Soldiers from an Altar at Rothenburg
Tilman Riemenschneider
Würzburg, 1485/90
Limewood with the original polychrome painting and gilding
129,5 x 73,0 x 27,4 cm
Inv.-Nr. 94/63.2
Acquired with funds from the Bundesinnenministerium, the Kulturstiftung der Länder and the Ernst von Siemens-Kunstfonds from the Princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein, Schloss Harburg in 1994; owned jointly by the Federal Republic of Germany and the Ernst von Siemens-Kunstfonds
Gallery 16
Among the earliest work to be made by Tilman Riemenschneider's after the establishment of his Würzburg workshop in 1483/84 are the two groups of the Virgin and St John and Caiaphas the High Priest with soldiers from a passion altar. The crucifix that belonged with them may be one that has been preserved in Graz. St Mary Magdalene must have knelt at the foot of the cross; like the figure of the captain of the soldiers, she has been lost. So have the two thieves crucified with Christ and two more saints who once stood in the central shrine. The reliefs on the wings with Christ on the Mount of Olives and the Resurrection belong to the Wittelsbach Collection in Berchtesgaden. The original polychrome painting on the two groups of figures and the sumptuous gilding, brilliant silver and gold lustre, has never been overpainted and is in exceptional.
des Bayerischen Nationalmuseum
des Bayerischen Nationalmuseum
