An Altarpiece from  St. Moritz Church [right wing]: The Annunciation

An Altarpiece from St. Moritz Church [right wing]: The Annunciation

Title

An Altarpiece from St. Moritz Church [right wing]: The Annunciation

[cda 2015]

Painting on pine wood

Medium

Painting on pine wood

[Documentation D. Jakob 2014]

An annunciation scene is depicted on the exterior of the altarpiece and it spans across both wings. On the right wing the Virgin kneels behind a lectern with her hands held in an attitude of prayer. The Holy Spirit hovers above her in the form of a dove.

Attributions
Master of the Mittenwald Retable
Anonymous Master from the Cranach Workshop

Attributions

Master of the Mittenwald Retable

[Heydenreich 2016, 143]

Anonymous Master from the Cranach Workshop

[Heydenreich, cda 2015]

Lucas Cranach the Elder (and Workshop)

[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, 79, No. 47B]

Production date
1514

Production date

1514

[dated]

Dimensions
Dimensions of painted surface: 161.5 x 71 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of painted surface: 161.5 x 71 cm

  • Dimensions including frame: 168.3 x 78.3 cm

  • [Documentation D. Jakob 2014]

Signature / Dating

Dated on the left folding wing at the window-ledge '1514', brown paint applied as a translucent glaze

Signature / Dating

  • Dated on the left folding wing at the window-ledge '1514', brown paint applied as a translucent glaze

  • [Documentation D. Jakob 2014]

Owner
Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Mittenwalde
Repository
St. Moritzkirche Mittenwalde
Location
Mittenwalde
CDA ID
DE_MKM_NONE-MKM001B
FR (1978) Nr.
FR047B
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_MKM_NONE-MKM001B/

Provenance

  • 1514 donated by the Electress Elisabeth of Brandenburg
    [Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, 79, No. 47B]

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Heydenreich 2017 A 76-77
AuthorGunnar Heydenreich
TitleCranach? Fragen der Zuschreibung im Lichte kunsttechnologischer Untersuchungen
Publicationin Gunnar Heydenreich, Daniel Görres, Beat Wismer, eds., Lucas Cranach der Ältere. Meister - Marke - Moderne. [Exhib. Cat. Düsseldorf 2017]
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2017
Link https://lucascranach.org/application/files/7316/7870/1704/Heydenreich_2017_Cranach_Fragen_der_Zuschreibung.pdf
Pages72-81
Heydenreich 2016
AuthorGunnar Heydenreich
TitleDas Mittenwalder Retabel (1514). Die Malerei im Spiegel der Cranach-Forschung
Publicationin, Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Landesmuseum ed., Flügelaltäre um 1515 - Höhepunkte mittelalterlicher Kunst in Brandenburg und in den Nachbarregionen
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication2016
Link https://lucascranach.org/application/files/7616/7870/1703/Heydenreich_2016_Das_Mittenwalder_Retabel.pdf
Pages138-153
Knüvener 2011 227-228
AuthorPeter Knüvener
TitleDie spätmittelalterliche Skulptur und Malerei in der Mark Brandenburg
VolumeBd. 14
JournalForschungen und Beiträge zur Denkmalpflege im Land Brandenburg
Place of PublicationWorms
Year of Publication2011
Pages221-229
Müller 2008 A
AuthorMathias Müller
EditorErnst Badstübner, Peter Knüvener, Dirk Schumann
TitleOrdenslehre und Fürstenmemoria. Bildform und Bildkonzept des dominikanischen Altarretabels von Mittenwalde bei Berlin
Publicationin Ernst Badstübner, ed., Die Kunst des Mittelalters in der Mark Brandenburg. Tradition - Transformation - Innovation
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication2008
Pages348-362
Cardenas, Schumann 2004
AuthorLivia Cárdenas, Dirk Schumann
TitleDas mittelalterliche Altaretabel der Moritzkirche in Mittenwalde
Year of Publication2004
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 79 047B
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979

Research History / Discussion

Like the altarpiece in Neustadt the winged altarpiece in Mittenwalde exhibits a fairly puristic rendition of the Cranach style from this period, but was probably executed with some workshop participation.

