The Bernau Altarpiece [left alteration wing]: Live of the Virgin [recto], Live of Saints [verso]

Recto:

The scenes depicting the Life of the Virgin on the left wing begin with the story of Anna and Joachim, the Virgin's parents who are not mentioned in the bible. According to reports in the Apocrypha [...] Joachim, a pious owner of a large herd, lived together with Anna in Jerusalem for twenty years in a childless marriage. An angel announced the birth of a child to each of them. He appears to Joachim while he is spending 40 days in the meadow with the shepherds and his herd. Anna receives the joyful news at the same time in the town. They run towards each other to exchange the good news and meet at the 'Golden gate' of Jerusalem, the East gate of the temple that according to prophecy would remain closed until the Messiah arrived. The panel depicts the couple embracing, Anna wears a red coat and her head and shoulders are covered with the white veil of a married woman. Joachim is characterised as a wealthy man with a beret and the conspicuous buckle shoes. Over his green gown he wears a black cloak [...]. The pair is framed by the arch of the gate. Their brightly coloured clothes set them apart from the light grey ashlar masonry. A conventional gold ground is visible behind the wall.

The birth of the Virgin is not recorded in the New Testament either. Again the Apocrypha is the source [...]. According to the protoevangelium of James 5,2 the prophecy of the angel was fulfilled. After nine months Anna gave birth to a girl she called Mary. [...] In an attempt to create perspectival pictorial space Anna's bed has been pushed far into the background and is shown smaller in scale. Anna is depicted clothed under the covers. Her halo is like a disc set against her bright white pillow that is decorated with red tassels. A young woman offers her refreshments in the form of a bowl of cherries. The group is framed by the gathered green curtain of the bed. In the foreground a woman [...] wearing bourgeois attire with a bonnet and a black collar and a red dress is busy washing the child. It is lying on a large chest, placed at an oblique angle. She pours water from a jug over the child [...]. A large grey jug occupies the space on the floor tiles in the foreground.

According to the report in the Apocrypha Protoevangelium 4,I Anna vowed in her prayer for a child that if her wish were fulfilled she would bring the child to God to remain lifelong in his service. According to other reports the seven or eleven year old Virgin was brought by her parents to the temple so that she could be educated in the holy place with other virgins to serve the Lord. This image shows the parents accompanied by a man on the roofed steps of the temple, Anna is dressed in a red dress and Joachim has removed his hat in reverence. Alone the diminutive Virgin climbs the steps in prayer and is met at the entrance of the temple by the High Priest and a temple servant. Within a large open book with Hebraic characters is visible on the altarpiece.

Life in the temple school is illustrated in the next image by two young women weaving. The Virgin is shown as a young adult in a red dress, distinguished by a halo and emphasized by her larger scale. She is shown holding a cotton reel. Opposite her a young girl wearing a green dress sits at a loom and is busy weaving a patterned boarder [...] Cranach also used the same motif in 1510/12 in a painting depicting the Holy Family [DE_AGGD_8].

The painter of this image evidently adopted the composition, changing only the scale and clothing of the figures to suit the content of his image.

The Golden legend is the source for this image. Mary, as a temple virgin, had vowed to remain chased. Instructed by an angel the High Priest gathered all the widowers in the population. Together with eleven others Joseph of Nazareth solicited for the Virgin. His staff was the only one of the twelve presented in the temple that turned green and so he was considered to be chosen by God and was married to the Virgin. The wedding is depicted in panel, which shows a priest placing the hands of Joseph and Mary together.

Luke's gospel describes the Archangel Gabriel's visit to Mary in Nazareth. He announces the birth of a son. His words of greeting 'Greetings favoured one, The Lord is with you.' can be read in Latin 'Ave Maria gratia plena dominus tecum' on the banner, which is curled around his scepter. Gabriel appears from the left and kneels down in front of the Virgin. He is wearing a luminous yellow undergarment and over this a green dalmatica with a red fringe. The Holy Ghost hovers over the Virgin in the form of a dove. She is shown in prayer at a wooden lectern with an open book in front of her. Her blackish blue coat falls like draperies over the lectern. The painter has taken the motif from a series of woodcuts by Dürer illustrating the Life of the Virgin.

The pregnant Virgin visits her cousin Elizabeth, who as an older woman is expecting a child, later known as John the Baptist and the encounter of the two women is shown here. In the Gospel of St Luke I, 39 - 56, ' At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth.' [...] the scene is always shown outdoors [...]: Green trees are represented to the right and left and in between there is a castle on a rocky outcrop, while in front the path taken by the Virgin is shown. Mary offers the elder woman her right hand. They have both placed their other hand on their blessed bodies.

The Nativity is one of the most frequently illustrated subjects in the History of Art and has been depicted in many variants. [...] Shown here is a bare room with a large opening in the wall for a window and above the open rafters of the roof timbering with only a few tiles. Dominating the image is the mother who kneels with her child bedded on the corner of her gown. Joseph kneels in the background protecting the flame of the candle that illuminates the 'Holy Night'.

