Who Is the Guy That Makes Macabre Art Sculptures

German painter and sculptor

Bernt Notke, assumed self-portrait^[1] (from the altarpiece Mass of St. Gregory, ca. 1504, destroyed 1942).

Bernt Notke(assistance·info) (c. 1440 – before May 1509) was a late Gothic artist, working in the Baltic region. He has been described equally i of the foremost artists of his time in northern Europe.

Life [edit]

Very little is known about the life of Bernt Notke. The Notke family unit came from Tallinn (Estonia) and his father was probably the trader and ship-possessor Michel Notke, who had his chief business there. His mother was probably Michel'due south second wife Gertraut, who was from Visby. Bernt Notke was built-in in the small town of Lassan in Pomerania. He was married (at least in one case), simply the name of his wife remains unknown; she died earlier he did and is non mentioned in his last volition and attestation. The couple is known to have had two daughters, i named Anneke and some other whose name has not been preserved and who seems to have suffered from intellectual disability.^[two] ^[3]

He seems to have spent role of his youth in Flanders and there begun to learn his trade every bit an artist. He probably worked in the workshop of tapestry weaver Pasquier Grenier in Tournai, where he learned to work on art objects of a large scale. He probably likewise learned how to divide the labour in a workshop in a contemporary way at that place, as several of his ain works were large, communal undertakings (see beneath). In the early 1460s he settled in Lübeck, where he would proceed to live for the larger office of his life, although he would also intermittently live in Sweden and frequently traveled to cities around the Baltic Sea. He is mentioned in written sources for the first time by the city quango of Lübeck on 14 April 1467. In 1479, he acquired a stone house on Breite Strasse, a prestigious address in Lübeck. He was in Stockholm for a prolonged period 1491 – 1497, during which fourth dimension he for three years held the office of mint main of the realm in Sweden, but he left the city later on the terminate of the regency of Sten Sture the Elder. After 1497, he lived in Lübeck until his death in 1509. In 1505, he acquired the title of Werkmeister at the Church building of Saint Peter.^[2] ^[3] ^[iv] ^[v] ^[6]

Work [edit]

Artistic range [edit]

Medieval art differed from contemporary art in several means, not least in that while modern artists often work in private studios, the product of medieval art was a communal undertaking in a workshop.^[7] This was also the example with Bernt Notke, who was the head of such a workshop. During renovation of the big triumphal cross made past Notke in 1470–77, a note signed by Notke and five co-workers was discovered in a hollow part of ane of the sculptures. Information technology lists, autonomously from Notke himself, a carpenter, a painter and iii other artisans.^[two] The question whether Notke was commencement and foremost a painter, a woodworker or simply main organiser and entrepreneur is not clear.^[6] He was called "painter" by the city council of Lübeck in a document from 1467.^[2] He and his workshop produced art in the class of tapestries, wooden sculptures, and paintings. The main type of artwork produced past the workshop of Bernt Notke was altarpieces, incorporating both sculptures and painting.^[2] ^[v] Encyclopædia Britannica claims that he was also active every bit an engraver, but this claim is not found in other sources.^[4]

Works by Notke [edit]

Lübeck Danse Macabre [edit]

Information technology has been pointed out that already the first work known to have been made by Notke (betwixt 1463 – 1466) is of unusual character: it was a 2 metres (half-dozen.six ft) high and at to the lowest degree 26 metres (85 ft) long tapestry depicting the pop late medieval motif of the Danse Macabre (the trip the light fantastic of Death), made for a chapel of St. Mary's Church in Lübeck. It was lost, most likely destroyed, during the allied bombing of Lübeck in 1942. A re-create, made in 1701 by Anton Wortmann, survives.^[2] ^[six]

The Lübeck Danse Macabre (particular, photographic reproduction, original destroyed)

Lübecker Totentanz by Bernt Notke (around 1463, destroyed in a bombing raid in 1942)

Tallinn Danse Macabre [edit]

A second Danse Macabre, fabricated at approximately the aforementioned fourth dimension as the 1 in Lübeck, survives in part (c. 7 metres (23 ft)) Tallinn (Estonia), in St. Nicholas' Church. It has been suggested that the fragment in Tallinn may have been a piece cut out from the Lübeck Danse Macabre, but this is non certain. Regardless, both display the characteristic vivid expressionism that would become characteristic for Notke.^[2] ^[6]

