The Bernau Altarpiece [right alteration wing]: The childhood of Christ [recto], Live of Saints [verso]

Right wing, recto: The Annunciation to the Shepherds; The Cirumcision and Naming of Jesus; The Adoration of the Magi; The Presentation in the Temple; The Flight into Egypt; The Massacre of the Innocents; Christ with the Elders in the Temple; The Virgin as the Mother of Sorrows

As described in the Gospel the shepherds stand with their dogs by their resting herd and are brought the joyful news of the birth of Christ by an angel. The younger of the two men has sat down on the ground. Both are wearing hooded coats and shoulder bags. In consternation and silence they listen to the heavenly message without registering the angel whose pronouncement is indicated on the curled banner.

The custom of male circumcision common in many ancient civilizations was considered by the Israelites to be an act of purification from sin and ensured acceptance by their people. It was executed on the eighth day after the birth and combined with the act of name-giving; Christianity substituted this with the baptism. According to the medieval interpretation circumcision was the first of Christ's acts of sufferance, the first time his blood was spilled. The panel shows the parents bringing their child to the temple. The High Priest holds the child on his lap, while his assistant performs the circumcision over a basin.

St Matthew's Gospel records the visit of the Wise Men from the East, who came to Jerusalem and asked: 'Where is the new born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the East and have come to worship him.' The artist has set the event in a very tight space. The Virgin and Child are surrounded by the three guests. The oldest, Melchior, kneels in front of her in a sumptuous coat of gold brocade and offers the child a golden bowl of coins, the other two kings, Balthasar and Caspar stand to one side and hold gold chalices containing myrrh and incense in their hands. The youngest, the Moor, wears a fashionable gown with slits in the sleeves. The three kings are of different ages and also symbolize the different parts of the world known then.

Forty days after his birth in accordance with a Jewish custom Jesus was like all first borns brought to the Lord in the temple and by presenting an offering was released from service in the temple. Mary has placed two doves on the altarpiece as a offering. The Gospel of St Luke describes how the old man Simeon, who has taken the child on his arm, recognizes him as the Saviour. [...] The 84 year old prophetess Hanna has joined him to praise the Lord. Joseph and two other pious companions participate in the event.

In a dream Joseph was prompted by an angel to flee with the Virgin and child to evade the death warrant imposed by King Herod. It is the description of the event in the Gospel of St Matthew that provides the atmospheric motif for Christian art: the Holy Family fleeing through a forest. The Virgin riding on a donkey has wrapped her child in her large coat. Joseph the old foster father has his walking-stick over his shoulder. He is dressed like a farmer, wearing a short tunic, a shoulder cape and has a short sword at his side. He has thoughtfully also taken a flask containing refreshments with him.

King Herod commanded the slaughter of all infants under the age of two - the socalled Massacre of the Innocents - out of fear of the new born King of the Jews. The panel illustrates the butchery caused by his soldiers. A child is killed with a sword while still in his mother's arms, another child is about to be stabbed by a soldier, who holds him up by one leg. Further corpses of murdered infants are strewn on the ground. The artist [...] has used the soldiers' knee and shoulder protection to create an interesting motif in the foreground by paying particular attention to detail and attempting to reproduce the metallic surface of the armour with light effects and paint.

A description in the Gospel of St Luke 2, 41-52 expands on the legend recorded in the Gospel of Thomas in the Apocrypha, which was the inspiration for numerous artistic representations. The twelve year old boy is seated at a lectern and interprets the text in an open book. The Elders sit in front of him and dispute on a long bench projecting into the pictorial space. His parents enter through the door in search of him.

The seven swords in the Virgin's breast represent the seven painful events in her life that were separated from Christ's Passion in the late Middle Ages and arranged together or alternatively juxtaposed with her 'seven joys': these include the Circumcision of Christ, the Flight into Egypt, Christ in the Temple; Christ's arrest, the Crucifixion, the Deposition, and the Entombment. The sword as a symbol of pain goes back to Simeon's prophecy in the Gospel of St Luke 2, 35: 'And sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart.'

