Südtirol, circa 1450/1460
A carved wooden group showing the Coronation of the Virgin, South Tyrol, circa 1450/1460
Thinly carved from three blocks, the reverse flattened and hollowed out, with partially overpainted older polychromy. This large, openwork piece depicts a long throne with Christ seated on the left and God on the right with a globe. Together they hold a crown above the head of the Virgin. The impressive piece may originally have formed the centre of an altarpiece. It follows in the tradition of the South Tyrolese master Hans von Judenburg, who was active around 1425/1430, but in style it is more comparable to a coronation of the Virgin by Leonhard von Brixen in the Brixen Diözesanmuseum dated around 1450. The piece is therefore considered contemporaneous with Hans Multscher’s Sterzinger Altar, which is dated to around 1456 – 1459.
The cross finial of the globe, the Virgin's hands and those of Christ lost (the left hand replaced). Wear with losses to the crowns. Minor losses backed with canvas. Mounted on a flat wooden plinth and stabilised via metal staples to the reverse. 118 x 91 x 33 cm (without plinth).
Literature
For similar pieces, cf.: Theodor Müller: Gotische Skulptur in Tirol, Bozen/Vienna 1976, p. 20-21, 24-25, 27, 431 & 434-435, no. 56, 58, 88, 92, 93 & 101 with illus.