel of the commandery of the Hospital Order of St. Anthony in Isenheim. Grünewald's Stuppach Madonna (c. 1517-1520; Stuppach, Parish Church) may be the central panel for Reitzmann's altarpiece. It presents the Virgin and Child in a playful moment, their faces lit by the joy they experience. Next to them are prominently displayed lilies, symbols of the Virgin's purity. Behind are a garden, rainbow, and cathedral, this last denoting that Mary is here depicted as Ecclesia, the Church.

   Grünewald's works convey meaning through gestures, distortions, grimaces, and resplendent colorism and light. His back-grounds are there not to locate the work in a certain specific setting but rather to add to the spiritual drama of his scenes. His works are either full of tragedy or full of joy. He was among those few masters who was able to communicate through visual language the complexities of human emotion and hope for an afterlife that offers succor from the pain of living.