[Sachs 1989, 48-51]

Verso: The Stoning of St Stephen; The Holy Kinship; The Martyrdom of St Apollonia; St Hedwig; The Pilgrimage of St Ursula; The Martyrdom of St Lucy; St Odilia.

First legend: In the Acts of the Apostles 6 and 7 the martyrdom of Stephen is described. He was the first of the seven deacons appointed by the apostles in Jerusalem. At the Supreme Court the people accused Stephen of blasphemy and had him stoned to death because they did not wish to hear his eloquent biblical refutal. The panel shows a young deacon in prayer wearing a dalmatica, and ready to endure the expectant blows from fist-sized stones thrown from the left and right. Stephen is one of the protomartyrs.

Second scene: The family portrait representing the legendary kinship of the Virgin is a subject that enjoyed much popularity during the Middle Ages. In Bernau the depiction stretches across two panels. The genealogical representation shifts the Holy Family into this world and gives insight into the whole kinship. However the legend mixes biblical and fictional figures to create family relations. The two panels here belong both in content and composition together. In the front half of the image there are four women, all except one, sit in a row with their children. The mother Anna sits in the centre and is portrayed as a matron with a book in her hands. Her daughter Mary is shown opposite her with the infant Christ and to the right and left are the Virgin's half-sisters. According to the Trinubium legend Anna was married three times and each marriage produced a daughter called Mary. Her three husbands stand behind her: at the centre, distinguished by a beret and fur collar is the rich herd owner Joachim flanked by her second and third husbands Kleophas and Salome whose names were taken by her daughters. The two children on the left are Mary Salome's John - who later became the Evangelist - and James the Elder - who later became one of Christ's disciples. Her husband Zebedeaus stands behind them. On the right Mary Kleophas sits with four children. Two of them later became disciples of Christ: James the Younger and Simon Zelotes as well as Barsabas and Juda. Her husband Alpheaus occupies the position behind them and stands as such between two further families, Zacharias and Elizabeth with their son John later the Baptist and Enim and Menelia with their child Seratius.

Third scene: The legend reports that Apollonia had numerous teeth knocked out and her jaw bone smashed before she suffered death for her belief. This panel shows two henchmen executing the commands of man distinguished by a sumptuous brocade coat with a fur collar as well as a turban. Apollonia is called upon as an intercessor for toothache.

Fourth scene: In the foreground of the image a young maid washes the hair of a captive or leper who bends forward out of a wooden house. Cripples hold plates in front of her begging for food. This figure can be identified as St Hedwig, the wife of Duke Heinrich of Silesia who like Elizabeth of Thuringia was frequently depicted performing such acts of charity. [...]

Fifth scene: The daughter of a legendary king embarked on a pilgrimage escorted by bishops and in the company of 11000 virgins in a boat that took them up the Rhine from Cologne to Basel from where they continued on foot to Rome. Pope Cyriacus joined the pilgrims on their return journey. In Cologne their boat was attacked by Huns and all the occupants were murdered. Ursula refused the leader of the Huns and was killed by him personally with an arrow. This scene is represented on the panel. The wounded princess is shown on the boat. The archer takes aim at another virgin, who is being dragged from the boat by a second henchman armed with a sword. On the boat with the other virgins are the pope with the tiara and a bishop.

Sixth scene: Lucy is killed in front of her groom, who denounced her as a Christian during the diocletian persecution. In the presence of two men a third bearded man plunges a sword into her neck. She died only after receiving the host from a priest. Prior to this her persecutors had attempted to drag the unwavering and persevering believer into a brothel or to have her burned.

Seventh scene: The eyesight of an alsatian duke's daughter who had been born blind was restored at her baptism by an itinerant bishop. Odilia is depicted here as a nun, wearing the black robes of the Benedictine order. She holds her attribute: two eyes resting on a book. Odilia was frequently called upon for assistance by those with eye conditions. A young woman wearing a crown stands opposite her. However she lacks any form of attribute and therefore cannot be identified.

[Sachs 1989, 81, 102-110]