[Sachs 1989, 45- 48]

Verso:

In almost square panels, generally only one saint is represented in a realistic landscape by either an event from his/her life or the martyrdom:

St Christopher; the Martyrdom of St Sebastian; St Eustace; St Blaise; the Archangel St Michael with the Souls in a weighing scale; St George slaying the Dragon; The Fourteen Holy Helpers; St Nicholas.

First legend: The giant bearing the infant Christ on his shoulders was one of the most popular of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. It was believed that mere contemplation of his image protected against disaster and sudden death. Martin Luther stated in his sermon on the Ten Commandments that this Holy Helper had such esteem that no apostle was comparable, therefore he encouraged Christians to be quite 'Christoffel'. According to the legend the giant Reprobus or Offerus desired only to serve the most powerful master. Once he had served the king and the devil, following the advice of a hermit he began to help pilgrims on their way by carrying them over a broad and deep river. One day he carried a child who became increasingly heavy and finally disclosed that he was the ruler of the world by performing a miracle that caused leaves to sprout from Christopher's dry stick. Converted by this the giant was baptized as Chrisophorus (Christ's bearer). [...] The pose and the clothing of the saint correspond to a greater extent with a painting attributed to the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Second legend: The legend recounts the story of a Roman officer and commander of the emperor's bodyguard, who only wore his uniform to sustain Christians with his words when they despaired about the torment inflicted upon them. He stood accused before Emperor Diocletian, who was known for his persecution of the Christians. The emperor commanded his soldiers to bind him naked in an open field and kill him with arrows. Sebastian survived this first martyrdom. From the mid 14th century he was often invoked against the plague, which had become increasingly prevalent in Europe. According to Psalm 7, 13 arrow wounds symbolize sudden sickness and Sebastian's head wounds bore similarities with those of plague inflicted casualties. [...] The panel depicts a naked youth tied to a tree with archers taking aim.

Third legend: A stag bearing a crucifix surrounded by a wreath of rays in his antlers supposedly appeared to one of Emperor Trajan's officers while he was out hunting. Converted by this vision Eustace chose to be baptised together with his family. Christ's prophecy was fulfilled and he suffered difficult tests. Under Hadrian's rule he was burned because of his belief. Here the hunting scene with the saint who was also a Holy Helper has been transposed to the present. A young knight in Renaissance attire has dismounted his horse and kneels in prayer in front of the stag with the crucifix in his antlers. T

Fourth legend: The Legend aurea (or Golden Legend) recounts that the young and gentle bishop of Sebaste fled from the diocletian persecution into a cave where he lived as a hermit. When knights came upon him while hunting he followed them, preached to them and performed miracles before their eyes. Here the artist has chosen a scene showing the young bishop wearing vestments, holding a candle and following a group of fashionably dressed youths. In the background there is a high mountain covered with trees. The candle that has become one of St Blaise's attributes is from another episode in his life when during his incarceration a widow brought it to him.

Fifth legend: Michael is often shown as a dragon slayer wielding his victory sword or portrayed with scales weighing the souls of the dead on images of the Last Judgment. This motif is not recorded in the bible. Commonly representations show the souls on his scale being confronted with their deeds or the balance between their good and bad behaviour. Here the souls are shown as naked figures united on one side of the scales. However, the scale has sunk in favour of the other side in which devilish little creatures are crouched. One has fallen out and is under threat from the archangel's sword.

Sixth legend: The Christian soldier who was beheaded in 303 under the rule of Emperor Diocletian was considered the protomartyr and was venerated in the Middle Ages as one of the Holy Helpers. The folkloristic saint of the western and eastern eclesiastical area evolved in the Golden Legend by merging George's life with the mythical figure of the dragon slayer that once liberated the beautiful princess from the monster. [...] The painting depicts the Holy Knight in contemporary armour. The defeated monster writhes beneath his horse's hoof. Here the Virgin kneels in the background and like in a woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder from 1512 is shown with a lamb.

Seventh legend: The infant Christ is shown here with the globe and the cross as symbols of his sovereignty over the world. He is encircled by fourteen children with candles. The group stands in front of a shepherd with his herd and can be identified as a representation of the legend of the Holy Helpers. Fourteen saints were asked by God before their martyrdom to help anyone who requested it in his name. These Holy Helpers supposedly appeared in 1445/46 to the shepherd of Langheim monastery in Upper Franconia. He had a chapel errected on the meadow where he received the vision. This was later enlarged and became the pilgrimage church of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (Wallfahrtskirche Vierzehnheiligen).

Eighth legend: The bishop Nicholas of Myra throws an anchor from a ship. His legend is rich in miracles, including the one illustrated panel that shows him assisting a ship in distress. St Nicholas became the patron saint of seafarers and fishermen for this reason and he was particularly venerated in Hanse towns and in Northern Germany where many old parish churches bear his name.

[Sachs 1989, 81, 99-102]