St Olav Altarpiece: Sts Barbara, Catherine and Dorothy [external wing panel]

St Olav Altarpiece: Sts Barbara, Catherine and Dorothy [external wing panel]

Title

St Olav Altarpiece: Sts Barbara, Catherine and Dorothy [external wing panel]

[cda 2021]

Painting on oak

Medium

Painting on oak

[Emmendörffer 1997, 74]

The St Olav altarpiece was originally painted for the Chapel of the Bergenfahrer in the Church of St Marien. The whole complex consisted of three paintings and a carved shrine. When closed the depiction of the three female saints Barbara, Catherine and Dorothy was visible. It then opened out like

The St Olav altarpiece was originally painted for the Chapel of the Bergenfahrer in the Church of St Marien. The whole complex consisted of three paintings and a carved shrine. When closed the depiction of the three female saints Barbara, Catherine and Dorothy was visible. It then opened out like a book to show the other two paintings depicting St Olav with the two evangelists John and Matthew on the left and the deposition on the right-hand side. When opened a second time a sculptural ensemble was revealed with the Holy Kinship on one side and the Sts Roche, Anthony and Sebastian on the other. These saints were flanked either side by diminutive figures of the apostles in vertical niches.

This panel shows from left to right St Barbara with her attribute the tower, St Catherine with both the wheel and the sword and St Dorothy receiving a basket of flowers from a young boy in a tunic. The figurative group is set against a gilded background with a punched decorative pattern.

[cda 2021]

Attributions
Hans Kemmer
Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop

Attributions

Hans Kemmer

[Bruns 1900, CXXXI] [Gaedertz 1900] [Schaeffer 1917] [Emmendörffer 1997, 42]

Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop

'work of Cranach's youth or by an assistant' [Woermann, Woltmann 1882]

Circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Parthey 1863 - 1864] [Goldschmidt 1890, 27] [Flechsig 1900 A, 129-131]

unknown

'niederelbisch' (anonymous artist from the lower Elb region) [Funk 1841]

Matthias Grünewald

[Waagen 1846] [Kugler 1861] [Gaedertz 1887]

Pietro Perugino

[Zietz 1822, 66, 67] [Funk 1823]

Production dates
1522 - 1524
1515 - 1516

Production dates

1522 - 1524

[Emmendörffer 1997, 42] [Bruns 1900, CXXXI]

1473

[Gaedertz 1887]

1515 - 1516

[Goldschmidt 1890, 27]

1524

[cda 2021]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 156 x 148 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 156 x 148 cm

  • Dimensions including frame: 176 x 168 cm

  • [Emmendörffer 1997, 74]

Owner
St. Marien, Lübeck
Repository
painting not preserved
CDA ID
DE_StML-Lost_NONE-StML001a
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_StML-Lost_NONE-StML001a/

Provenance

The contract for the altarpiece was drawn up and signed on the 09.10.1522 and the completed work was delivered and installed in the Bergenfahrerkapelle, in St. Marien, Lübeck in March 1524 (c. one year later than originally agreed upon).
[Bruns 1900, CXXXI]
The altarpiece was destroyed during the 2nd World War.
[Emmendörffer 1997, 42]

