VIRGIN AND CHILD
Artist Tilman Riemenschneider (and workshop) Heiligenstadt ca. 1460 – 1531 Würzburg
Date 1505–1510
Object type sculpture
Medium, technique painted lime-wood Dimensions 115 x 43 x 25 cm Inventory number 5898
Collection Sculptures
On view Museum of Fine Arts, Second Floor, European Sculpture 1350-1800, Gallery 1
Tilman Riemenschneider ran the largest sculpture workshop of his time, where with the help of over forty
apprentices he fulfilled countless commissions. Not only were his works admired, but in time he was also elected a member of the town council of Würzburg. His unparalleled rise to fame ended in 1524-25 with the German
Peasants’ War. Würzburg council sided with the peasants, so when the uprising was put down Riemenschneider too was incarcerated, and although he was soon set free in the years that followed he no longer received important commissions.
Riemenschneider belonged to the last generation of German Late Gothic, and he raised woodcarving to a masterly level, introducing quite a few innovations too. Monochrome unpainted wooden carved altars were disseminated largely through his works. In addition, his workshop was a model of organization. Because he worked
simultaneously on several commissions, the workshop produced one kind of sculpture for up to decades, almost unchanged in form. This Madonna is one of the popular types carved often, of which eight other versions are extant. They follow the pattern so closely that in addition to drawn designs it is conceivable that carved models were also used. Other evidence for this is that several small Riemenschneider wooden sculptures of barely half a metre high are extant, which may have had just such a role in the shop.
Miriam Szöcs
References
Balogh, Jolán, Katalog der ausländischen Bildwerke des Museums der bildenden Künste in Budapest, IV – XVIII.
Jahrhundert: 1. Textband Bd. 1, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1975, p. 224-225., no. 327.
The Museum of Fine Arts Budapest: guide, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 2006, p. 151-152, no. 201.
Masterpieces: Museum of Fine Arts Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 2019, p. 53.
Remekmüvek: Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest, 2019, p. 53.
Múzeumi kalauz: Vezetö a Szépmüvészeti Múzeum régi gyüjteményeihez, Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest, 2021, p. 104.
Museum Guide: Old collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 2021, p.
104.
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