Highlights

Description

The high altar from the former Franciscan church in Munich was a donation by Duke Albrecht IV of Bavaria and his consort Kunigunde of Austria. Rarely has the Passion of Christ been depicted so dramatically and in such detail as on this altarpiece's central panel. On the left, relatives surround the swooning mother of Jesus; on the right, soldiers play dice for his robe. The participants at the crucifixion are intertwined into a tangle. The bodies of the thieves are depicted on their crosses in extreme contortion. Incidentally, the depiction of the sacred event also reflects contemporary life around 1500. In the background, a gushing river is flowing past the towered walls of Jerusalem - just as Polack would have seen it in Munich.