Rocznik Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie (2(38).2013)

Zofia Herman Jakob Beinhart’s Saint Luke Painting the Virgin...

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celebrated, these depictions would eloquently simulate contemplation on the mystery of the
Eucharist.”95 If one were to assume that, apart from illustrating the liturgy, the function of
the retables - especially in the side-altars - was to support the devotion concentrated on the
mystery of the Incarnation and the Eucharist, one may ask whether the altar of Saint Luke
could have had such a function.
Hans Belting claims that late medieval realism was a consequence of the competition
between the representation and the Real Body in the Eucharist. He believes that once the
notion of art was established, and once art itself became visible in the representations, the
late medieval realism of carnal imagery came into decline. He states that if the mastery of
execution and the category of art are accentuated in an image, it ceases to refer to the reality it
is supposed to depict - that is, to the Body of Christ.96 Therefore, does Beinhart’s skill, revealed
by the monochrome finish of his altarpiece, indeed reduce the realism of the work? Yet it does
not seem that the lack of polychromy renders the sculpture unreal, on the contrary, it inten-
sifies the realistic depiction of details and textures.97 The lack of colour in the monochrome
work, replaced by more expressive textural effects, might have induced an urge to touch it,
thus making the relief more present, in a sensual meaning. It is also worth remembering that
in the relief at hand, like in other monochrome works, the mouths and pupils of the depicted
figures were colourful - which gave them a life-like gaze and appearance. This effect intensi-
fies the realistic representation of the body, and due to the lack of polychromy, the masterfully
carved details become visible: the facial features or the skin and veins on Saint Luke’s hand.
The history of Veit Stoss’s crucifix from Saint Mary’s Basilica in Krakow, which was funded
by Henryk Slacker, proves that mastery does not contradict cult, on the contrary - it supports
it. Originally unpolychromed, it portrayed the body so realistically that the work seemed to
be alive and Christ was believed to speak miraculously. It was precisely the exposure of haptic
qualities that caused this belief.98 As a monochrome work, Beinhart’s relief was not an artistic
opposite of the realistic polychrome sculptures. It related to the question of Incarnation and
real presence, so it fulfilled the role of a retable, but it was through different means of expres-
sion that it achieved the illusion of reality which encouraged devotion.
Beinhart’s workshop produced traditional monumental altarpieces, which were poly-
chromed and gilded. By choosing monochromy to display his mastery, the artist reveals himself
not as a creator of artistic objects which are perceived only in terms of their aesthetic value,
but first of all as the one, who - by means of his art - shows the Body of Christ present in the
Eucharist. His skills enable him to portray the story of Salvation so realistically that it appears
to be happening right in front of the church-goer’s eyes. Therefore, it seems more probable
that monochromy was not the antithesis of polychromy, but one of the available means of
artistic expression. Consequently, the display of mastery, albeit formally innovative, should
not be regarded as revolutionary in terms of the function of art.

95 Ibid.,p. 114.
96 Hans Belting, Das echte Bild (Munich: C.H. Beck, 2005), pp. 91-2.
97 Kębłowski, “Tylmana Riemenschneidera dzieła...,” op. cit., p. 206.
98 The crucifix was polychromed in early sixteenth century, after which the polychromy was not restored
until the nineteenth century, as it was believed that the miraculous figure of Christ should not be altered; for more
information see Grażyna Jurkowlaniec, “The Slacker Crucifix in St. Mary’s Church in Cracow. Cult and Craft,” in
Wokół Wita Stwosza. Materiały..., op. cit., pp. 34,8-58.