Citation link:
https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/duerer_society1901/0008
back of the trellis, is of gold. Christ has a nimbus of rays darting in the form of a cross from his
head. On the round nimbus of the Virgin is the following inscription, abbreviated and now in part
illegible :—“Me carpes genito tu quoque o sanctissima Virgo.” The words (“ Thou shalt pluck me too,
most holy Virgin, for thy Son”) contain an allusion to the flowers by which the Virgin is surrounded.
The execution is delicate and highly finished in every detail, and the preservation of the
picture, on the whole, is admirable. The most serious damage has occurred below the feet of the
Infant Christ. His arm has been in part repainted, and the face is also retouched. The picture was
originally much larger. An old copy, on a much smaller scale, lately in the possession of Dr. Sepp
of Munich, but said to be now in England, shows the original composition in its entirety. Above
the crown we see the First and Second Persons of the Trinity, the former represented as an aged man,
raising the right hand in benediction. Long rays of light shoot out to left and right from the Dove, the
source also of the downward pointing rays, which still remain in the original picture. The bower
of roses extends further to left and right, and the peony plant at the back of the bench is much larger
and bears three flowers. The foreground is full of wild strawberries and other small flowers, while a
slender plant of columbine rises on the left, and a tall Madonna lily on the right, with a clump
of iris behind it, nearer to the bench. The whole of the Virgin’s mantle and robe are seen, the ends
of the drapery being spread out over the grass and flowers. The abundance of these must have added
greatly to the charm of the original picture in its pristine beauty, and would counteract the severity
of the impression now received from it. A collotype of Dr. Sepp’s copy, in which all the faces are
sadly inferior in expression to those of the original, is given in Dr. Kraus’s book (Bd. II. 716).
A better reproduction is that in the “Klassischer Bilderschatz” (III. 332).
The original bears no signature, but the attribution to Schongauer has never been seriously
doubted. It is by far the most important work of his which has survived, and one of the chief master-
pieces of the German School. In 1473 the master was still young, and subject to Flemish influence.
The prominent brow and stern features of the Madonna, so unlike the idealised, oval face of his later
feminine type, show how strongly he had been affected by the pictures of Rogier van der Weyden,
then nine years dead ; but Schongauer did not approach the great Flemish painter in brilliancy
of colouring. Colmar is to be congratulated on the escape of so great a treasure from the havoc
wrought by reform and revolution, and the Gothic church of St. Martin, built Qf a warm yellow
sandstone tinged with rosy patches, with a stork’s nest on the summit of its apse, is well worth
a visit from any English traveller on his way to Basel, who can spare time for the short halt
or detour.
ENGRAVINGS.
11. '
The Virgin crowned by two Angels. (B. 31).
Photogravure from the impression in the British Museum,
STARRY crown is held over Our Lady’s head by two angels who bear a strong resem-
blance to those in the Colmar altarpiece. The long tapering fingers, and the whole
conformation of the hand, both in the Mother and the Child, remind us also of the
picture; so, to a certain extent, does the composition, but the faces are more idealised.
The flames and the frilled, conventional clouds are a sign of early date, and the technique,
like the symbolism, shows Schongauer less emancipated from fifteenth century trammels than we are
accustomed to find him in his mature achievements. The engraving must be one of his earliest, and
is probably not far removed from the date of the picture, 1473. The signature is obviously a later
addition.
5
head. On the round nimbus of the Virgin is the following inscription, abbreviated and now in part
illegible :—“Me carpes genito tu quoque o sanctissima Virgo.” The words (“ Thou shalt pluck me too,
most holy Virgin, for thy Son”) contain an allusion to the flowers by which the Virgin is surrounded.
The execution is delicate and highly finished in every detail, and the preservation of the
picture, on the whole, is admirable. The most serious damage has occurred below the feet of the
Infant Christ. His arm has been in part repainted, and the face is also retouched. The picture was
originally much larger. An old copy, on a much smaller scale, lately in the possession of Dr. Sepp
of Munich, but said to be now in England, shows the original composition in its entirety. Above
the crown we see the First and Second Persons of the Trinity, the former represented as an aged man,
raising the right hand in benediction. Long rays of light shoot out to left and right from the Dove, the
source also of the downward pointing rays, which still remain in the original picture. The bower
of roses extends further to left and right, and the peony plant at the back of the bench is much larger
and bears three flowers. The foreground is full of wild strawberries and other small flowers, while a
slender plant of columbine rises on the left, and a tall Madonna lily on the right, with a clump
of iris behind it, nearer to the bench. The whole of the Virgin’s mantle and robe are seen, the ends
of the drapery being spread out over the grass and flowers. The abundance of these must have added
greatly to the charm of the original picture in its pristine beauty, and would counteract the severity
of the impression now received from it. A collotype of Dr. Sepp’s copy, in which all the faces are
sadly inferior in expression to those of the original, is given in Dr. Kraus’s book (Bd. II. 716).
A better reproduction is that in the “Klassischer Bilderschatz” (III. 332).
The original bears no signature, but the attribution to Schongauer has never been seriously
doubted. It is by far the most important work of his which has survived, and one of the chief master-
pieces of the German School. In 1473 the master was still young, and subject to Flemish influence.
The prominent brow and stern features of the Madonna, so unlike the idealised, oval face of his later
feminine type, show how strongly he had been affected by the pictures of Rogier van der Weyden,
then nine years dead ; but Schongauer did not approach the great Flemish painter in brilliancy
of colouring. Colmar is to be congratulated on the escape of so great a treasure from the havoc
wrought by reform and revolution, and the Gothic church of St. Martin, built Qf a warm yellow
sandstone tinged with rosy patches, with a stork’s nest on the summit of its apse, is well worth
a visit from any English traveller on his way to Basel, who can spare time for the short halt
or detour.
ENGRAVINGS.
11. '
The Virgin crowned by two Angels. (B. 31).
Photogravure from the impression in the British Museum,
STARRY crown is held over Our Lady’s head by two angels who bear a strong resem-
blance to those in the Colmar altarpiece. The long tapering fingers, and the whole
conformation of the hand, both in the Mother and the Child, remind us also of the
picture; so, to a certain extent, does the composition, but the faces are more idealised.
The flames and the frilled, conventional clouds are a sign of early date, and the technique,
like the symbolism, shows Schongauer less emancipated from fifteenth century trammels than we are
accustomed to find him in his mature achievements. The engraving must be one of his earliest, and
is probably not far removed from the date of the picture, 1473. The signature is obviously a later
addition.
5