This book presents four case studies that interrogate how German fifteenth-century painted triptychs engage with, and ultimately blur various boundaries. Some of the boundaries are internal to the triptych format, for example, transgressed frames between narratives scenes on triptychs’ interiors, or interconnections between imagery on triptychs’ interiors and exteriors. Other blurred boundaries are regional ones between the Netherlands and Cologne; metaphysical ones between heaven and earth; and artistic distinctions between the media of painting and sculpture. The book’s case studies, which shed new light on Conrad von Soest, Stefan Lochner, and the Master of the St. Bartholomew Altarpiece, illuminate the importance of German fifteenth-century painting, while providing a fresh assessment of relations between German triptychs and their more famous Netherlandish counterparts―and demonstrating the value of probing Medialität, the implications of format and medium for generating meaning. The book’s coda assesses the triptych in the age of Dürer.
Author(s): Lynn F. Jacobs
Series: Visual and Material Culture, 1300-1700
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 307
City: Amsterdam
Cover
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Historiography
Methodology, Scope, and Theme of this Study
The Case Studies
Works Cited
1. Framed Boundaries: Conrad von Soest and Early Fifteenth-Century Westphalian Triptychs
Blurred Boundaries in the Niederwildungen Altarpiece
Blurred Boundaries in Other Works by Conrad von Soest
Sources for Conrad von Soest’s Treatment of the Boundaries
Blurred Boundaries in the Followers of Conrad von Soest
The Impact Elsewhere
Works Cited
2. Transparent Boundaries: Colour on the Exterior of German Fifteenth-Century Triptychs
The Absence of Grisaille on German Triptych Exteriors
Gabriel Angler’s Grisailles
The Presence of Grisaille on the Exteriors of German Fifteenth- and Early Sixteenth-Century Triptychs
The Role of Colour within the Triptych
The Role of Simulated Sculpture within the Triptych
German Triptychs and the Transparency of the Boundary Between Exterior and Interior
Works Cited
3. Regional Boundaries: Rogier van der Weyden’s Columba Altarpiece and Cross-Influences Between the Netherlands and Cologne
The Columba Triptych and the Impact of Cologne Patronage
The Columba Triptych and the Impact of Lochner
Netherlandish Features of the Columba Altarpiece
The Impact of Rogier’s Triptych on Cologne Artists of the Second Half of the Fifteenth Century
Postscript: Memling at the Nexus Between the Rogierian and Cologne Triptych Traditions
Works Cited
4. Spiritual Boundaries: The Master of the St. Bartholomew Altarpiece and the Border between Reality and Eternity
Regional Boundaries
The Ironic Edge
The Boundaries of Media
The Holy Cross Triptych
The St. Thomas Triptych
The St. Bartholomew Triptych and the London/Mainz Wings
Works Cited
5. Coda: The Triptych in the Age of Dürer
Dürer’s Triptychs
Hans Baldung Grien’s Triptychs
Cranach’s Triptychs
Works Cited
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations