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Emmendörffer 2021 125-126, 128, 132 Fig. 3
AuthorChristoph Emmendörffer
TitleHans Kemmer. Lübecks Maler in der Reformation.
Publicationin Dagmar Täube, ed., Lucas Cranach der Ältere und Hans Kemmer. Meistermaler zwischen Renaissance und Reformation [Lübeck, St. Annen-Museum]
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2021
Pages125-133
Show Literature
Heydenreich 2021 A 49
AuthorGunnar Heydenreich
TitleHans Kemmer: Spuren künstlerischer Gestaltungsprozesse. Teil I: Lübeck
Publicationin Dagmar Täube, ed., Lucas Cranach der Ältere und Hans Kemmer. Meistermaler zwischen Renaissance und Reformation [Lübeck, St. Annen-Museum]
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2021
Pages49-57
Show Literature
Heydenreich 2021 B 63-65 Fig. 15
AuthorGunnar Heydenreich
TitleHans Kemmer: Spuren künstlerischer Gestaltungsprozesse. Teil II: Wittenberg
Publicationin Dagmar Täube, ed., Lucas Cranach der Ältere und Hans Kemmer. Meistermaler zwischen Renaissance und Reformation [Lübeck, St. Annen-Museum]
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2021
Pages59-69
Show Literature
Emmendörffer 1998 210, 211 Fig. 22.6
AuthorChristoph Emmendörffer
TitleDie selbständigen Cranachschüler
Publicationin Ingo Sandner, Wartburg-Stiftung Eisenach and Fachhochschule Köln, eds., Unsichtbare Meisterzeichnungen auf dem Malgrund. Cranach und seine Zeitgenossen, Exhib. Cat. Eisenach
Place of PublicationRegensburg
Year of Publication1998
Pages203-228
Show Literature
Emmendörffer 1997 42-92 002
AuthorChristoph Emmendörffer
TitleHans Kemmer. Ein Lübecker Maler der Reformationszeit
Place of PublicationLeipzig
Year of Publication1997
Show Literature
Schaefer 1917
AuthorKarl Schaefer
TitleDer Lübecker Maler Hans Kemmer. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Cranach-Schule
JournalMonatshefte für Kunstwissenschaft
Issue10
Year of Publication1917
Pages1-11
Show Literature
Bruns 1900 CXXXI, 298
AuthorFriedrich Bruns
TitleDie Lübecker Bergenfahrer und ihre Chronistik
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1900
Show Literature
Flechsig 1900 A 126 - 131, 135
AuthorEduard Flechsig
TitleCranachstudien
Volume1
Place of PublicationLeipzig
Year of Publication1900
Link page/n5/mode/2up
Show Literature
Gaedertz 1900
AuthorTheodor Gaedertz
TitleJohann Kemmer. Der Meister des Olavsaltars in der Marienkirche zu Lübeck
Publicationin: Offizieller Bericht über die Verhandlungen des kunsthistrischen Kongresses in Lübeck vom 16-19 September 1900
Place of PublicationNuremberg
Year of Publication1900
Pages44-50
Show Literature
Goldschmidt 1890 27 Pl. 43
AuthorAdolph Goldschmidt
TitleLübecker Malerei und Plastik bis zum Jahre 1530
Place of PublicationLübeck
Year of Publication1890
Link https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/goldschmidt1890/0037
Show Literature
Gaedertz 1887
AuthorTheodor Gaedertz
TitleOlavsaltar in St. Marien
JournalJahresbericht des Vereins von Kunstfreunden in Lübeck
Place of PublicationLübeck
Issue7. (1886-87)
Year of Publication1887
Show Literature
Woltmann, Woermann 1882
AuthorAlfred Woltmann, Karl Woermann
TitleDie Malerei der Renaissance, Geschichte der Malerei
Volume2
Place of Publication[n. a.]
Year of Publication1882
Show Literature
Parthey 1863-1864
AuthorGustav Parthey
TitleDeutscher Bildersaal. Verzeichnis der in Deutschland vorhandenen Oelbilder verstorbener Maler aller Schulen
Volume1, 2
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1864
Show Literature
Kugler 1861
AuthorFranz Kugler
TitleHandbuch der Kunstgeschichte
Place of PublicationStuttgart
Year of Publication1861
Show Literature
Waagen 1846
AuthorGustav Friedrich Waagen
TitleUeber einige Gemälde in den Kirchen und andern Räumlichkeiten der freien Stadt Lübeck
JournalKunstblatt
Issue28
Year of Publication1846
Pages113-115
Show Literature
Funk 1841
AuthorJohann Ägidius Ludwig Funk
TitleDie Merkwürdigkeiten der MarienKirche in Lübeck
Place of PublicationLübeck
Year of Publication1841
Show Literature
Funk 1823 19, 20
AuthorJohann Ägidius Ludwig Funk
TitleDie Merkwürdigkeiten der MarienKirche in Lübeck
Place of PublicationLübeck
Year of Publication1823
Link https://archive.org/details%2Fbub_gb_CbsAAAAAcAAJ&signature=xB9WuIu9Xwnm_SsrPq_pa1hVELh6rXyBYcaybgY0aXI&showCoverImg=1
Show Literature
Zietz 1822 66,67
AuthorHeinrich Christian Zietz
TitleAnsichten Der Freien Hansestadt Lübeck und ihrer Umgebungen
Place of PublicationFrankfurt am Main
Year of Publication1822
Link https://onb.digital/result/1094D17C
Show Literature

Connected Works

St Olav Altarpiece: The Deposition [inner panel, right wing]
  • St Olav Altarpiece: The Deposition [inner panel, right wing], 1522 - 1524
  • DE_StML-Lost_NONE-StML001b
  • Painting
  • St. Marien, Lübeck
St Olav Altarpiece: St Olav flanked by the Evangelists John and Matthew [inner panel, left wing]
  • St Olav Altarpiece: St Olav flanked by the Evangelists John and Matthew [inner panel, left wing], 1522 - 1524
  • DE_StML-Lost_NONE-StML001c
  • Painting
  • St. Marien, Lübeck
  • St Olav Altarpiece: Sts Barbara, Catherine and Dorothy [external wing panel], 1522 - 1524

Images

Compare images
  • overall
  • overall
  • overall

Technical studies

Framing

The frame member were each c. 9-10 cm in width; flat with a moulded profile on each side; it was gilded and the flat section was decorated with painted patterns; in this case rhombi with jagged edged quatrefoils.

[Emmendörffer 1997, 75]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'St Olav Altarpiece: Sts Barbara, Catherine and Dorothy [external wing panel]', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_StML-Lost_NONE-StML001a/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'St Olav Altarpiece: Sts Barbara, Catherine and Dorothy [external wing panel]', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_StML-Lost_NONE-StML001a/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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