Medieval History
The Getty Museum were the successful bidders at auction earlier today for an extraordinary rare sculpture of St. John the Baptist dating from early 16th-century. The Getty, which is based in Los Angeles bought the piece for 313,250 pounds (about $487,000), which was more than double the estimated 150,000 pounds that was expected from the sale.
The sculptured was carved in limewood by the accomplished Master of the Harburger Altar in about 1515. Nearly 60 inches tall, it depicts St. John the Baptist standing on a small mound, painted to suggest a grassy hillock, cradling the Holy Lamb who turns toward the saint. St John wears a voluminous cloak over a roughly sewn shift made of a camel?s skin; the camel?s head can be seen resting between his feet. The limewood figure, which still retains considerable areas of original paint, very likely formed part of a carved winged altarpiece, perhaps flanking other saint figures, originally from the church at Schloss Harburg, a castle belonging to the House of Oettingen-Wallerstein, near Nördlingen in Swabia (southern Germany). It is part of a small, well-studied group of sculptures that may have made up the Harburger Altar and that all share the same distinctive sculptural treatment of billowing drapery and broken contours.
Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net
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It is now possible to zoom into the intricate, breathtaking details of one of the most important works of art from the medieval world, thanks to a newly completed website focused on the Ghent Altarpiece. A stunning and highly complex painting composed...
- Protesters Call On Getty To Relinquish Medieval Manuscripts
About 30 protesters on Saturday called on the Getty Museum to return seven ornate pages from a sacred, medieval-era Armenian book considered to be a national treasure. The protesters gathered outside the gates of the museum Saturday holding signs that...
- Main Altar Of Kisszeben On View Again
Photo: Hungarian National Gallery / MTI Photo: Soós LajosThe main altar of the church of Kisszeben (Sabinov, Slovakia) is on view again at the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest. The altarpiece has not been put together since WWII - during the...
- Exhibition Of Medieval Art In Cologne
Last week I had a chance to see the exhibition "Glanz und Grösse des Mittelalters" at the Schnütgen Museum in Cologne (Splendour and Glory of the Middle Ages). The new building of the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum provides a spacious and modern exhibition...
- It's Amazing What You Find Under The Floor.
According to John Throsby in his new addition of Thoroton's The Antiquities of Nottinghamshire, when the floor of the chancel at Mattersey church in Nottinghamshire was replaced in the 1790s they discovered two pieces of 'very ancient'...
Medieval History
Getty Museum Acquires Rare Late-Medieval German Sculpture
The Getty Museum were the successful bidders at auction earlier today for an extraordinary rare sculpture of St. John the Baptist dating from early 16th-century. The Getty, which is based in Los Angeles bought the piece for 313,250 pounds (about $487,000), which was more than double the estimated 150,000 pounds that was expected from the sale.
The sculptured was carved in limewood by the accomplished Master of the Harburger Altar in about 1515. Nearly 60 inches tall, it depicts St. John the Baptist standing on a small mound, painted to suggest a grassy hillock, cradling the Holy Lamb who turns toward the saint. St John wears a voluminous cloak over a roughly sewn shift made of a camel?s skin; the camel?s head can be seen resting between his feet. The limewood figure, which still retains considerable areas of original paint, very likely formed part of a carved winged altarpiece, perhaps flanking other saint figures, originally from the church at Schloss Harburg, a castle belonging to the House of Oettingen-Wallerstein, near Nördlingen in Swabia (southern Germany). It is part of a small, well-studied group of sculptures that may have made up the Harburger Altar and that all share the same distinctive sculptural treatment of billowing drapery and broken contours.
Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net
- The Ghent Altarpiece In 100 Billion Pixels
It is now possible to zoom into the intricate, breathtaking details of one of the most important works of art from the medieval world, thanks to a newly completed website focused on the Ghent Altarpiece. A stunning and highly complex painting composed...
- Protesters Call On Getty To Relinquish Medieval Manuscripts
About 30 protesters on Saturday called on the Getty Museum to return seven ornate pages from a sacred, medieval-era Armenian book considered to be a national treasure. The protesters gathered outside the gates of the museum Saturday holding signs that...
- Main Altar Of Kisszeben On View Again
Photo: Hungarian National Gallery / MTI Photo: Soós LajosThe main altar of the church of Kisszeben (Sabinov, Slovakia) is on view again at the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest. The altarpiece has not been put together since WWII - during the...
- Exhibition Of Medieval Art In Cologne
Last week I had a chance to see the exhibition "Glanz und Grösse des Mittelalters" at the Schnütgen Museum in Cologne (Splendour and Glory of the Middle Ages). The new building of the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum provides a spacious and modern exhibition...
- It's Amazing What You Find Under The Floor.
According to John Throsby in his new addition of Thoroton's The Antiquities of Nottinghamshire, when the floor of the chancel at Mattersey church in Nottinghamshire was replaced in the 1790s they discovered two pieces of 'very ancient'...