The Tallinn Danse Macabre

Lübeck triumphal cantankerous [edit]

In 1470 – 1478, Notke executed a very large sculpture group, a so-called triumphal cross (in English sometimes referred to every bit a rood) for display in Lübeck Cathedral. It consists of a total of 72 sculptures and is made of oak wood; dendrochronology has confirmed that the wood comes from oak copse felled near Lübeck c. 1470. The ensemble has been praised for its realism, monumentality and expressiveness. The patron ordering the fine art-piece was bishop Albert Krummedik.^[2] ^[6] Notke and his workshop also executed an elaborate gallery in Lübeck Cathedral, ordered by the mayor of Lübeck Andreas Geverdes [de].^[2]

Aarhus Cathedral altarpiece [edit]

In 1479 the altarpiece of Aarhus Cathedral in Denmark was inaugurated, some other monumental piece of work from Notke'south workshop. As with the Lübeck triumphal cross, it was commissioned by an important fellow member of the clergy, bishop Jens Iversen (Lange) [da]. With its 12 metres (39 ft) of top, information technology was at the time the largest altarpiece in the Nordic countries. It consists of a big number of sculptures, where the central panel contains iii large, dominating sculptures of Saint Anne, John the Baptist and Pope Cloudless I. The altarpiece is signed by Bernt Notke in three places. Influences from the early on Northern Renaissance that began to spread from the Low Countries at this time tin be traced in the realistic portraiture of some of the sculptures.^[2] ^[3]

High Altar in the Tallinn Church of the Holy Ghost [edit]

Another lavish altarpiece made by Notke is that of the Church building of the Holy Ghost in Tallinn (Republic of estonia), finished in 1483. It can be safely attributed to Notke also due to the fact that several messages past his hand have been preserved, in which he asks for the delayed payment for the altarpiece. The altarpiece is considerably more than modest at a height of 3.five metres (11 ft), only it is significant in that it is the earliest altarpiece in the Baltic region where the central console is not a formal line-up of saints but rather depicts a biblical scene, in this case the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Mary. Other novelties introduced to the art of the region through this altarpiece is the setting of the scene in an contained interior infinite (the scene takes identify in a chapel) and, on the more than technical side, a new system of folds in the drapery of the sculptures. It is the only of Notke's altarpieces that nevertheless retains the original pigment and colour.^[two] ^[three]

Saint George and the Dragon (Stockholm) [edit]

Arguably the nigh famous sculpture by Notke is the free-standing sculpture of Saint George and the Dragon for Storkyrkan (the main church) in Stockholm inaugurated on New Year'south Eve 1489. The statue had been commissioned past the Swedish regent Sten Sture the Elder, to commemorate Sture's victory over King Christian I of Kingdom of denmark in the 1471 Battle of Brunkeberg.^[2] There is a copy of the sculpture in St. Catherine's Church in Lübeck and one in bronze on Köpmantorget in Stockholm (inaugurated 1912). The statue inspired numerous other (admitting less elaborate) wooden depictions of the same subject in Sweden, Finland and Germany.^[2] ^[3]

Other works [edit]

A number of other unusual pieces of art in Sweden have been attributed to Notke's workshop. One is a portrait sculpture depicting Charles VIII of Sweden, today in Gripsholm Castle only originally possibly from the Riddarholm Church or part of the Saint George and the Dragon sculpture grouping (see above). The altarpiece in Rytterne Church building in Västmanland in Sweden has likewise been attributed to Bernt Notke; it displays the Mass of Saint Gregory in an unusually realistic way. There is also a sculpture depicting Saint Eric in Strängnäs Cathedral, 1 depicting Thomas Becket (previously in Skepptuna Church but now in the Swedish History Museum) and an altarpiece in a church building in Skellefteå in Sweden.^[2] An altarpiece that has only survived in fragments, the Schonenfahrer altarpiece (currently in St. Anne'due south Museum Quarter, Lübeck) is attributed to Notke on stylistic grounds.^[3]

Works previously attributed to Notke and lost works [edit]

