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Hinged altarpiece with three panels showing carved, painted figures.

This wooden altarpiece consists of a rectangular middle panel attached by hinges to two narrower panels on either side. The middle panel features a central carved light-skinned woman holding a child in each arm and two crowned women flanking her. Each side panel shows a man in a robe and tall pointed hat. The man on the left has a sleeping infant at his feet. Above each figure are carved openwork vines. The figures are painted in colorful detail. Several areas of the panels, including the vines and the figures’ crowns and robes, are gilded.

Gallery Text

Carved wooden altarpieces were some of the most elaborate works of art made in late-medieval northern Europe. At the center of this polyptych (BR32.65.A) is Saint Anne, who holds the Christ child and a small figure of her daughter, the Virgin, represented with an open book. Saint Anne, who taught Mary to read, is flanked by Saint Barbara, holding a chalice, and Saint Catherine, with a sword and a book. Both are revered for their learning, and this altarpiece, which showcases female saints and literacy, may have been made for a community of religious women, serving as a model for their own reading and contemplation. Two unidentified saints in bishop’s dress stand on the wings (BR32.A and BR32.C). Altarpieces like these would be kept closed most of the year, with only the painted images on the reverse side of each wing visible. On feast days or other holidays, the wings would be opened, revealing the sculpted golden figures inside.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
BR32.65.A-C
People
Unidentified Artist
Title
Altar of St. Anne
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
1516
Places
Creation Place: Europe, Germany
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/327690

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2500, European Art, 13th–16th century, Art and Image in Europe
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Polychromed and gilded wood
Technique
Polychromed
Dimensions
overall: 121.6 x 208.8 x 17.3 cm (47 7/8 x 82 3/16 x 6 13/16 in.)
left panel: 121.4 x 52 x 8.3 cm (47 13/16 x 20 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.)
center panel: 121.4 x 104.8 x 17.3 cm (47 13/16 x 41 1/4 x 6 13/16 in.)
right panel: 121.6 x 52 x 8.6 cm (47 7/8 x 20 1/2 x 3 3/8 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Museum Purchase
Accession Year
1932
Object Number
BR32.65.A-C
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Charles L. Kuhn, German and Netherlandish Sculpture, 1280-1800, the Harvard Collections, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1965), p. 15, cat. no. 28 p. 73, repr. as pl. XXV
  • Charles Werner Haxthausen, "The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard: the Germanic Tradition", Apollo (May 1978), vol. 107, no. 195, pp. 403-413, p. 411
  • Anita F. Moskowitz, Gothic Sculpture in America, I: The New England Museums, ed. Dorothy W. Gillerman, Garland Publishing, Inc. (New York, 1989), no. 167 p. 207, repr.
  • Julien Chapuis, Tilman Riemenschneider: Master Sculptor of the Late Middle Ages, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC, 1999), p. 152 [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), pp. 230-231

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2500 Renaissance, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

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