LATE MEDIEVAL ALTARPIECES in GERMANY Amy M. Morris In

9. ART AND ADVERTISING: LATE MEDIEVAL ALTARPIECES IN GERMANY

Amy M. Morris

In the lower horizontal border of Lucas Moser’s St. Magdalene Altar- piece, one of the most important paintings created in fifteenth-century Germany, the text promises indulgence to those who visited the church at Tiefenbronn on the feasts of St. Mary Magdalene, St. Anthony, and St. Erhard: [. . .]DICAT[. . .]/MARIA.MAGDALENA.(ET).IN. DIE./ BE(A)TI.ANTHONY.(ET). EKHARDI.TOTIDEM.INDVGENCIA[. . .].1 (fig. 9.1) Despite the historical implications of this inscription, no studies have yet addressed its significance in the context of indulgence practices or considered how those practices shaped the function of the St. Magdalene Altarpiece.2 Contrary to earlier studies, which linked the indulgence text to Mary Magdalene’s cult at Tiefenbronn, I believe that its presence transformed the St. Magdalene Altarpiece into an “Indulgenced Panel” or Ablaß-Tafel: a type of object, frequently an altarpiece, consisting of a specified subject accompanied by an indulgence inscription.3 As a medium for advertising a church’s indulgence privileges, these altarpieces, including the St. Magdalene Altarpiece, attracted visitors who wished to reduce their potential purgatorial

1 “(Es wird gegeben am Tag) der heiligen Maria Magdalena und am Tag der heiligen Antonius und Erhard ebensoviele (Tage) Ablaß.” Franz Heinzmann and Mathias Köhler. Der Magdalenenaltar des Lucas Moser in der Gotischen Basilika Tiefenbronn (Regensburg: Verlag Schnell & Steiner, 1994), p. 16. 2 Moser’s familiarity with the Flemish ars nova style has been the focus of most scholarly interest in the Tiefenbronn Altarpiece. 3 Researchers suggested at the Moser symposium in 1971 that “a more precise examination of the Magdalene cult in the region of south Germany could provide answers to the function of the indulgence inscription.” Reiner Hausherr, “ ‘Der Magdalenenaltar in Tiefenbronn.’ Bericht über die wissenschaftliche Tagung am 9. und 10. März 1971 im Zentralinstitut in München,” Kunstchronik 24 (1971), p. 201. Identifying the St. Magdalene Altarpiece as an indulgence altarpiece as opposed to a cult object in no way diminishes the cult of the Magdalene at Tifenbronn. In fact, the possibility that Tiefnenbronn’s indulgence privileges were connected to the veneration of the Magdalene is possible. The historical reality, however, is that churches obtained indulgence privileges for a variety of occasions beyond a saint’s cult. 326 amy m. morris

Fig. 9.1 Lucas Moser, Altar of the Magdalene, 1432, panel, 300 × 240 cm. Photo: Alinari/Art Resource, NY.