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DOI Artikel:Dobrzeniecki, Tadeusz: A Gothic relief with the Adoration of the Magi: a discovered model of some Gothic copies
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18862#0081
Edith Hessig in her thorough monograph on the art of Master E.S. and the Late Gothic
sculpture8 covered also the Upper Rhenish stucco reliefs and recognized them as the copies of
the wooden ones, mostly not preserved, or as the imitations of engravings.
An instructive introduction to the problem important in Mediaeval art. that of making copies
in various materials, is presented in the book written by Hans Huth9. The anthor thoroughly ana-
lyzed the relation between the relief with the scenę of the Adoration of the Magi — the compart-
ment of the wing of the Saalfeld retable1" — and the drawing on the same subject11. Huth re-
cognized the drawing as a model for the compartment of the wing, originally much bigger. Ho-
wever, there are differences in form and content between the drawing and the carved version
of its composition which prove that the author of the drawing was not the same person as the
carver of the relief. Since the workshop in Saalfeld is known for the unusually extensive produc-
tion, we are authorized to recognize in this drawing the hand of the chief master who left then
the execution of the relief to his apprentice aeco.ding to the design prepared by l.imself.
Another possibility of the explanation would be to admit a division of the work in the Gothic
workshop commonly practiced in the guild system. The drawing might be executed by the
carver, to whom Huth ascribed still another carved version of the same subject12.
In the City Gallery in Frankfort Wilm has found two more reliefs in terracotta, following the
same drawing, both reliefs executed in Alsace13. A relief in wood with the scenę of the Adoration
of the Magi belonged to the Albert Figdor Collection. According to Demmler the composition
of this relief is patterned after the lost engraving executed by Master E.S.14 and known from
several repetitions done in various techniques15. Demmler put a list of these imitations according
to the degree of the dependence upon the original. On the top of the list he placed the relief from
the Figdor Collection, as a particularly good exemplar and on the last position he placed the
drawing in which Huth and Wilm saw the source of the inspiration for all the derived works.
From the Upper Rhenish works patterned after the engravings of Master E.S. Edith Hessig
separated the group of the reliefs in terracotta, stucco and cartapesta copied after the original
wooden reliefs or after the lost engravings deriving mainly from the period of 1460—80lc.
For the present study of a relief with the Adoration of the Magi in the National Museum in
Warsaw it is useful to quo'.e af er Hessig the group of the Upper Rhenish reliefs. They are of
interest not only as far as the dependence on the graphic patterns of Master E.S. is concerned;
also their iconography and peculiarities of execution by the guild artists are elucidating.
I. The Adoration of the Magi, composition known from the drawing in the Veste Coburg Collec-
tion, and the reliefs patterned after the lost engraving of Master E.S:
1. Paris, Louvre, stone relief from the Church Pont St. Vincent (Dep. Meurthe-et-Moselle),
55 X 54 cm17
8. E. Hessig, Die Kunst des Meistcrs E.S. und die Plastik der Spatgotik, Berlin, 1935, p. 59—64 : Oberrhein und Schweiz, 5. Ver-
streute oberrheinische Werke. Stuck- und Halbfigurenreliefs.
9. H. Huth, Kiinstler und Werkstatt der Spatgotik, Augsburg, 1923, p. 50, fig. 40—43.
10. Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, a compartment of the wing No 451, end of the XVth eentury, Saxon-Turin-
gian, probably from the workshop of the Master known as Mcister der arcfiitektonischen Baldachine, active in Saalfeld in the
years 1479—1503 (in Huth's opinion) ; W. Josephi, Die Werkeplastischer Kunst im Germanischen Nationalmuseum ISHirnberg,
1910, p. 269—271, pi. L (the whole retable), LI (the compartment od the Adoration of the Magi); Huth, op. ct(.,fig. 42, 43.
11. Collection Veste Coburg, pi. XXVI. b. 7; 265 X 185 mm; Josephi, op. cit., pl. LI; Huth, op. cit., fig. 40.
12. Munich, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum: The Adoration of the Magi from the chapel at Senkendorf (Oberpfalz), end of the
XVth eentury (Huth).
13. Wilm, op. cit., p. 57, pl. 7 (the drawing from the Collection Veste Coburg ), pl. 8, 9 terracottas in Liebieghaus.
14. The accepted by several scholars opinion on this wcll-known engraving of Master E.S. was endorsed by H. Huth,, ,Ein ver-
lorener Stich des Meisters E.S." Festschrift zum 70. Geburlstag von Adolph Goldschmidt, Berlin, 1935, p. 74.
15. Uie Sammlung Dr Albert Figdor. Wien. Erster Teil. Vierter Band. Deutsche, niederlandische und franzosische Skulpturen
verzeichnet von Th. Demmler. Berlin, 1930 No 214, pl. XCVI.
16. Compare Hessig, op. cit., p. 6: Fur die Art und den Grad der Einwirkungen E.S.scher Sticbe gibt es verschiedene Moglich-
keiten: Zusammenhang, Ubernahme. Kopie.
