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Wooden sculpture of a bearded man with a hat and no hands

Sculpture of a man with a long, curly beard. The man wears a bucket-like hat on his head. His face is lined, and he has long, finely carved curly hair and a curly beard. He wears a long, draped robe and cloak. The folds of the fabric are deeply carved. Each of his arms stops at the forearm, and a circular indentation is visible where the hands would be. The man is slumped slightly toward his left side, and his right arm appears bent and raised. The color of the wood is a deep, slightly glossy golden brown with visible grain.

Gallery Text

Riemenschneider is one of the best-documented masters of early Renaissance sculpture in southern Germany; he worked with an able workshop to provide monumental altarpieces in that region. The narrow depth of this statue (only six inches) and its hollowed-out back and straight right edge suggest that it was designed to fit into an architectural space as part of a multifigural carved altarpiece. In contrast to other sculptors whose works were painted, Riemenschneider made expressive use of linden wood’s natural grain and surface qualities. His deeply cut lines give rise to a remarkable play of light and shadow, as is apparent in the rich drapery folds and elaborately carved locks of hair of the emaciated hermit saint. Because the statue is so shallow, the hands (now missing) had to be made separately and set into the sleeves. They would have held Anthony’s attributes, a staff and a book.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
BR69.214
People
Tilman Riemenschneider, German (c. 1460 - 1531)
Title
Saint Anthony Abbot
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
c. 1510
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/299850

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2540, European Art, 13th–16th century, The Renaissance
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Linden wood
Dimensions
115.6 x 33 x 14 cm (45 1/2 x 13 x 5 1/2 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Dr. F. Haniel, Bavaria, Germany. Private collection, Belgium. [Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, NY (? -1969), sold]; to Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1969.

Notes:
According to correspondence with Rosenberg & Stiebel in February 1969, the dealer purchased the sculpture from a Belgian collector who wanted to remain anonymous. Rosenberg & Stiebel was able to determine that the sculpture originally came for the estate of Dr. F. Haniel in Bavaria, Germany.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Antonia Paepcke DuBrul Fund and Special Gifts from the Friends of Charles L. Kuhn
Accession Year
1969
Object Number
BR69.214
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
back hollowed out

Publication History

  • Anneliese Harding, German Sculpture in New England Museums, Goethe Institute (Boston, MA, 1972), p. 15, repr. p. 41 as fig. 52 (detail)
  • Charles L. Kuhn, "Riemenschneider in the Harvard Collections", Art Bulletin (1974), LVI, pp. 244-247, p. 245-247, repr. p. 246 as fig. 3 and p. 247 as fig. 5 (detail)
  • Charles Werner Haxthausen, "The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard: the Germanic Tradition", Apollo (May 1978), vol. 107, no. 195, pp. 403-413, p. 411
  • Justus Bier, Tilmann Riemenschneider: Die Späten Werke in Holz, Verlag A. Schroll & Co., g.m.b.h. (Vienna, Austria, 1978), p. 152 [in listing of works assigned to Riemenschneider]
  • Charles Werner Haxthausen, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, Abbeville Press (New York, NY, 1980), pp. 13, 103, repr. pp. 102-103
  • Justus Bier, Tilmann Riemenschneider: His Life and Work, The University Press of Kentucky (Lexington, KY, 1982), pp. 68-70, repr. as pls. 12 A-B
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 349, p. 295, repr.
  • Anita F. Moskowitz, Gothic Sculpture in America, I: The New England Museums, ed. Dorothy W. Gillerman, Garland Publishing, Inc. (New York, 1989), no. 165 pp. 204-205, repr.
  • James Cuno, Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Ivan Gaskell, and William W. Robinson, Harvard's Art Museums: 100 Years of Collecting, ed. James Cuno, Harvard University Art Museums and Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (Cambridge, MA, 1996), pp. 328-329, repr. color
  • Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997
  • Julien Chapuis, Tilman Riemenschneider: Master Sculptor of the Late Middle Ages, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC, 1999), p. 157 [in: Timeline of Selected North American Acquisitions of German Late Gothic Sculpture]
  • Peter Nisbet and Joseph Koerner, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, ed. Peter Nisbet, Harvard University Art Museums and Scala Publishers Ltd. (Cambridge, MA and London, England, 2007), p. 231
  • Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), p. 71, repr.
  • Gabriella Szalay, "Art Talk: The Wood and the Worms", Index, Harvard Art Museums (https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/article/art-talk-the-wood-and-the-worms, September 1, 2020), https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/article/art-talk-the-wood-and-the-worms, accessed September 18, 2020

Exhibition History

  • Re-View: S422-423 Western Art of the Middle Ages & Renaissance, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/16/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • Ancient to Modern, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/31/2012 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 2540 Renaissance, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project
  • Collection Highlights

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu