Matthias Grünewald (1470-1528) is a highly regarded figure from the German Renaissance. The visionary character of his work, with its expressive colour and line, is in stark contrast to Albrecht Dürer's.

Biography

His real name was Mathis Gothart Neithart. A 17th-century writer, Joachim von Sandrart, mistakenly identified him by the name Grünewald; his real name was not discovered till the 1920s. He was born in Würzburg in the 1470s. He served as court painter and engineer to two successive archbishops of Mainz from about 1510 to 1525. He left this post apparently because of Lutheran sympathies. Grünewald died in Halle in 1528.

The 20th century composer Paul Hindemith based his 1938 opera Mathis der Maler on the life of Grünewald.

Works

The greatest of his works is the Isenheim Altarpiece, completed 1515, now in the Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar. It contains the Crucifixion, the Temptation of St Anthony, and the Resurrection.

See also

• Early Renaissance painting

Gallery

Image: Issenheim altarpiece view 2.jpg|Isenheim Altarpiece Image: Issenheim altarpiece view 1.jpg|Isenheim Altarpiece Image: Grunewald - christ.jpg|Isenheim Altarpiece: The Resurrection Image: Grunewald - pradella.jpg|Isenheim Altarpiece: predella

External links and references

• Grünewald paintings at CGFA - http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/grunewal/index.html
• Cuttler, Charles D. (1968) Northern Painting from Pucelle to Bruegel. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. ISBN 0-03-072500-3

1470 births | 1528 deaths | German painters | Renaissance painters | Roman Catholic Church art

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