17. H. Riviere, Le Musee du Louvre depuis 1914, Paris, 1919, p. 11, pl-1: Schmitt, op.cfl., p. 26 footnote 14; Hessig, op. cit.,
pl. 52b. H. D. Hofmann, Die lothringische Skulptur der Spatgotik, Saarbrucken, 1962, p. 233-236, fig. 190
71
sculpture8 covered also the Upper Rhenish stucco reliefs and recognized them as the copies of
the wooden ones, mostly not preserved, or as the imitations of engravings.
An instructive introduction to the problem important in Mediaeval art. that of making copies
in various materials, is presented in the book written by Hans Huth9. The anthor thoroughly ana-
lyzed the relation between the relief with the scenę of the Adoration of the Magi — the compart-
ment of the wing of the Saalfeld retable1" — and the drawing on the same subject11. Huth re-
cognized the drawing as a model for the compartment of the wing, originally much bigger. Ho-
wever, there are differences in form and content between the drawing and the carved version
of its composition which prove that the author of the drawing was not the same person as the
carver of the relief. Since the workshop in Saalfeld is known for the unusually extensive produc-
tion, we are authorized to recognize in this drawing the hand of the chief master who left then
the execution of the relief to his apprentice aeco.ding to the design prepared by l.imself.
Another possibility of the explanation would be to admit a division of the work in the Gothic
workshop commonly practiced in the guild system. The drawing might be executed by the
carver, to whom Huth ascribed still another carved version of the same subject12.
In the City Gallery in Frankfort Wilm has found two more reliefs in terracotta, following the
same drawing, both reliefs executed in Alsace13. A relief in wood with the scenę of the Adoration
of the Magi belonged to the Albert Figdor Collection. According to Demmler the composition
of this relief is patterned after the lost engraving executed by Master E.S.14 and known from
several repetitions done in various techniques15. Demmler put a list of these imitations according
to the degree of the dependence upon the original. On the top of the list he placed the relief from
the Figdor Collection, as a particularly good exemplar and on the last position he placed the
drawing in which Huth and Wilm saw the source of the inspiration for all the derived works.
From the Upper Rhenish works patterned after the engravings of Master E.S. Edith Hessig
separated the group of the reliefs in terracotta, stucco and cartapesta copied after the original
wooden reliefs or after the lost engravings deriving mainly from the period of 1460—80lc.
For the present study of a relief with the Adoration of the Magi in the National Museum in
Warsaw it is useful to quo'.e af er Hessig the group of the Upper Rhenish reliefs. They are of
interest not only as far as the dependence on the graphic patterns of Master E.S. is concerned;
also their iconography and peculiarities of execution by the guild artists are elucidating.
I. The Adoration of the Magi, composition known from the drawing in the Veste Coburg Collec-
tion, and the reliefs patterned after the lost engraving of Master E.S:
1. Paris, Louvre, stone relief from the Church Pont St. Vincent (Dep. Meurthe-et-Moselle),
55 X 54 cm17
8. E. Hessig, Die Kunst des Meistcrs E.S. und die Plastik der Spatgotik, Berlin, 1935, p. 59—64 : Oberrhein und Schweiz, 5. Ver-
streute oberrheinische Werke. Stuck- und Halbfigurenreliefs.
9. H. Huth, Kiinstler und Werkstatt der Spatgotik, Augsburg, 1923, p. 50, fig. 40—43.
10. Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, a compartment of the wing No 451, end of the XVth eentury, Saxon-Turin-
gian, probably from the workshop of the Master known as Mcister der arcfiitektonischen Baldachine, active in Saalfeld in the
years 1479—1503 (in Huth's opinion) ; W. Josephi, Die Werkeplastischer Kunst im Germanischen Nationalmuseum ISHirnberg,
1910, p. 269—271, pi. L (the whole retable), LI (the compartment od the Adoration of the Magi); Huth, op. ct(.,fig. 42, 43.
11. Collection Veste Coburg, pi. XXVI. b. 7; 265 X 185 mm; Josephi, op. cit., pl. LI; Huth, op. cit., fig. 40.
12. Munich, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum: The Adoration of the Magi from the chapel at Senkendorf (Oberpfalz), end of the
XVth eentury (Huth).
13. Wilm, op. cit., p. 57, pl. 7 (the drawing from the Collection Veste Coburg ), pl. 8, 9 terracottas in Liebieghaus.
14. The accepted by several scholars opinion on this wcll-known engraving of Master E.S. was endorsed by H. Huth,, ,Ein ver-
lorener Stich des Meisters E.S." Festschrift zum 70. Geburlstag von Adolph Goldschmidt, Berlin, 1935, p. 74.
15. Uie Sammlung Dr Albert Figdor. Wien. Erster Teil. Vierter Band. Deutsche, niederlandische und franzosische Skulpturen
verzeichnet von Th. Demmler. Berlin, 1930 No 214, pl. XCVI.
16. Compare Hessig, op. cit., p. 6: Fur die Art und den Grad der Einwirkungen E.S.scher Sticbe gibt es verschiedene Moglich-
keiten: Zusammenhang, Ubernahme. Kopie.
17. H. Riviere, Le Musee du Louvre depuis 1914, Paris, 1919, p. 11, pl-1: Schmitt, op.cfl., p. 26 footnote 14; Hessig, op. cit.,
pl. 52b. H. D. Hofmann, Die lothringische Skulptur der Spatgotik, Saarbrucken, 1962, p. 233-236, fig. 190
71