Master of the Friedrich Altar (Wiener-Neustädter Altar) of 1447
Christ at the Column. Christ Crowned with Thorns. Two Side Panels from an Altarpiece
Tempera on panel, mounted on panel. each 96 x 46 cm.
Lempertz auctioned the inner and outer panels of two wings of an altar by the Master of the Friedrich Altar in 1962 as "Master of the Wiener Neustadter Altarpiece". The present panels are the two outer sides with Passion scenes: "The Scourging of Christ" and "The Crowning with Thorns". The whereabouts of the two inner panels (see figs. 1 and 2) with scenes from the life of St Catherine are not known ("St. Catherine before the Judge" and "Martyrdom of St. Catherine"). The altar wings belonged to a series of ten paintings (1966 in the art trade). In their original form, these were probably five (?) double-sided painted panels of a Passion altar, formerly in private ownership in Vienna.
The Master of the Friedrich or Wiener Neustädter Altarpiece of 1447 is named after the altar donated by Emperor Friedrich III for the Neuklosterkirche in Wiener Neustadt (dated 1447), which is now in the choir of St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. The court painter was active in Vienna and Wiener Neustadt around 1440/60. Another work by this master, probably created around 1440, are the eight scenes from the Life of Christ on the backs of the wings of the Znaim carved altarpiece in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Among the early works by the master known to date are a "Visitation", formerly in Berlin, as well as a "Nativity" and an "Adoration of the Magi" in Budapest. The two panels with the Passion presented here were probably created around the same time as the Vienna-Neustadt Altarpiece. They are very conservative in style for the time and, like these, are based on the formal principles of the "soft style".
Abb. 1 / Ill. 1 / Martyrium der St. Katharina, Flügelinnenseite / The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine, inner side of a wing.
Abb. 2 / Ill. 2 / Die Hl. Katharina vor dem Richter, Flügelinnenseite / Saint Catherine before the judge, inner side of a wing.
Certificate
Dr. Ernst Buchner, Munich, 16th January 1957 ("The Flagellation of Christ" together with the front side "Saint Catherine before the Judge").
Provenance
Viennese private ownership (according to Thieme-Becker, 1950). - Lempertz Cologne, November 1962, lot 68 ("The Flagellation of Christ" and "Christ Crowned with Thorns"); in the same auction, the fronts, lot 67 ("Saint Catherine before the Judge" and "Martyrdom of Saint Catherine"). - Art dealer Xaver Scheidwimmer, 1966, since then in a south German private collection.
Literature
Meister des Friedrich-Altares von 1447. In: Hans Vollmer (ed.): Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Begründet von Ulrich Thieme und Felix Becker. Vol. 37: Meister mit Notnamen und Monogrammisten, Leipzig 1950, p. 108f. - Alfred Stange: Deutsche Malerei der Gotik. Volume 11: Österreich und der ostdeutsche Siedlungsraum von Danzig bis Siebenbürgen in der Zeit von 1400 bis 1500, Munich, Berlin 1961, p. 24, plate 66.
Exhibitions
Gotik in Österreich, Vienna 1926, cat. no. 33 ("Ecce homo").