Previously, an altarpiece in Trondenes Church most Harstad in Kingdom of norway (the world's northernmost medieval church) was attributed to Notke, but the attribution has later been called into doubt.^[eight] Several other works from different countries around the Baltic Sea and in Belgium have also before been attributed to Notke, but without much certainty. A number of works by Notke's hand have also been lost. The main altarpiece of Uppsala Cathedral was made by Notke but destroyed in a fire in 1702 (the appearance of approximately one-half of the altarpiece is known through drawings). Fabricated in c. 1471, this jumbo altarpiece defended to St. Eric probably helped constitute Notke's reputation in Scandinavia.^[3] A big painting depicting the Mass of Saint Gregory for Saint Mary's Church in Lübeck is likewise known via depictions in the class of photographs, but the original was destroyed during the 1942 bombing of the city.^[2]

Appraisal [edit]

Notke is widely recognised equally an accomplished artist. He has been described as "one of the almost important artists in eastern Federal republic of germany and the surrounding surface area during the 15th century"^[4] and "one of the most important late Gothic artists in northern Europe".^[5] Philippe Dollinger states that if in that location is any creative person who can exist called "Hanseatic", it is Notke.^[ix] Information technology has been said that he was the just artist in northern Germany who can be compared with the astonishing artistic developments in the s of the state, and at the same time that he is the foremost representative of late Gothic fine art in the Baltic region.^[6] January Svanberg [sv] calls him one of the greatest late Gothic artists in Europe and considers peculiarly the Saint George and the Dragon in Stockholm and the triumphal cross in Lübeck to be among the masterpieces of European sculpture.^[2] Others note his "forceful personality" and compares Notke to a "North German antipode to Veit Stoss, both as a producer of altarpieces and as a personality".^[three] Notwithstanding others have been less exuberant in their praise and he has also been called "a routine producer of altarpieces".^[3]

As noted above, Bernt Notke direct or indirectly influenced the evolution of art in the Baltic region, and influences derived from Notke tin can exist seen in works of fine art as far south as Lüneburg (where a Danse Macabre past Hans Espenrad is considered a direct influence from Notke). At least two of his pupils are known past name, Heinrich Wylsynck [de] (also known as Hynryk Wylsynck, fl. c. 1483, died 1533) and Henning van der Heide (ca. 1460 – 1521). Henning van der Heide is recognised as his most accomplished follower.^[3]

Celebration [edit]

A sculpture commemorating Bernt Notke stands in the harbour of his native town Lassan.^[10]

Gallery [edit]

The Lübeck triumphal cross
Aarhus Cathedral altarpiece
Loftier Altar in the Tallinn Church of the Holy Ghost
Saint George and the Dragon (Stockholm)

References [edit]

^ Gossman, Lionel. "Unwilling Moderns: The Nazarene Painters of the Nineteenth Century". Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, book 2, issue 3. Retrieved 10 Nov 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p Svanberg, Jan. "Bernt Notke". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (in Swedish). Retrieved x November 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Campbell, Gordon, ed. (2009). The Grove Encyclopedia of Northern Renaissance Fine art. Vol. 2. Oxford Academy Press. pp. 718–719. ISBN978-0-19-533-466-one.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Bernt Notke". Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved ten November 2016. ^{[ permanent expressionless link ]}
^ ^a ^b ^c "Bernt Notke". Den Shop Danske Encyklopædi (in Danish). Retrieved 10 Nov 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Hartmut Krohm (1999), "Notke, Bernt", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German language), vol. 19, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 359–361 ; (total text online)
^ Steinhoff, Judith. "Medieval Workshops". Academy of Houston Art History Analysis. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved x November 2016.
^ "Om Trondenes kirke" (in Norwegian). Den Norske Kirke (Church building of Norway). Retrieved eleven Nov 2016.
^ Dollinger, Philippe (2012) [1964]. Die Hanse (in German). Stuttgart: Kröner Verlag. p. 361. ISBN978-3-520-37106-5.
^ Banck, Claudia (2016). DuMont Reise-Taschenbuch Reiseführer Usedom (in German language). Mair Dumont DE. p. 242. ISBN9783616420813.

External links [edit]

Media related to Bernt Notke at Wikimedia Commons
Entry for Bernt Notke on the Matrimony List of Artist Names

williamswoust1938.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernt_Notke