[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, 79, No. 47B]

The artist who executed the Mittenwald Retable was trained in Cranach’s workshop and made use of his templates and preparatory material. He also drew on Dürer prints as inspiration for his compositions. However, a technical examination of this work does not suggest that it was produced in the workshop. The altarpiece was commissioned by Elizabeth of Brandenburg and was probably originally intended for a location in Berlin. The examination results support the theory that it was created in a workshop based in Berlin. A relationship with the Bernau retable should be explored within this context. It would also be of interest to discover whether a workshop in Berlin closely associated with Cranach’s workshop in Wittenberg. Numerous similarities in technique and style with a work in a private collection in Oslo (http://lucascranach.org/PRIVATE_NONE-P142a) suggest that this retable, which depicts the Adoration was painted by the same artist two years later. As Friedrich III is shown on this painting future research should attempt to discover more about the commission and explore the relationship between the Master of the Mittenwald Retable and the electors of Saxony.

[Heydenreich 2016, 149-150]

  • An Altarpiece from St. Moritz Church [right wing]: The Annunciation, 1514

Images

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Technical studies

07. 2014Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr
  • irr

Underdrawing

DESCRIPTION

Tools/Material:

- fluid black medium, brush; and dry drawing material (dark chalk)?

Type/Ductus:

- relatively freehand underdrawing

- thin lines

Function:

- relatively binding for the final painted version; lines delineate contours and define facial features; no representation of volume with hatching-strokes

Deviations:

- minor alterations made during the painting process to clearly define form; small changes

INTERPRETATION

Attribution:

- an assistant in the Cranach workshop

Comments:

- the initial design was probably executed employing a stylus (or other hard drawing implement)

[Sandner, Smith-Contini, Heydenreich, cda 2015]

  • photographed by Gunnar Heydenreich
  • photographed by Ingo Sandner

01.05.2014 - Scientific analysis

  • Identification of wood species / Dendrochronology

Support

pine wood

  • analysed by Dr. Thilo Schöfbeck

03. 2014Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • UV-light photography
  • uv_light

2009 - Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Stereomicroscopy
  • Infrared reflectography

Support

- pine wood, three planks with numerous knots, reinforced with a canvas application

- the joins are reinforced with strips of canvas, this observation applies only to the fixed wing panels where the paint layers on the reverse have been removed.

- the panels depicting the annunciation have been integrated into the shrine wing, the backs of the paintings create the backgrounds for the inner wings, the inner panels are as such inserted into the frame of the wing panels

Ground and Imprimatura

The ground is a thin application (c. 1mm). There is a barbe along the edges close to the frame. In raking light marks created by a spatula used to smoothen the ground are visible. No analysis was done to establish the composition of the ground.

A light umbra coloured imprimatura is visible in the glazed sections of the painting.

Underdrawing

The underdrawing on the annunciation panels may have been executed employing iron gall ink, which cannot be seen in IR.

Paint Layers and Gilding

- glazed to opaque paint application

Framing

- the panels are inserted into the shrine wings, which are original.

[Documentation Dirk Jacob 2014]

  • examined by Grit Jehmlich

Conservation History

Date2012 - 2014

  • the extensive overpaint from 1861 was removed
  • conservation treatment by Grit Jehmlich
  • written by Dirk Jacob

Date1861 - 1862

  • restoration of the retable and the paintings (extensively overpainted)

[Dokumentation Dirk Jacob 2014]

  • minor conservation treatment in the 20th century

[Documentation Dirk Jacob 2014]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'An Altarpiece from St. Moritz Church [right wing]: The Annunciation', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_MKM_NONE-MKM001B/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'An Altarpiece from St. Moritz Church [right wing]: The Annunciation', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_MKM_NONE-MKM001B/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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